Skip to main content

Professional Concrete Finishing with Power Trowels and Other Equipment

If there’s one thing that will give your DIY concrete project away as amateur, it’s poor finishing technique. Poured concrete that isn’t finished well can look lumpy, rough, or uneven and even be susceptible to cracking. Fortunately, there are a variety of tools and equipment you can add to your arsenal to ensure your concrete pours look professionally finished and are something you can be proud of. Some of the most common professional concrete finishing tools include: power trowels, floor planers, and floor saws.

Smoothing wet concrete with a power trowel

One of the most important steps when pouring concrete countertops is giving it a smooth finish with a hand trowel or float – aside from making the concrete look great, it also makes the surface more durable. The same is true of power trowels, but on a much larger scale. Sometimes called helicopter floats or power floats, these machines do the same job as a hand float but allow you to cover much larger areas and don’t require as much technique to get a professional result. Power trowels must be used when the concrete is still slightly wet – a good option for a smaller surface area would be the SIMA Halcon 60 (a walk-behind available in petrol and electric motor), while very large projects would benefit from a ride-on model like the SIMA Halcon Duplo, which has two large trowels to cover space in half the time.

Leveling uneven, cured concrete with a floor planer

But what if your concrete has already cured and you realize it’s very uneven or wasn’t leveled properly? That’s where your floor planer or scabbler comes in handy. These walk-behind machines chip away at the surface layers of concrete and other hard surfaces, making them a great solution for leveling dried concrete, smoothing lumps and bumps, and removing paint or other coatings. You can also use a scabbler to work an existing slab down and then pour fresh concrete over it (although this may compromise the concrete’s stability somewhat). The SIMA CAT 202 is an excellent floor planer, with a working width of 8 inches to give you precision control over your planing without sacrificing efficiency.

Cutting and scoring dried concrete with a floor saw

Even a perfect concrete slab is pretty boring to look at. One easy way to make a concrete slab patio more beautiful is to make faux tile or pavers by scoring the concrete with a floor saw and then staining the concrete. Floor saws are easy to use, walk-behind machines that easily cut through hard concrete when fitted with the correct diamond blade. This type of equipment can also be used to clip corners or cut off a section of a concrete pour that needs to be removed (up to the maximum cutting depth of the saw, of course). SIMA’s Cobra MKNO floor saw models are available with max. cutting depths between 5 and 7 inches, which is appropriate for most residential projects. If not, road saws (basically just a larger version of floor saws) are available with cutting depths of up to 11 inches!

Rate the article "Professional Concrete Finishing with Power Trowels and Other Equipment"

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
🛒 ¡ BUY NOW IN OUR ONLINE SHOP! 📦 FREE SHIPPING AND RETURN!BUY
+