How To Get A Better Finish On Concrete

Finishing concrete with a trowel takes practice and skill. The secret to getting a good finish on concrete with a trowel is time. Once the concrete has been initially placed and flattened with a bit of trowel work, give the new concrete a little time to begin to set up. Allowing this initial set up, or hardening of the concrete, to begin gives the concrete just a bit of stiffness by absorbing more of that water used in the mix.
If you attempt to trowel concrete smooth as soon as it is placed, excess water will be drawn to the surface which can compromise the finished top layer. There is no set amount of time to wait for the concrete to stiffen a bit because there are many different factors that contribute to how fast or slow concrete might harden (like temperature, wind and sun exposure). The slight stiffening of the concrete makes it easier to get a smoother, better finish with a trowel.
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#creatingconcrete #concrete #howto

[@osar123]

That's what I've been dong wrong. I think because I'm new I'm afraid to wait too long and not be able to finish it. Thank you!

[@markyakubovsky3380]

Same here..

[@Argyll9846]

I learned from Italian cement renderers that you must wait until the render (on walls) is almost dry before hitting it with a steel trowel. As you say, if you try to rush the process you're going to fail and you'll never get a fine smooth finish.

[@chunhingyap]

Suggest to give some calculation on how much water is required for a dry concrete mix Vs wet concrete mix? How much is considered over-watered?

[@markyakubovsky3380]

Bingo!! Looks like I was over troweling and causing bleeding. Some of my broom finish flaked off and I was trying to figure out why. Looks like a case of too much too soon.. It was real watery on top even though I was light on the water mix ratio, but I kept troweling making cement soup. Rookie mistake.. Thx Brother!!

[@Golfbylux]

This help a lot, thanks for sharing such a phenomenal content, from indonesia here🇮🇩

[@chesshooligan1282]

I'm planning to make my living room floor out of polished concrete. Let's see if I can get a polished-concrete finish without the need for sanding. I doubt I'll succeed, but I'll have a go anyway. Thanks for this tip.

[@ryanshaver]

Thank you! Extremely helpful!

[@antonzavarzin7208]

Wow i just finished two day marathon of all your videos and it was very helpful. I have one question that haunts me. I make a wall art 15 x 15 inches on wooden board with acrylic sealer. Something like Jason Martin artist - For understanding. So i have to mix water with glue to make sure that my Mortar is stick to that wood. But I also care about the slight elasticity of fine details. So my question is - can i mix PVA and Acrylic paint in one mixture? Or is there some other way to give stickiness and elasticity at the same time.

[@creatingconcrete]

You could try but you generally should not use the two products within the same mix. How old are your oldest paintings using this method. I would expect the PVA modified cement to stick to the wood...until there are changes in humidity which I would expect to then see cracks along the contact point with the wood. Concrete can not expand like wood can. The most technical product I could point out to you would be Basecrete which is actual flexible (waterproof) mortar used for high end concrete waterproofing applications. Not sure this would be right for you but maybe worth looking into next.

[@cchemmes-seeseeart3948]

Thanks for the great, helpful videos. It is much appreciated to not need to learn everything the hard way. Question: I thought in one of our project videos... I think the table top?... you used a wood float as a preliminary to the steel trowel, not a sponge float? Is there a difference in using a wood vs a sponge float? for that pre-troweling step?

[@creatingconcrete]

I would only use wood for rough skreeding (to knock it flat) and then a sponge float to microlevel the surface, but also raise cement cream to the surface which is when you would apply the hard steel trowel finish. It just depends on what finish you are going for.

[@cchemmes-seeseeart3948]

So to remember- see notes under the video. initial screed troweling with steel trowel with initial placement. Do not excessively trowel at this point- to avoid drawing too much water up, which is weakening; do not over trowel at this stage for futile effort to smooth. Then- give it TIME (to lose glossy/ wet, until matte/ hazy- no serious reshaping at this point- just the surface layer; but this = time to smooth it. Finally, Sponge float in circles to raise the cream of the concrete. Then steel trowel. Gives smooth 800 grit dense surface layer

[@cchemmes-seeseeart3948]

wet all your tools, so you don't burn your concrete.

[@creatingconcrete]

and keep your tools clean as you are working. Easier than it sounds @@cchemmes-seeseeart3948

[@wombatau]

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