Had to tear out 200 feet of sidewalk because I was finishing it wrong for 8 years

Last spring I was working a job in Lancaster and this old foreman walked by while I was bull floating. He stopped and asked why I was pulling my float back toward myself instead of pushing it forward. I told him that's how my dad taught me and he just laughed. Turns out I was dragging all the cream to the edge and making the whole surface weak. He showed me the difference on a test patch and I could see the drag marks right away. Never once questioned it in 8 years because nobody ever said anything. Has anyone else had a bad habit like that get passed down without thinking?

3 comments

3 Comments

janarivera6h ago

Tbh 8 years of doing it wrong is wild, I'd be questioning everything my dad taught me.

theagibson5h ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on this one a little. I don't think 8 years of doing something wrong means everything your dad taught you is trash. People back then didn't have the same info we do now, they were just working with what they had. My dad told me to wash my face with soap and water every day and I did that for like a decade before I found out it was drying me out. Doesn't mean his advice about saving money or being a good person was wrong too, you know? Sometimes you just gotta take the good and leave the bad.

ellis.susan2h ago

I actually saw a YouTube video last year where a concrete finisher broke down the physics of why pushing is better, something about how it lets the aggregate settle evenly instead of floating all the fines to the top. @janarivera you're right that it's crazy to go that long without anyone catching it, but I bet half the guys on this site learned the pull method from their dads too. It's one of those things where once you see the drag marks on a test patch it clicks immediately, no going back after that lol.