Used to think hand troweling was always faster than power troweling

I started out doing small residential patios and walkways about 8 years ago, so I pretty much only used hand trowels. I was always told power trowels were for big commercial slabs and would mess up the finish on smaller jobs. Last summer I did a 600 square foot stamped patio in Austin and the guy I was helping brought a power trowel. I figured it would leave lines everywhere but we used it for the initial pass and it cut my finishing time by at least an hour. The trick was keeping it flat and catching the concrete at the right hardness. I still hand trowel the edges and tight spots though. Has anyone else switched over for smaller pours or do you stick with hand tools for everything under a certain square footage?

3 comments

3 Comments

harper_foster1d ago

Power trowels even save time on stamped work, hard to argue with that.

ninas671d ago

Yeah 600 square feet is right around where I noticed it clicks too. @harper_foster nailed it about stamped work, I think people sleep on how much faster the base finish goes with a power trowel before you even touch the stamps. On my last 400 square foot driveway I went power trowel first for the bull float pass and it saved me like 45 minutes easy. The key is keeping the blade speed low and not digging in, but once you get the feel for it you can really fly. I still hand finish the edges and any spots near forms though, power trowels just don't get tight enough there.

jamesroberts1d ago

Get on it early and keep the trowel flat, that's the whole secret. I do up to 300sq ft by hand still but anything bigger the power trowel comes out for sure. Edges and tight spots by hand every time though, thats non negotiable.