Whether you are finishing a small slab of Concrete or your entire garage, in this blog, we will give you all of the tips, tricks, and techniques you will need both in your physical and metaphorical toolbox to have a successful Concrete finishing project.
First thing first, make sure you have all of all your tools ready. You will need the following;
Darby
Edger
Groover
Magnesium Bull Float
Safety equipment (glasses, rubber gloves, rubber boots)
Screed
Trowel
Cleaning supplies (broom)
Concrete Spreader (Rake)
Once you have secured all the necessary tools, you can finish your Concrete. It is important to remember that finishing Concrete is a bigger project that will require a lot of time to complete and for the Concrete to cure.
Steps to Finishing Concrete:
Step one) Prior to pouring the concrete you will need to have the ground work done and a form built to pour the concrete into. Once the ground is prepped and compacted and your form is built with the rebar or wire mesh in place, you can pour the concrete. Weather you are mixing your own concrete or it is getting delivered in a concrete truck, you will pour it out as evenly as you can in the form.
Step two) Once you have poured your Concrete, you will now have to spread the Concrete. This is the step where you push all of the freshly poured Concrete around with a concrete spreader or rake. This may get messy, so make sure you have rubber boots on as you may need to get into the form and spread it around. Once its spread out, you can proceed to step 3.
Step three) Now you will grab your Screed and start to Screed the Concrete. Screeding can be done with a magnesium screed, or for smaller jobs a 2x4. The purpose of Screeding is to remove any excess Concrete to the surface to grade properly.
Step four) Once the surface has been graded, you will have to float the surface. You will do this by using a bull float, or for smaller projects you can use a Darby or hand float to float the surface. Floating does a couple of things, it pushes down the aggregate and allows the moisture to rise to the surface, which in turn allows for a smoother finish. Once you have completed floating the surface, create smooth rounded edges using an edger.
Step five) Before moving on to the project's final step, you will want to add your cut line to prevent any cracking. This can be easily done by jointing the slab with a grooving tool.
Step six) There are two options for this last step for finishing the concrete; If you want a smooth, hard, dense surface, you will have to use a steel Trowel or power trowel for larger jobs. If you choose to broom finish the new Concrete surface, you can skip Troweling and run a finish broom across the newly finished slab.
Step Seven) Protect your investment and apply a sealer to your concrete.
Now that you have read this blog, its time to get started!