We just poured a 5000 square foot concrete slab - 4000 psi. All is flat and level, but the masons ran thr trowel machines too long, and gave a smooth finish. This is an exterior slab, and in the wet and winter conditions it will be very slippery with no broom or traction finish. Any ideas? Any special grinding equipment that could add a proper traction finish, that looks proper, since this is a visible setting.
concrete slab too smooth
TjV
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We just poured a 5000 square foot concrete slab - 4000 psi. All is flat and level, but the masons ran thr trowel machines too long, and gave a smooth finish. This is an exterior slab, and in the wet and winter conditions it will be very slippery with no broom or traction finish. Any ideas? Any special grinding equipment that could add a proper traction finish, that looks proper, since this is a visible setting.
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I would probably acid etch it before anything else you won't get any swirl marks. All you need to do is just give it a little bit of a edge, why would they power trowel a exterior slab. That must be slippery as a ice rink when the concrete it wet.
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they ran the trowel because he went with the low baller and he didnt know what the f he was doing.
NOW YOU PAY.
you can pay now or you can pay later but you will always pay the same price. Going with the low baller is just a way to finace out your problems.
NOW YOU PAY.
you can pay now or you can pay later but you will always pay the same price. Going with the low baller is just a way to finace out your problems.
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Epoxy some coarse sand on top. But there is also a surface scarifier from some select rental places.
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Wonder if you could get some bags of mortar and mix it up real wet and brush in on to the slab with a big push broom? I did that on a couple little sidewalk sections after some kids wrote stuff in it before it dried one night.
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This is weird.
I had a fairly large concrete patio installed (over 9 cy/yds) this Spring.
I SPECIFICALLY stated that I wanted a SMOOTH finish. I want to be able to walk on it in bare feet and not feel roughness.
The guy screwed it up and I can see the steel trowel arcs. It's fairly smooth, but I wanted MIRROR smooth. He tried like hell to get me to go with a broom finish. I now know why....he sucks at troweling a smooth finish.
I see no problem when it's wet. It's simply wet concrete. Not anymore slippery than any other wet smooth concrete. When it's snowy and icy....it's snowy and icy. No different. Ice on broom finish is just as slippery as icy on smooth finish. Plus, I won't be wearing out shovels and leaving rust stains from rough concrete grinding steel shovels down.
So, I ask.....whats the big deal with the negative thoughts on smooth finish?
I had a fairly large concrete patio installed (over 9 cy/yds) this Spring.
I SPECIFICALLY stated that I wanted a SMOOTH finish. I want to be able to walk on it in bare feet and not feel roughness.
The guy screwed it up and I can see the steel trowel arcs. It's fairly smooth, but I wanted MIRROR smooth. He tried like hell to get me to go with a broom finish. I now know why....he sucks at troweling a smooth finish.
I see no problem when it's wet. It's simply wet concrete. Not anymore slippery than any other wet smooth concrete. When it's snowy and icy....it's snowy and icy. No different. Ice on broom finish is just as slippery as icy on smooth finish. Plus, I won't be wearing out shovels and leaving rust stains from rough concrete grinding steel shovels down.
So, I ask.....whats the big deal with the negative thoughts on smooth finish?
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one of my customers specializes in this. They see it often when the dumb guy is put on the trowel.
Yep, that is your best bet. There is no reason for having a power trowel on an exterior slab.
And to the person who WANTED a smooth finish.. You will understand when you actually step out there with sandals or old sneakers when its wet and espcially when its around the 32 degree mark. Plus when you power trowel it, you also loose some air entrainment. Just dont try and put deicer salt on it, or you will really be sorry. There is a reason all public works have a broom finish, it much less slippery than smooth slab. If a light broom finish hurts your feet, you got sissy feet.
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To make it non skid all you need to do is expose a little bit of the sand. Your other option is sand blast it with sillica sand fine grit and dust the surface.
Never heard of exterior slabs being power troweled usually just bull floated and left that way.
Never heard of exterior slabs being power troweled usually just bull floated and left that way.
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The mexicans probably headed back home :laugh:
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try white stucko?
Don't grind it, don't sandblast it, don't acid etch it, unless of course you don't care how long the concrete lasts.
You can simply use a solvent based topical sealer with a traction additive (it's a clear polymer) that get's mixed into the sealer. It won't last forever, and will be need to be re-applied every few years, depending on traffic & usage. These products are used quite often on stamped concrete to allow for more traction. It's available any concrete suppy house.
You can simply use a solvent based topical sealer with a traction additive (it's a clear polymer) that get's mixed into the sealer. It won't last forever, and will be need to be re-applied every few years, depending on traffic & usage. These products are used quite often on stamped concrete to allow for more traction. It's available any concrete suppy house.
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My suggestion is to use a form of a overlay
A company called ardex has a product that will work perfect to overlay and is super strong. It's usually used to resurface concrete. With this product you can create the broom strokes that should had been used
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A company called ardex has a product that will work perfect to overlay and is super strong. It's usually used to resurface concrete. With this product you can create the broom strokes that should had been used
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Never Never Never use a power trowel on a exterior pour! Lazy comes to mind real quick. They did not want to take a mag and trowel to hand finish it, which is alot of work. I go through this same Sh#t every day bidding work. I get my @ss kicked by idiots who finish this way(and bid way cheeper), because I only hand finish everything exterior. If it was mine I would etch it and over lay it, but thats not cheep.
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Here's an idea. With my enclosed trailer I had a problem with the wheels on my z turns spinning when loading during wet conditions. To solve this problem we layer down of floor coating and mixed in some grit almost felt like sand or salt my gf dad does this and he suggested for my ramp door and floor in the trailer. You can make it look just about any way you can imagine. http://www.vortexsprayonliner.com/ check out this site hope this helps good luck.
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