How to Finish Concrete

While it is important that one understands the use and finishing of concretes, it is also very important to note that when it comes to the finishing of concretes, there are different stages and processes that must be undertaking, the knowledge of the processes and stages makes one understand whether to make use of a little amount of concrete in a stage or more slabs of concrete. It is most essential at this point to note that when it comes to these processes, it is much easier to practice on smaller projects than with the bigger ones, the reason is not far-fetched from the fact that it is easier to correct your errors on smaller projects than with the major ones. The aim of finishes with concretes is that the concrete ends up much more smoother than when you first started mixing things up, and so when your finishing does not end on the smoother side, you know that you are not getting something right.

When mixing the concrete, it is important to get a kind of smooth flat surface where you can easily mix the cement, sand and gravel with water. You repeat the process over and over until it is smooth. After you are done with this, the next stage is the filling of the portion within which you want to make use of the concrete. You need to start from the smaller holes until you reach the larger holes. Eventually what you would have is a mound of concrete filling all sides smoothly. It must be noted here that when you work the concrete too much, it makes the surface of the concrete weak and this would not allow you achieve your goal. At this stage, the tool that would be used the most is the two hand darby because it is the one that allows you to get your desired mixing.

The next stage here involves the use of the edging tool to make the edges of your work surface smooth. While the surfaces are smooth, there would be water oozing out through the surface of the work area. It is necessary at this point to make sure that the concrete on the surface reabsorbs the water before you continue working, and so it would be advisable to wait a little bit. After the absorption, you would press over the surface of the concrete with the tips of your glove to see that it is not too soft and at the same time, not too hard. This would give the proper hint as regards whether to continue with the next phase of your finishing activities.

The next phase of the finished concrete is the edger phase where you have to make the surface smooth with the edger, afterwards, you apply the grooves to make it smooth and easy to divide into compartments without making the concrete crack in any way.

The grooving at this point makes you determine if you like the coating of the concrete the way that it is. If you like it the way it is, the next phase is to float the concrete into final finishing look. If after the floating of the concrete, you realize that you do not like the way that the concrete looks, what you need do is to apply more grooves and then you make sure that the surface of the concrete is as desired.

When we talk about the tools used in the finishing of concretes, it is worthy of mention to note that the different stages of the finishes requires more and different tools, while normal people like to buy the tools that they can afford, the professionals with concretes make use of such tools that can stand the test of time and those tools are on the more expensive end. The temperature as at the time of mixing the concrete together determines how efficient they would mould up. While it is true that the concrete moulds up in time when under the hot or dry temperature, it is advisable to mould up concretes when there is shade or the weather is cool. The disadvantage with the hot temperature is that the weather allows the concrete to mould up a little too fast and if one is not careful, you might end up not making use of the concrete that you moulded under the hot temperature. On the other hand, the concrete that was moulded under shade make take a little too long before it attains the desired moulding, but it is better that way.