Watched a slab go from dull to glossy just by changing my trowel angle

I was finishing a patio in Phoenix last summer, temps around 105. I had been using a 10 degree angle on my steel trowel for years. Decided on a whim to drop it to almost flat, like 3 degrees. The difference in 20 minutes was night and day. No extra passes, no special mix, just that tiny change. Has anyone else messed with trowel angles and seen a big shift in the final look?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant.richard12d agoMost Upvoted

You're giving the trowel angle way too much credit. That slab likely looked better because you got lucky with the mix that day or maybe the humidity shifted when you changed your angle. I've tried every angle from flat to steep and back again, and the difference is maybe 10% of the finish quality. The rest is all about the concrete itself, how fast it dries, and the timing of your passes. You could have just as easily messed up that slab if you had caught a breeze at the wrong moment. Trowel angle is a minor piece of the puzzle, not the whole picture.

spencerl3212d ago

Three years back I switched to a steep angle and the finish went to hell on a perfect mix day.