Rant: My float technique was backwards for 7 years until a 60 year old foreman pointed it out

Harper Schmidt · 2026-08-30T19:45:05.168787+00:00

I've been finishing driveways and patios in Phoenix for a long time. I always pushed my magnesium float in a sweeping arc away from me. Thought it was the only way to get a smooth surface. Last Tuesday we had a big commercial slab and this old foreman from Tucson watched me for about 15 minutes. He just said "you're working against the bull float direction, kid" and showed me how to pull it in short, overlapping strokes back toward my feet. I felt like an idiot because the theory makes sense, the concrete wants to move with the previous pass, not against it. My surface always had those faint washboard ridges I blamed on the mix. I checked my old slabs after work and sure enough, you can see the pattern in the right light. Who else learned a basic move wrong and only caught it because someone older bothered to say something?

Librear

Loading…

Rant: My float technique was backwards for 7 years until a 60 year old foreman pointed it out | Concrete Finishers - Librear