richard_ramirez•26d agoProlific Poster

Old timer told me to stop overworking my concrete edges and I fought him on it at first

I had this guy named Pete come by my job site in Dayton last summer. He's been pouring since the 70s and watched me finishing a driveway. He said I was killing my edges by running my edger back and forth too many times trying to get them perfect. I told him I knew what I was doing but he just laughed and showed me his own work. He only does one clean pass then leaves it alone. I tried his way on the next slab I did and honestly the edges came out way smoother with less chatter marks. I was basically overworking the concrete and making it weaker plus wasting time. Now I do one pass and walk away unless theres a big ridge I gotta knock down. Has anyone else had an old head call them out on something they thought they had figured out?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_perry2925d ago

@valgibson reminds me of my uncle with his garden hose, always said let it soak dont drown it.

valgibson26d ago

That part about "one clean pass then leaves it alone" really stuck with me too. I had an old mason tell me the same thing about my brick joints, I was constantly tooling and retooling them thinking tighter was better. Turns out he was right, less fussing gives a way better surface and you aren't weakening the material for no reason.