Concrete hand tools

Concrete finishing and DIY Concrete Resurfacing. 

Here are some basics to working with concrete hand tools along with some pictures that I have taken of the actual processes.  This might help you decide weather you want to do it yourself or hire a contractor

concrete tool Concrete that will be visible, such as slabs like driveways, highways, or patios, often needs finishing. Concrete slabs can be finished in many ways, depending on the intended service use.  Some surfaces may require only strikeoff and screeding to proper contour and elevation, This is usually the case when the finish will be covered up. An example of this would be with slate or flagstone.

 Screed and strikeoff

concrete tools While for other surfaces a broomed, floated, or troweled finish may be required. In slab construction, screeding or strikeoff is the process of cutting off excess concrete to bring the top surface of the slab to proper grade. A straight edge is moved across the concrete with a sawing motion and advanced forward a short distance with each movement.  This process requires at least 2 or more people to screed.
 

 Jointing and grooving

concrete jointer Jointing is required to eliminate unsightly random cracks. This way if a crack does occur , which is quite common, it will follow the control joint. Contraction joints are made with a hand groover or by inserting strips of plastic, wood, metal, or preformed joint material into the unhardened concrete. Sawcut joints can be made after the concrete is sufficiently hard or strong enough to prevent raveling. These are usually cut 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" deep.

 Floating and Trowel

concrete trowel

After the concrete has been jointed, it should be floated with a wood or metal hand float or with a finishing machine using float blades. This embeds aggregate particles just beneath the surface; removes slight imperfections, humps, and voids; and compacts the mortar at the surface in preparation for additional finishing operations. Where a smooth, hard, dense surface is desired, floating should be followed by steel troweling. Troweling should not be done on a surface that has not been floated; troweling after only bullfloating is not an adequate finish procedure.

   Brooming

concrete broom A slip-resistant surface can be produced by brooming before the concrete has thoroughly hardened, but it should be sufficiently hard to retain the scoring impression. Keep in mind that brooming the surface too soon causes a very unsightly finish