Hot take: Hand troweling beats power trowels for small garage slabs every time

I did a 10x20 garage floor last week with just a hand trowel and got a better finish than my buddy got on a similar slab using his power trowel. The edges were cleaner and I had full control over the corners. Anyone else think power tools get overhyped for smaller pours?

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_price3d ago

Drove my trowel across a 12x16 slab last month and felt the same way. @maxhart is spot on about those swirl marks, I've seen them ruin a perfectly good floor. Hand troweling lets me work right into the corners without having to switch to a margin trowel every two seconds. Plus I can feel the concrete setting under the blade, which you just don't get with a machine buzzing in your hands. Power trowels have their place on big warehouse floors but for a garage slab they're overkill.

maxhart3d ago

Man, my buddy tried a power trowel on his garage and ended up with swirl marks everywhere.