18
Been doing broom finishes backwards for like 2 years
Was finishing a driveway in Phoenix last month and this older guy walks over and watches me for a min. He asks why I'm starting my broom strokes at the expansion joint instead of the edge. Told me I been pushing water and fines into the joints the whole time making them weak. I felt like such a idiot. He showed me his method starting at the forms and dragging towards the joint. Now my joints dont look like garbage anymore. Anybody else learn basic stuff way later than they should have?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
nancyj1121d ago
Remember a buddy of mine who laid tile for like 6 years before someone told him he was backbuttering wrong. He always put the thinset on the floor and just pressed the tile into it, never put any on the tile itself. Had tons of callbacks for loose tiles and hollow spots. Some old timer on a job finally showed him how to comb both the floor and the back of the tile. He said his work held up way better after that and he felt like a complete goof for all those years. Makes you wonder what else we're all doing backwards without knowing it.
7
spencer98121d ago
Used to think a joint's a joint, what's the big deal? But after messing up a few driveways, I finally saw the light. Weird how simple direction changes the whole outcome, makes me wonder what other little secrets we dont learn until an old timer calls us out on our mess.
2
Wait, I actually start at the joint too and my work holds up fine after 5 years in Phoenix. If you broom from the forms you're dragging water toward the joint anyway, just from the other direction.
2