Steel trowel machine vs hand trowel on a big slab, I made the wrong call
We had a 4,000 square foot warehouse floor in Dayton last spring and I told the crew we'd use the power trowel for the whole thing to save time, but the edges and corners still needed hand work and the finish never matched. The machine sections looked great but the hand troweled areas had a slightly different sheen that the owner noticed right away. Has anyone else regretted mixing both methods on a large pour, or is there a trick to blending the finish better?
Man that stinks, nothing worse than the owner walking the floor and spotting the mismatch before you even get your tools packed up. The real trick is timing the hand work so it happens while the machine sections are still green enough to burn in together, otherwise you're fighting a losing battle on sheen. Hang in there, most of us have eaten that same crow on a big pour.