Tool for concrete work. Choosing a tool for working on concrete Hand trowel for placing concrete

This is a step-by-step guide on how to pour and level concrete. This requires several tools that you can buy or make yourself. Generally speaking, there are many finishes you can pour on your concrete slab or foundation. But the easiest is to use a large formwork made of 2x4 planks.

Be sure to make sure you finish pouring your concrete slab or foundation as soon as possible. Otherwise, the concrete may dry out. And you will not have time to smooth its surface. Finishing a large concrete base is a rather complex project. To do this, it makes sense to bring in a few friends to help you and use several methods to get the job done right.

What is required to fill the concrete area and level it

For finishing concrete slabs, you need the following:

Materials (edit)

concrete;
formwork boards;
2 × 2 boards for fixing forms.

Instruments

protective gloves;
protective glasses;
roulette;
mop brush for leveling concrete slabs.

Advice

put on overalls and shoes before work so as not to get dirty in the concrete;
clean your tools thoroughly after finishing work.

Time

from several hours to daylight hours, depending on the flooded area.

How to pour concrete

In order to fill the slab of the required level, it is necessary to create a basic formwork. Formwork is usually made from planks. But you must make sure that the structure made is strong and can withstand the weight of the concrete.

When constructing the formwork, you must make sure that it is on the same level. It is important to do it at the same level from all sides. As with most things, you should use screeds (long, straight pieces of wood or metal) to keep the concrete surfaces flat.

If your yard is large, a concrete machine can pour concrete directly into the formwork. However, it happens that the truck cannot reach a certain place. And you have to use a 4 ”hose. If so, make sure you pour the concrete as evenly as possible over the entire surface. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to align it.

Remember that in fact, pouring concrete into the formwork with a hose is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. Moreover, the person who is engaged in this operation must have experience of such work. Otherwise, it may get injured during the pouring process.

When pouring the concrete slab, the hose will be very heavy. So you can use the help of friends.

Remember to wear rubber boots and protective gloves, otherwise the concrete can irritate your skin.

Smart Tip: make sure you pour the concrete as evenly as possible so that it is easier to finish the concrete slabs. Usually, if the concrete has the correct mix recipe, you will notice that it tends to flatten out on its own. However, you still need to level the surface.

How to level concrete

You can make a simple concrete leveling tool with a long stick and a wooden board. Tip: the board should be 1.2 - 1.5 m wide. But it should not be very heavy. In hot weather, you must hurry. Otherwise, the concrete may dry out and you may not be able to finish the job.

Smart Tip: to level the concrete, you can use a flat-bottomed shovel or a homemade tool. Just lay it down on the concrete, holding it at an angle of 15º from the surface, and begin to pull gently towards you.

Continue pulling the concrete until you have a smooth, beautiful surface. As you can see in the photo, you should definitely wear rubber boots. This will allow you to move to any point on the concrete surface.

Smart Tip: for finishing you can use a trowel or large brush over the entire surface. Just don't push too hard. Otherwise, you risk damaging the concrete.

So, if you follow the tips outlined above, then you will probably be able to do an excellent job with the intended business. But in any case, the help of friends will never be superfluous.

The use of a professional correction tool when laying screeds from a concrete solution eliminates the risk of excess moisture accumulation on the surface, eliminates the smallest irregularities and strengthens the coating by removing the upper fragile layer of cement laitance. The trowels are used at different stages of the mixture hardening by themselves or after the passage of vibrating compactors, the effect of such processing is always positive. With a limited budget or for one-off purposes, you can make them on your own.

The main purpose is to work with moving freshly poured bases with the aim of primary distribution, leveling and improvement of the quality of the resulting plane. Additional functions include the removal of laitance and excess moisture and the adjustment of already slightly hardened mortar. Structurally, it resembles a mop on a long pipe, the dimensions of the handle and the rules determine the area covered in one run. Domestic structures are suitable for rooms up to 7 m long, professional factory models usually have a convenient telescopic handle, expanding from 3 to 6 m, and have the ability to connect sections.

Smooth movement is ensured by slightly rounded edges and a smooth surface of the working part, which in turn looks like a long and narrow ruler. The standard profile length varies from 1 m to 3 with 50 cm steps, width - from 80 to 100 mm. The thickness of such a ruler for factory aluminum products is 0.8-1.1 mm. The most reliable ones have additional stiffness profiles, but not more than 2. Long models are equipped with two ordinary or telescopic handles and move due to the joint actions of two people. Such a trowel is run in zigzags, the best results are achieved with two passes of the profile in mutually perpendicular directions.

Suggested varieties

Depending on the functions performed and the profile, they are divided into channel and scraper. The first ones are designed for smoothing and light correction of a concrete screed in its plastic state; this group includes types with the ability to adjust the blade angle. After their passage, no cement laitance is formed and the number of protrusions and depressions is minimized. The required effect is achieved exclusively when processing a newly laid mixture that has not lost its plasticity.

Scraper types are used to eliminate irregularities in an already solidifying solution (1-3 hours after pouring) and to control the level. They remove the cement laitance protruding on the surface and remove excess moisture. The working elements of such trowels are made of special aluminum, their design is more rigid than that of floating channel ones. Some manufacturers implement the rules with replaceable nozzles, that is, with the included scraper included. The use of this equipment allows you to achieve optimal results and coordinate the smoothing process over time.

Depending on the type of material, this tool is divided into wood and aluminum. The former are more often found among self-made ones and do a fairly good job with their functions. During their operation, the ability of wood to deform when wet is taken into account, the working part needs to be periodically checked for distortion. Ignoring drying after contact with concrete leads to bending or the appearance of holes on the blade, which is unacceptable, in general, their service life is limited. In order to extend it, all wooden elements are treated with hydrophobic compounds; protection requires periodic renewal.

Aluminum varieties have a long service life, but they are much more expensive. The assortment includes floats with telescopic handles and various blade edge shapes: rectangular, square, trapezoidal or rounded, with a double profile. Most have built-in bubble levels to make smoothing the screed easier. It is recommended to buy when planning a large amount of work or repeated use; for one-time purposes it is not suitable due to its high cost. In addition to aluminum, lightweight and alkali-resistant extrusion alloys can also be selected for production.

Leveling technology

These features are taken into account when planning actions: for the initial distribution, you need to purchase or make your own float for moving concrete, ideally with a hinged pipe fastening. In small rooms, this tool is used after rubbing the mixture with the rule of beacons or with the simultaneous operation of two devices. The vector of motion will be general in any case - from the corner to the exit, but the grouting of the layers will be perpendicular. This technique will eliminate voids and unevenness.

The ideal screed is obtained when smoothing formulations with plasticizers in two overlapping directions. But if such actions are impossible, one should not trick, one should not walk on a leveled surface. It is important to remember about the pot life of concrete and about the influence of impurities on this indicator. The introduction of plasticizers improves the mobility of the mixture at first, but can speed up its setting time. If the moment is missed, the effect of the use of ring variants is sharply reduced. The final quality of the plane is also influenced by the size of the fractions of the components: the smaller they are, the more accurately the screed is laid.

It should be remembered that the device should not be buried in concrete; all movements must be smooth and consistent. Guides help to avoid mistakes, a slight increase in the cost of the screed when placing them definitely pays off. The pitch of the beacons depends on the length of the working part, it is desirable that it be 30-40 cm less than this indicator. This tool is also used in finishing, the rules are generally unchanged.

How to make a do-it-yourself ironer?

The simplest material for homemade leveling devices is softwood: it has an affordable price and is easy to process. The working part is made of a board or timber with a width of 13 cm and a thickness of 30 mm. The length is selected based on the planned tasks, taking into account the heavy weight and area restrictions for private purposes, the optimal range is 1-1.5 m.The handle is made from the same bar with a cross section of 40 × 40 mm, or from a pipe welded to a metal plate. Thinner strips (25 × 25 or 35 × 35 mm) are used as reinforcing spacers. You will need wood screws, sandpaper and water repellent impregnation.

A homemade wooden screed trowel is made according to the following scheme:

All elements are processed with a plane and carefully sanded with sandpaper. The smoother the timber is, the better, deviations are unacceptable. It is recommended to round the corners of the future handle.
The lower end of the handle is cut at an angle of 60 ° and screwed to the working part with self-tapping screws. It is extremely difficult to make a floating rail for concrete yourself; this will require a hinge system and certain turning skills; most wooden homemade products are rigidly fastened.
The fastening of the handle is reinforced on both sides with a spacer bar.
All wooden structures are treated with antiseptic and hydrophobic impregnation, if necessary - twice.

If the length of the rule is more than 1 m, it is recommended to make 2 handles, with appropriate spacers on both sides. The maximum allowable length of the handle for self-made structures is 4-6 m, while it is necessary to take into account the inevitable increase in weight with an increase in the size of the trowel and the risks of its immersion in concrete mortar. To reduce it, holes can be drilled in a wooden beam, but not in the places of contact of forces and with a diameter of no more than 4 cm (with a width of 13 cm). An alternative option is pipes welded to the finished aluminum rule, but a welding machine is required to implement it. By analogy with factory products, a bubble level can be attached to the surface of such homemade products, without forgetting about the obligatory check of the evenness of the device itself.

The simplest pieces of wood are made directly on site and thrown away at the end of the work. They do not perform scraper functions. It should also be remembered that due to the high weight of the material, their dimensions are limited. With a length of more than 3 m, 2 people will need to move them, even if there are 2 handles. Homemade products help to quickly and relatively neatly align the screed, but with high requirements for smoothness, it is better to buy professional corrective floats. The most convenient and lightweight products are those with drilled holes, protected from the ingress of solution by polymer plugs. This equipment is provided for rent, the cost of such services is considered affordable.

Articles

For the transition to finishing work, the surface of the floors, it is desirable that it be smooth. Smoothing of concrete is carried out immediately after pouring the solution, distributing it over the formwork and careful vibration compaction. In this article we will tell you exactly about the anti-aliasing process, and how to achieve the best result.

First meeting

It must be understood that for large and small areas, there are different methods of forming smooth surfaces.

In the factory, the open surfaces of newly formed products are smoothed using special machines, the equipment is equipped with various attachments in the form of:

Valikov.
"Skis" that reciprocate in the direction perpendicular to the movement of the machine.
Rotating discs used for the final grouting of the surface.

As for the conditions in closed areas, other devices are used for this purpose.

Concrete smoothing agents

Depending on the volume and method of concrete work, as well as on the requirements for the floors, there are several options for smoothing:

Primary smoothing is carried out directly in the process of laying the mixture in.
Smoothing the surface of the freshly laid mixture.
Smoothing cement-sand or quick-drying leveling screed, made on a concrete base.

Smoothing out concrete at the same time as laying

Private developers doing work with their own hands in a small area are thinking about how to make a smooth concrete floor in sync with the laying of the mixture. In order not to waste time, so to speak, and the result was good.

In this case, the instructions for installing the floors are as follows:

Along the longest wall in the room, at a distance of 1000-1200 mm from each other and with a distance of 200-250 mm from the walls, beacons are arranged from wooden slats (metal profiles). These structures are fixed with small amounts of cement mortar. In parallel, they fulfill their intended purpose, and the role of guides for the rule. As a rule, use a perfectly flat bar or board, or a purchased aluminum tool.

Conduct the laying of the concrete mix along the grips between the beacons. In this case, the supplied concrete is distributed and at the same time smoothed by "ironing" the rule, which is pulled along the guides. The rule needs to be pulled towards yourself, making a vibrating motion from side to side with a small amplitude.
If everything went right, you can perform the final smoothing of the concrete surface with a trowel (we will tell you about it just below).

Someone smoothes the concrete surface after the completion of laying in full, others right after the rule. But they all use special devices for this purpose.

Concrete trowel

The so-called concrete floats can be branded or do-it-yourself. The main thing for this improvised tool is to have a smooth, or better glossy surface.

The trowels finish the concrete work, causing the formation of “cement milk” on the smoothed surface of the concrete - a mixture of water, cement and a small amount of sand. Thanks to this, the layer, freed from coarse aggregates (crushed stone, gravel, etc.), after hardening and set, can be sanded if necessary.

On large areas of industrial floors, factory-made trowels are used. They can be manually operated or powered by an electric or gasoline engine.

Advice!
It is possible to achieve the most even surface without violating the specified thickness of the concrete layer by working with the trowel alternately in two directions perpendicular to each other.
During work, make sure that the tool is not immersed in the mixture.

Hand tools are like a large mop with a wide work bar and a very long handle (the length is usually adjustable). The construction is made of aluminum or other extrusion alloy and therefore is quite lightweight and manoeuvrable.

To create super-level floors, various models of smoothing devices are available, aimed at specific tasks:

Smoothing strips, are used to smooth out concrete subject to vibration compaction.
Control Reiki responsible for leveling the bumps formed on the still plastic mortar.
Corrective devices they cut off the mounds and fill with this mixture the recesses on the concrete surface, which remained after preliminary grouting.

The high price of a trowel with an electric or petrol drive in comparison with a manual trowel is compensated for by more efficient work due to measured vibration. It is noteworthy that mechanized trowels can be rented, saving several thousand rubles.

Output

A clear advantage, of course, belongs to the automatic tool, which allows you to achieve the best result. On the other hand, one hundred percent smoothness is not always required, for example, for a garage room, it is enough to visually create the illusion that the concrete surface is even and smooth.

In general, it's up to you, we only helped to find the answer to the question - how to make concrete smooth. In the video presented by us in this article, you will find additional information on this topic.

A hand-held tool such as a trowel cannot be summed up in a nutshell. In everyday life, this term is called tools for work in various directions. And our article will consider a tool that is designed for construction work with mortars and concretes.

The name itself speaks for itself: it is in order to smooth the surface that this building device is intended. Of course, there are a fairly large number of tools that qualify with this term, but, as a rule, they perform completely different tasks and are not even constructional at all. But let's return to our device and see what tasks and how it copes. Anyone who has ever encountered the installation of a floor screed knows that laying mortar or concrete ultimately implies a perfectly flat surface.

But after the mortar has set, we can observe some irregularities, and they are caused by a large amount of water that was contained in the solution. In order to avoid such incidents, there is a trowel, with its help we not only additionally smooth fresh concrete or mortar, but also force excess moisture to come out to the surface of the screed... Then, using our tool, we can remove this moisture. Of course, this is entirely the merit of the instrument itself, thought out to the smallest detail.

In fact, the device of this instrument is quite simple, usually it is a handle, in all respects similar to a handle. It can also be solid, according to the principle of a half-grater device. In both cases, the convenience of a particular option depends on the skill of the builder himself. The handle is spot-welded onto a metal plate, which acts as a working smoothing surface.

This is how a hand-held concrete trowel usually works. , it is advisable to use it when working on small square meters of surface. But there is also a tool for use in large areas, the so-called production model. Its device is significantly different from the device of the manual model; such a tool is based on the design of a conventional mop. First of all, it is a work surface that reaches a width of one meter, and a telescopic handle that can reach ten meters.

When pouring concrete on a large quadrature, the use of a tool of this configuration is simply necessary, and here are some performance characteristics that help the master perform the assigned tasks.

Wide working surface, due to which, when working with concretes and mortars, it is possible to immediately process a significant surface area. As a result, we get better alignment and a minimum of unevenness.
Handle length: the telescopic design of the working handle in some cases can be up to 12 meters, which makes it possible to handle large volumes of poured concrete in rooms with a large area. In production, this significantly speeds up the process of pouring concrete into the floor surface.
Scraper function: this tool is usually equipped with an additional element, a blade, which is installed on the work surface. The use of such an element helps to remove protruding water from the surface in those places that you cannot get into after pouring the concrete. But with the help of this device, this task becomes quite solvable.
The material from which the trowel is made: as a rule, it is stainless steel, which does not lend itself to corrosion, therefore, its service life is quite long. Also, very often the working surface can be made of aluminum, which greatly lightens the weight of the tool and also prolongs the service life.

When choosing a tool for your own needs, be sure to consider these characteristics. In some cases, it can be made independently from scrap materials, most often, wood is used for these purposes.

It should be noted another very promising model of this tool: the metal trowel has firmly occupied a niche in finishing works. Today, most professional painters use such a hand tool to apply putty to walls and then level them. Of course, there are spatulas for these purposes, but due to the fact that the working area of the trowel is metal and, as a rule, smooth, such a tool is almost no different from a spatula during work.

In some cases, it shows itself even better than a spatula, for example, when working with applying putty to the ceiling, such a spatula greatly facilitates the process and reduces material consumption. The principle of applying the putty with our ironing tool is quite simple: apply the mixture to the work surface along its entire length and then evenly stretch it over the ceiling surface, while smoothing the material.

Usually, after carrying out such work, it remains to apply a thin finishing layer of finishing material, and the ceiling is ready for commissioning. Of course, in order to perform such work, a certain qualification is required, which comes with experience. Very often painters joke about newbies: "In order for the surface to be smooth, you need a spherical trowel!" If you ever have to hear such an expression, you should know that there is no such tool in construction, it is used in medicine, this is just a harmless joke.

Continuing the theme of finishing, it is worth noting a tool that painters call a spatula-trowel in professional slang. The structure of such a spatula is usually a handle, made according to the principle of a trowel, and a working surface 20 centimeters wide and 30-50 centimeters long. In appearance it is, perhaps, the same, only with a metal work surface. It was widely used in plasterboard finishing, namely during the sealing of plasterboard joints. Let's take a step-by-step look at the whole process and the rules for working with such a grater.

The most important decorative requirement for concrete surfaces is perfect evenness and smoothness. Achievement of these quality indicators is ensured by a set of special tools that are used at such facilities. The concrete site can be leveled and made absolutely smooth at different stages of work, but their efficiency is important. Such tools at the setting stage of a still moving concrete mixture are trowels and concrete rules.

This special tool has become high-tech, with a wide range of modifications. The use of trowels, even made by hand, increases the quality and productivity of work on movable concrete foundations.

Appointment

At the stage of completion of work (after vibration compaction), the tool contributes to the correction and smoothing of the concrete surface. In the process, the floats are driven out and removed, the depressions are filled, the bumps are eliminated, and the absence of differences in the level of the plane is controlled. As a result, the near-surface layer of the material is freed from coarse filler fractions, which allows it to be subsequently sanded.

Views

The smoothing trowel is a narrow thin profile made of aluminum (magnesium) alloy with a length of more than 1 meter, attached to a long handle. A range of typical tools include lightweight, maneuverable and easy-to-use channel and scraper trowels. The first ones smooth out the still plastic concrete mortar and allow you to slightly tweak its surface. Scraper trowels also level the hardened mortar, but at the same time remove excess water and cement "milk" from the surface.

The rig has a wide surface coverage over a considerable distance. If the area of the concrete surface is small, small-sized trowels are used with a short side of 130 mm and a length of 280 to 680 mm, in increments of 10 cm. The corners of the working surface are rounded, the handle is attached to the working surface.

Peculiarities

Duct type trowel with a seam former.

The scope of work and the size of the treated area determined the functional options and sizes of the ironers. The factory tool is used mainly in large facilities. Homemade equipment is often used in individual construction. The main material for industrial floats is light and durable aluminum alloys. The working surface has a mirror polish and smoothly rounded edges.

The forward / backward movement is accompanied by a change in the angle of inclination of the working surface (from oneself - the far edge of the trowel rises and vice versa) due to the reducer. The value of the angle also depends on the degree of plasticity of the mixture and reaches 60 degrees. The trowels are equipped with handles up to 12 meters long (minimum - 3 m), working planes with deflection stabilizers with a working width of up to 4 - 5 meters (minimum - 1 m). A stainless steel cable reducer connects the blade and tool handle. The maximum effect of application is achieved by its alternating movement along the concrete mixture in mutually perpendicular directions, without immersing the trowel in concrete.

How to do it yourself?

In cases where a one-time and short-term use of the tool is assumed, and its purchase (as well as rent) is impractical, the ironer is made by hand. For this, a softwood bar is suitable, both for the handle and for the working part. If the trowel is required to smooth the mortar between masonry bricks or along the upper cut of the formwork, it should be equipped with a long handle from 3 to 6 m.When the working width is large, it is optimal to attach two handles to the working part for easy control of the structure.

The length of the handles is selected based on the size of the room. The handle is rigidly (on a triangular spacer) attached to the working part. The dimensions of the latter are approximately (1000 - 2000) x 300 mm. Wood in contact with the solution is protected from moisture. It is important to ensure the sliding of a hand-made product on the surface of the mixture, excluding deepening into it.

rules

This hand-held tool provides the primary distribution of the mortar over the concrete poured surface.

What are rule and rule sizes?

Narrow ruler absolutely even along the entire length, the movement of which along the solution forms an even plane of the upper layer of the screed. The length of the factory tool varies from 100 to 300 cm in 50 cm increments, as well as other lengths, the width is from 80 to 100 mm. The width of the working rib along the entire length of the rules is 0.8 - 1.1 mm.

The aluminum profile can have one or two stiffening ribs inside along the entire product. All rulers designed for working with concrete are equipped with strong and comfortable overhead handles for ease of use, or they are formed through oblong grooves. These products of maximum length are used by two people at the same time.

Views

The materials from which the tools are made are wood and aluminum. There is no difference between them until the tree is wet and deformed. The latter leads to distortion of the formed surface - a smooth arc or dip appears. Therefore, it is effective to use only metal when the amount of work is significant.

Aluminum products have a long service life, lightweight and easy to use. The working edge of the surface in section has a rectangular, trapezoidal or square shape. For ease of use, bubble construction levels are built into the design of the rulers, showing the verticality and horizontalness of the surface.

Application area

Leveling the cement screed floor is the rule.

By the manual rule, the "living" concrete solution is leveled in height, straightened into all corners of the concreted (plaster) surface to the level of the beacon guides. The tool allows you to work on horizontal, vertical and inclined surfaces, providing free sliding of the working surface along the beacons installed in advance. The combination of translational movements of the rule with its movement from side to side creates a rough, even surface for the concrete, which is finally leveled with trowels.

Guide beacons are installed from each other at a distance of 30 - 40 cm less than the length of the rule. Concrete and plastering work does not exhaust the scope of the tool. For example, it is used when laying tiles to show the overall level of decorative finishes. Using information from bubble levels allows concrete to be pulled into a perfectly horizontal or vertical surface. The skill of applying the rule ensures the formation of a flat concrete surface.