The way we used to finish sidewalks vs. today is night and day

I was looking at a job I did back in 1998 in St. Louis, a simple 4-foot wide residential walk. We used a magnesium float and a steel trowel, took our time with the final pass. Nowadays every crew I see is running a power trowel over it in five minutes flat, and the finish just doesn't have that same smooth, sealed look. Has anyone else noticed the texture difference between hand-finished and machine-finished work from back then?

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1 Comment

oliver_fisher1mo ago

Man, is it really that deep? Concrete work changes all the time and it's usually fine. Hand finished or machine done, it still holds up the same.