Stumbled onto a broom finish trick that saved me 2 hours

I was doing a 400 square foot driveway in Tucson last week. Hot as hell, sun beating down. Normally I use a standard push broom and it leaves lines that look okay but take forever to feather out. My helper grabbed the wrong broom, one with stiffer bristles meant for commercial floors. I almost threw it back in the truck. But I was behind schedule so I said screw it and tried it. The stiffer bristles cut cleaner lines with way less drag. Finished the whole slab in half the time and the texture came out more uniform. Any of you guys ever experiment with different broom types for finish work?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanrodriguez17d ago

Man I used to swear by those soft bristle brooms for finish work... thought anything stiffer would mess up the surface. A buddy of mine kept telling me to try a medium stiffness polypropylene broom but I never listened. Then one day I grabbed the wrong one out of the truck and same thing happened to me. The lines just cut through cleaner and the drag was way less noticeable. Now I keep a stiffer broom in my rig for the second pass on driveways. Really changed how I think about broom finish prep.

fionamurphy17d ago

Huh, I gotta say I see it the other way on this one. I've tried the medium stiffness a few times and it always leaves these little chatter marks on my finish that I have to go back and smooth out. Maybe it's just the mix I use or the temps I'm working in but the soft bristles give me way more control on the first pass. I'll stick with what works for me I guess.

river_thompson16d agoMost Upvoted

Saw a concrete contractor say the same thing on a job forum last week.