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Rant: That 8-month gap between glue-down jobs in Phoenix
Went from doing glue-down vinyl every week to nothing for 8 months. Then suddenly got a 3,000 sq ft office space in Scottsdale. The difference was brutal. I lost my timing on the trowel, was spreading too thin. First 200 sq ft had bubbles I had to pull up and redo. Never letting that kind of gap happen again. Anyone else lose a skill that fast without practice?
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oliviabutler14d ago
That completely wrecked me too after a long gap in Atlanta. Came back to a 1500 sq ft residential job and my first few rows looked like garbage because I was rushing the trowel angle. Had to let the floor sit overnight and peel up the bad section the next morning. What got me was my muscle memory for the notch depth just vanished. Even after ten years of doing it I lost it in less than a year off. Now I keep scrap pieces in the truck and do a few practice rows on plywood if I've been out more than a month. You are not alone on that bubble nightmare.
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angelamurphy14d ago
Yeah the notch depth thing is real. I had a four month break last year and my first floor back I was pulling way too much thinset through the comb. Had to pull up three rows the next morning. @oliviabutler I started doing the same thing with scrap plywood before big jobs now. Also what helped me was marking the trowel angle on the bucket lid with a sharpie. I keep it set to 45 degrees and check it every time I dip. Saves me from guessing when my wrist just does its own thing.
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river_thompson14d ago
Rewatched a video I made of myself troweling once and realized I looked like I was petting the floor instead.
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