Eastern Power Equipment
285 Route 9 PO Box 97 Barrington, NH 03825
Phone 603/664-7776 | Toll Free 866/664-7776 | Fax 603/664-7420 | email chuck@easternpowerequipment.com
Power trowels are smooth operators
Power trowels are becoming more user friendly than ever for homeowners and contractors who don’t do floor finishing as a full-time trade. With a short course of instruction from your A.R.A.-affiliated tool rental professional, you can learn to level concrete.
Walk-behind power trowels
Walk-behind towels are a rental favorite. That’s partly due to user-friendly features, like a drive system that is totally disengaged. This is particularly helpful in assisting high-throttle starts in cold climates. Your A.R.A.-affiliated rental professional can quickly teach you to operate a walk-behind unit like a pro.
Ride-on power trowels
The current trend in the concrete industry is in favor of ride-on power trowels. Ride-on models typically offer floating pans on the bottom, more trowel blades and more surface area than walk-behind units, as well as five or six blades per rotor for greater productivity. These units:
- Increase productivity
- Reduce labor
- Help achieve increasingly stringent industry quality standards
Trowel blades
There are three kinds of trowel blades:
- Float blade: Use this blade first to work the juice to the surface and knock down rocks, preparing the flatwork for the finishing process. Then slip off the floating shoes to use the finishing blades.
- Finishing blade: To finish the process, next run finishing blades at a slight or moderate angle. Running the blades flat grinds the heads of the rivets off and bows the blade.
- Combination of both blades: This blade is typically used in the South. Its high-carbide steel is designed to float first and then be tipped for polishing.
Achieving quality standards
Today, architects and building engineers specify desired flatness and levelness of floors through stringent quality standards called the “sole measuring system.” This system is comprised of:
- FL-number system – which indicates floor levelness
- FF-number system – which indicates floor flatness
Manufacturers of trowels are responding to contractors’ needs to meet specifications for levelness and flatness with machines that measure results.
Trowel attachments
Most A.R.A.-affiliated tool rental centers also rent attachments for power trowels, including:
- Grinding blocks to grind down the screed marks on the concrete
- Float pans or discs, which can be attached to a troweling machine to smooth out an epoxy coating over a concrete floor
- Gasoline-powered bull floats, which use a small gasoline engine on a very long pole to finish the concrete much faster