Tilting the trowel stopped my blister problem, but my crew disagrees.

I had blisters on a garage floor pour recently. I tried tilting my trowel and it worked, but my foreman says to watch the set time more closely. What do you think is the key to avoiding blisters?

4 comments

4 Comments

palmer.holly1mo ago

Totally, that trowel tilt is a game changer. I did my own garage slab last fall and was fighting blisters until I angled the trowel just a bit, maybe 5-10 degrees. You can feel it stop pushing air ahead of the blade. Your foreman's spot on about the timing too, if it's setting up too fast you're kinda stuck no matter what you do.

ray_williams9d ago

Seems like a lot of fuss over a few air bubbles. Concrete's gonna do what it wants anyway.

jordancarr1mo ago

I read in Concrete Construction magazine that blisters come from trapped air and bleed water. Your foreman's right about timing, but the trowel angle helps release that pressure too. It's probably both things working together.

aliceb801mo ago

Watched my uncle try to finish his garage floor and those blisters popped up like CRAZY. He was convinced it was the mix, but his buddy pointed out the trowel was almost parallel to the surface. That angle thing is NO JOKE, it really does trap air underneath. Sometimes you need that second pair of eyes to spot the simple stuff. Whole experience taught me that theory and practice don't always match up.