Finishing

Summary

Finishing - is the act of preparing the exposed surface of a concrete slab for its intended use.

Technical Information

A concrete floor slab can be finished in many ways, depending on its intended use:

Screeding – This is carried out on all floors. It spreads the concrete evenly to the required surface level, giving the surface a basic level of flatness and levelness.
Floating – This is carried out on all floors. It brings the fat to the floor surface, allowing finishes which rely on surface fat, such as trowelling, to be performed.
Trowelling – This is mainly carried out on internal floor slabs. It squeezes water out of the paste closest to the surface, densifying and sealing it to provide a tough working surface.
Texturing of the surface – This is carried out on slabs where slip resistance is important and flatness isn’t an issue e.g. external slabs.

The most important aspect to consider when applying these finishes is the timing of each process. If the timing is misjudged, it can completely ruin the final finish in some cases.

All of these finishing methods can be carried out by hand. However, for large surface areas, such as industrial concrete floors, machines are used.