How to patch concrete knock-down texture?

[Steve]

Greetings,

I have to patch some knockdown concrete texture on a patio. The client removed a metal fence, and there are now smooth square spots where the bases were screwed to the patio. Each spot is about 4" x 4". The texture was originally sprayed on then knocked down with a float.

I'm planning to make a fairly thick mixture of concrete patch, put it on the bare spots in blobs, and knock it down with a trowel. Luckily it's just concrete gray. I know I can't match the color or texture perfectly, at least now without spending more time than the client wants to pay for.

I did a Google search, but found no how-to sites for patching, only for from-scratch jobs. Am I doing this right? Any sneaky tricks? All suggestions are welcome.

[dadiOH]

Sounds right to me. The only hard part that I can see is getting the right sized and sufficient blobs in the rather smallish area. I once had to do similar...made my mix on the thin side, dipped a coarse bristle brush in and blobbed by smacking the loaded brush against my other hand. Just wiped off over spatter.

[Steve]

"dadiOH" wrote on 18 Aug 2007 in group alt.home.repair:

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought of having rags ready to wipe off the "overspray". I'll try both thick and thin mixes to see which works better in this case.

[Oren]

What does the client want?

Knock-down texture on inside walls and outside patios are different - I guess.

Any knock down texture is hard to replicate. Drive your self nuts, and achieve a reasonable proximity too your liking.

Change your verbiage?

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

[gfretwell]

I would practice on another spot like a piece of plywood. It is very hard to match someone elses knockdown technique. When my wife was building houses she could recognize different guy's work by the "random" patterns they made.