I am going to pour a 4x5 or so concrete pad for our enormous stainless steel grill. (it will be adjacent to the old pad so that the width of the two pads together will be around 7-8 feet).
I know that I have to make borders with wood (for boundary with the soil and felt (for boundary with existing concrete). But how would I make nice rounded edges? With a finger?
i
Save your finger for probing deep recesses as needed. There is a tool made just for edges. Should be able to find one at any good building supply or hardware store.
Good one!
Try a finishing trowel. It is has a curved edge on one side of it.
For a small job like yours, you could make an edge trowel from a piece of sheet metal. Just round an edge and draw it along where the concrete meets the forms.
I believe there is a special trowl you can use.... I imagine you'd find one in better hardware stores... you can probably make a cheap one from a cross section of PVC pipe which is about the radius of the curve you want to make.
you might have to let the crete set up a little before trowling... lest you get too much slump when you remove the form on the edge you want to curve.
if you just want a "bullnose" (90 deg with a very small radius curve to make it not sharp) edge, you can probably do this with the form in place.
alternately, you can use a cut length of PVC in the form and cast it upsidedown then remove it later.... bust most concrete applications i've seen/read about have the person cast the counter in place.
hope this helps.
thank you gents. If I find a piece of sheetmetal, I will just make the trovel. too lazy to drive to the store
i
I needed to do the same thing to some 3x3 pads I put in. Didn't have an edger, and my junky neighbor who has two of everything didn't have one either. So, I just took a flat piece of sheetmetal and stuck it in next to the wood and formed the edges by hand. Wait until the concrete has started to get a little like jello, and you can do it easily. When I took the form off, it looked just as good as an edger.
Or, you can shoot down to Homer's and get an edger for cheap.
Steve
The tool you are looking for is called an edger. It is not a finishing trowel, you can't make an adequate one from a scrap of sheet metal, you can't make it with a chunk of PVC pipe. If you have never used one before, you might have some difficulty making a store bought one work. Don't get on the concrete too early, don't force the rolled edge down into the concrete, don't force the edger too deep for the float to bring the surface back up, make sure you float out the ridge left by the inside of the edger, get the weight off your broom (broom finish?) well before the edge so you don't drag slurry onto your edge.
Tell us how it comes out.
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