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A guy on a job in Kansas City showed me a different way to edge a patio
We were finishing a stamped concrete patio and I was using a standard edger, getting frustrated with the clean-up. The foreman, a guy named Ray, took my tool, flipped it over, and ran the back side along the form instead. It left a smoother line and pushed the slurry back onto the slab. Has anyone else tried that trick with a regular edger?
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margaretr765mo ago
Oh man, that's a solid trick! I gotta ask, was he using a regular metal edger or one of those plastic ones? I feel like the plastic might flex too much and not give you that clean line. Also, did you have to adjust the pressure at all, or just run it like normal?
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sarah_davis5mo ago
My buddy tried this last spring with his old metal edger. He said the trick totally worked but he had to press down way harder than usual (which kinda surprised him). The line came out super clean though, no tearing at all. He actually mentioned the same thing you did, @margaretr76, about plastic ones probably flexing and messing it up. He was using a pretty heavy-duty tool, so maybe that's the key. I'd be nervous to try it with a lighter model.
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mia1025mo ago
Ever notice how cheap tools always fail first?
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henry1503mo ago
Yeah I've done this a bunch actually. It works way better than people think, especially on a fresh pour where you want that crisp edge without gouging the slab. But you gotta have a heavy edger, like a cast iron one or a thick steel model. The cheap stamped metal ones just bend and skip all over the place, making a mess instead of a clean line. My old foreman showed me this trick years ago and I've never gone back to using it the "right" way since. The key is not to press down crazy hard, just let the weight of the tool do the work and keep a steady pace so the slurry flows back instead of piling up. Honestly I feel like half the time we overcomplicate concrete finishing, and the old school guys just found these hacks that work way better.
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