![]() “Even if there is no color in the concrete, you can get different shades.”ĭepending on the conditions of the pour, admixtures can enhance the brooming possibilities by buying the contractor some time and making the pour dry more evenly. “We got away from brooming a few years ago because it can change the shade of the concrete and create very uneven colors,” he says. Getting on the concrete surface too early or too lateĬontractors like Ray Hight with California-based Tom Ralston Concrete cautions that ensuring consistency in brooming, especially with colored concrete, can be tricky.Getting on the concrete too early can create a weak surface getting on it too late can mean the strokes won’t make the desired indentations. “But, really, it all has to do with timing and when you get on the concrete.” “The general rule of thumb is the stiffer the bristles, the coarser the finish,” notes Levig. ![]() ![]() Dry, soft-bristled brooms are best suited for creating medium to fine textures. A damp, stiff- bristled broom, for instance, can produce a coarse texture, perfect for heavy traffic areas and sloping surfaces. The moisture content of the brush is also critical to creating various looks. That doesn’t happen in traditional brush systems.” The beauty of the system is that you only need to take one pass to get what you want. “But with our handleless system, you can go as far as 200 feet if you want and still get consistent and even strokes. “Normally, you can’t go wider than about 30 feet with a brush,” notes Doug Rouse, Marion’s general manager. The system is equipped with color-coded brushes of different sizes and textures, an angle adjustment device and an adaptor to convert to a twin-brush system. Marion’s handleless finishing system, the Chameleon Trac II, for instance, allows contractors to finish pours that are awkward and to reach farther than traditional brushes extend. in Iowa have developed systems specifically for brooming concrete. In recent years, brush manufacturers such as Marion Brush Co. Horsehair brooms create finer textures than do the synthetic varieties, although manmade brushes are manufactured in various diameters, allowing contractors the flexibility of fashioning dramatically different looks. Brushes come in either hand or push varieties. There are essentially two types of brooms - those made of horsehair and those made of synthetic materials such as nylon. The finished look can vary widely, however, depending on how soon the brooming is done, the texture of the bristles and whether the concrete surface is wet or dry. At its most elementary, contractors simply push or pull a broom across the concrete while the pour is still soft. The basics of creating brushed finishes are fairly simple - brooming concrete is not that much different from sweeping the floor with a broom.
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