I switched from a standard 10-inch trowel to a 12-inch Marshalltown finishing trowel about six months back, and the difference in my speed on flatwork is wild.

Honestly, the extra two inches means I'm laying and buttering a whole extra brick per spread, which might not sound like much but it adds up to saving me nearly an hour on a standard 8-foot run, so has anyone else made a switch like that and noticed a real time save?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lee2mo ago

A 12-inch trowel can't butter a whole extra brick, that math seems a bit off lol.

craig.mila2mo agoMost Upvoted

Look, @the_lee, you're right to call that out. I mean, a 12-inch trowel is what, maybe an inch and a half wide? You're not getting a full brick's worth of mortar on there, idk who did that math. Maybe it's just me but you'd be lucky to butter half a brick with a single load. The numbers have to make sense on the wall.

the_linda2mo ago

Reminds me of watching my uncle try to grout a patio with a putty knife. He was so sure he could cover more ground, ended up with these weird thin spots. Took him twice as long to go back and fix it all.