clairen85•10d agoMost Upvoted

Ditch the bull floats for a magnesium on big warehouse floors

I spent 3 years doing warehouse slabs the old way, bull floating everything flat and then chasing it with a fresno. Foreman said that's how it's done. Last month on a 50,000 sq ft job in Dallas, my bull float handle broke halfway through the pour. Grabbed a magnesium hand float just to finish the day, and man, that changed my approach. The magnesium takes off that thin film way faster and leaves a denser surface with less scraping. I was getting a flatter floor with fewer passes, and the joints looked cleaner too. Now I only use the bull float for the first rough pass if the mix is stiff, then straight to magnesium. Has anyone else tried skipping the bull float on large pours, or am I missing something?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.gavin10d ago

Woah hold up there. I gotta push back hard on this one. You're talking about a 50,000 sq ft floor and ditching the bull float? That's asking for trouble if you ask me. A magnesium hand float just doesn't give you the same control over long spans, especially if the mix is even a little bit wet. You'll end up chasing bird baths and low spots that a bull float would have knocked flat in the first pass.

barbarah199d ago

Yep, I read that wet mixes and bull floats are a disaster combo.

drewgonzalez10d ago

You said "chasing bird baths" and that hit home. Last year we had a 30,000 footer in Houston where the mix was super wet. I mean like soup. Guy doing the bull float just kept pushing that thin layer around, making these little valleys everywhere. Ended up having to come back the next day and grind half the floor. Best part was the GC blamed us for the mix too.