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Saw a crew in Bakersfield still hand rodding every pour with a 10 foot screed
Was down in Bakersfield last month for a family thing and drove past a crew pouring a big warehouse slab. No laser screed, no ride on trowel, just three guys with a 10 foot screed and wooden floats working a 5000 square foot pour the old way. It made me think about how we did it before the laser screed got cheap enough for small outfits like mine, and honestly their finish looked tighter than half the stuff I see now. I know the machines are faster but those guys had a feel for the mud you can't program. Anybody out there still running a pour without the laser setup, or have we all just given in?
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jana_fox5026d ago
You ever watch a guy on a laser screed who can't read the mud when it starts setting up on him? I'll admit I'm spoiled by my laser setup now, but I came up hand rodding and floating, and there's a skill there you don't get from pushing a button. Those Bakersfield guys probably learned on pours where the truck showed up late and the mix was hot, so they had to feel their way through it instead of trusting a screen. Half the young guys I hire can run the machine fine but can't tell when a slab is ready to finish, which is a problem when the machine goes down. Honestly my own hand screeding looks like a snake fight these days, so I'm not gonna act like I could hang with them. Good finishing is still about the hands, the tools just changed.
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