Vent: Tried doing a broom finish with a cheap push broom from the hardware store vs a proper concrete broom

I was on a driveway job in Medford last Tuesday and ran out of my usual finishing brooms. Grabbed a $12 push broom from the local hardware store as a backup. What a joke. The bristles were too soft and it left those wavy uneven lines that looked terrible after it dried. My regular 36 inch concrete broom with stiff poly bristles costs like 4 times more but the finish is night and day. Has anyone else tried cutting corners on brooms and regretted it?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor_jones991mo ago

Haha yeah "a broom's a broom" - I had a buddy who said the same thing and tried using a cheap one for his patio. He thought he was saving $40 but ended up with these crazy wavy lines that looked like a snake crawled across the concrete lol. He spent the whole next day grinding it down and redoing it. Now he's got like three expensive brooms in his truck and won't touch anything from the hardware store aisle with those soft bristles. So yeah, your story sounds exactly like his nightmare.

averymartin1mo ago

I used to think a broom's a broom, but after trying a cheap one myself I totally get it now, it's just not worth skimping.

ryan36924d ago

Bought a $7 broom from a dollar store once to sweep my garage and the handle snapped clean in half the third time I used it. Not bent or cracked, just snapped like a twig, threw me off balance and I nearly ate it on the concrete. The bristles fell out in clumps too, like the glue they used was just a joke. Ended up spending $45 on a proper one with a threaded metal handle and stiff poly bristles that still looks new after two years. You really do get what you pay for with brooms, the cheap ones are basically disposable but they cost more in frustration than they save in cash.