Warning: that cheap power trowel from Harbor Freight cost me $600

Bought a $399 power trowel last spring to save cash. Took it on a 4000 sq ft garage floor in Phoenix. Blade system seized up halfway through the second pass. Had to rent a contractor grade one for $200 and lost the whole afternoon fixing the mess. Cheap tool burned me on time and materials. Anyone else get bit by budget equipment on a big pour?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan_mason13d ago

Oh man, I did something similar with a cheap concrete vibrator last year. Thought I was being smart saving 150 bucks, and it died halfway through a sidewalk pour. Ended up with honeycomb spots all over the place and had to patch it with grout. My wife still calls it the 'swiss cheese sidewalk' whenever we walk past it. Learned the hard way that 'buy once, cry once' is real with concrete tools.

hayden_nelson8513d ago

Your wife calling it "swiss cheese sidewalk" is funny but honestly that's on you for not checking the tool before you started. Cheap stuff can work fine if you're doing the occasional small job. I've had a $40 Harbor Freight vibrator for three years now and it's still going. Ran it through a dozen slabs no problem. The trick is not to push it harder than it's meant to go. You probably ran it nonstop for an hour straight. Those cheap ones need breaks every 10-15 minutes. Let it cool down and they last way longer than people give them credit for.