Was dead set against using colored hardener on that driveway job last spring

I've been doing concrete work for about 12 years now and always figured colored hardener was just a way to sell homeowners on something fancy that'll fade in a season. A contractor I sub for in Austin kept pushing me to use it on a big residential driveway, said it would hide the inevitable imperfections better than plain gray. I rolled my eyes but went along with it since he was paying. We used a charcoal gray shade, about 60 pounds for a 400 square foot slab. After we finished curing and I saw how it blended all the little trowel marks and made the whole thing look smooth, I changed my mind completely. Now I've got two more jobs lined up where the customer wants colored hardener and I'm actually recommending it instead of fighting against it. Has anyone here had the opposite experience where colored hardener messed up their finish?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_ellis8510d agoMost Upvoted

Glad I'm not the only one who had a change of heart on this stuff. Did the exact same thing on a driveway last fall and it saved me from having to make excuses for some real rough spots in the finish (you know, where the troweling just didn't cooperate).

jade_johnson10d ago

Jumped right into trying it myself after watching a buddy do the same thing, @joseph_ellis85, and yeah it's a total game changer for those spots where the mix just won't cooperate. Takes all the pressure off having to explain why the troweling came out uneven.

kim.zara9d ago

Exactly what happened to me on a job last month, turned a mediocre pour into something I was proud of.