Selecting a Floor Trowl Amoung the Different Trowls and Tools for Flooring - June 15th 2011

Unless you are a floor installer, you would have no idea that so many different kinds of floor trowels exist, let alone the other endless options of tools for flooring. There is even a mechanized floor trowel machine which truly stupefied me! More about it later. But as far as hand trowels, there are high carbon steel ones that feature a completely stainless steel blade with rubber handles, unless you desire a wooden handle, and that’s obtainable too. There are special tile adhesive trowels for setting up tile adhesive, and these are easily recognizable by their teeth on all sides of the trowel. In the field of laying floors, these are referred to as square notched, and not teeth.

Or you may wish a trowel that is described as being a spring steel paneled polished trowel that has a special soft grip handle too. Then, you may desire to have a bullnose trowel, complete with an alloy steel riveted blade that even features a double hang wooden handle.

Some margin trowels are notched, and some are not, depending on the floor job you are tackling. Also, you will find trowels in a plethora of sizes, some as tiny as 1 1/16" X 1/16" X 1/16" sq notch and some larger ones such as 2 1/16" x 1/32" x 1/32". Prices vary of course depending on sizes and how big the order is, a case being much cheaper of course than the single trowel. As in anything, the economy model got as low as $2.29 each when searching for it.

As in most tools, there is also a pointer floor trowel. No, that does not mean that it is ill mannered and points, bur rather that it comes to a point. Most tools or almost any kind of tool comes with either a rounded edge or a pointed edge depending on the job that will be accomplished with it. Bucket trowels are rather self-explanatory, but cam-notched trowels are not. Now these come with U notches, SQ notches, or V notches, as desired. What these little babies do is to allow you to set where you want the handle and the handle is interchangeable from the blade, thus blades and handles can be purchased separately is you so desire. This would stop you from having to reset the handle, one supposes.

Various trowels come with choices of handle, from wooden handles, to steel handles down to plastic handles. One would imagine that it’s all a matter of habit as well as price, although there is an all-plastic trowel.

Back to telling you about the power trowelers, it is said that using one will significantly increase the efficiency, yield and superiority of the finished product.  There are two types, a riding model, or a walk-behind model. Unless you are in the concrete business of course you would prefer to rent this kind of mechanized floor trowel piece of equipment. The machine uses gasoline, oil and water and has a battery to start it.