Hot take: broom finish is way tougher than people give it credit for

I was at a concrete supply shop last Tuesday and grabbed a 2019 issue of Concrete Construction magazine off the rack. There was a study in there showing broom finish actually has better skid resistance than exposed aggregate in wet conditions, like 20% better on testing. Everyone I work with swears by aggregate for driveways but the numbers don't lie. Has anyone else seen different data on this or is broom just seen as the cheap option?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_davis9028d ago

My uncle poured his own driveway back in '07 with a standard broom finish and that thing still looks almost new. He's got a '72 Ford F-250 that leaks oil constantly and it just beads right off the surface, no staining at all. Funny thing is he used a push broom someone left at a jobsite and it left these weird wavy lines that actually look kind of cool now, like a custom pattern. But yeah the skid resistance thing makes total sense, I've almost busted my butt on wet aggregate more times than I can count.

piperwhite25d ago

Oh man, that wavy line thing actually sounds sick, I've seen guys try to replicate that on purpose and it never looks as good as when it happens by accident. @iris_davis90 your uncle got lucky with that oil beading too, I've had to seal a couple driveways where the oil just soaked right in and left these nasty black spots. But yeah, the broom finish is seriously underrated for traction, my buddy slipped on his stamped concrete patio last summer and broke his wrist, so I'm team broom all the way now.