This video was sent in by Norman from Puerto Rico. Norman purchased two screeds a few months ago to use on a large road project his company was pouring in central Puerto Rico. We were excited to receive this video and loved how we were able to check out the TTI Screedright Pro in action thousands of miles away. It looks as if the concrete company formed up two very long strips of road and then poured each side in one long concrete pour. No doubt the concrete screed quickened the process along and alleviated wear and tear on the crew.
Because the TTI Screedright Pro utilizes a wooden 2 X 4, it can be easily shipped to most locations. Aluminum screed bars are costly to ship and often require special truck shipping. The TTI Screedright Pro ships in one box and comes ready to go. The operator has to attach the handle bar, add a wooden screed bar and add gas.
Another reason that the TTI Screedright Pro is a popular choice is that the owner can cut the screed bar to his desired length for each project. No need to carry around various sizes of screed bars. Thanks for sending in this video Norman!
Category : Blog &Concrete Blog &Concrete Companies &Concrete Happenings &Tools of the Trade
Tom and crew were working on boxing up a new run of concrete screeds recently. Karen grabbed the video camera and got a few shots.
The TTI Screedright Pro ships in one box and is lightweight enough to go UPS. Because this concrete screed utilizes a wooden 2 X 4 as a screed bar, there is no large expensive screed bar to ship.
The TTI Screedright Pro is usually shipped same day and takes anywhere from one to five business days to arrive.
Shipping outside the United States is optional as well.
Category : Blog &Concrete Blog &Concrete Happenings &Tools of the Trade
The TTI Screedright Pro utilizes a wooden 2X4 as a screed bar. Every so often Tom gets the question: “Can I use an aluminum bar on your screed?” Sometimes concrete guys like to use a metal tube as a screed bar or they have purchased several sizes of aluminum screed bars and want to use them.
While the TTI Screedright Pro was originally designed to accept a wooden 2″ X 4″, it is possible to use an aluminum screed bar as long as the width is 1 1/2 inches. The ears on the concrete screed are designed to saddle over a 2″ X 4″ , which is actually 1 1/2″ wide.
Trade Tool Innovations is currently looking into offering a Screedright Pro that accepts a magnesium screed bar. The new screed owner would have the option of using a 2″ wide magnesium screed bar or a wooden 2″ X 4″ by simply adding a 1/2″ plywood shim.
Concrete people around the world… let us know what you prefer! Are you a 2″ X 4″ guy or a magnesium only guy? If you like the idea of using an aluminum screed bar, let us know and tell us why! We will toss in free shipping when we get the new screed design up and running.
We will always offer the 2″ X 4″ design. We have noticed that some concrete professionals and hobbyist prefer the ease of cutting the screed bar to fit the job.
Category : Blog &Concrete Blog &Concrete Happenings &Tools of the Trade
I finally put a video together of our stop-in to see Steve at Triton Marine Construction in Oahu Hawaii. Triton Marine purchased two concrete screeds to use for their company. After shipping them UPS to Hawaii, Steve and crew retrofitted the screed to meet their need. They work on the famous “Cam Highway” on Oahu by repairing the concrete decking. Steve told us that they use a fast drying quick lay concrete to patch up spots on the highway and then use the TTI Screedright Pro to strike off the wet concrete. The concrete screed is a big help in expediting fast, flat concrete pours like the highway decking repair in Hawaii.
Triton Marine extended the handle bars on the TTI Screedright Pro to reach across the highway. Triton Marine also modified the screed to accept a true 2″ X 4″ magnesium screed bar.
The damaged highway decking is first sprayed with a high power stream of water that leaves the steel reinforcement exposed. The area is then filled with concrete and struck off with the concrete screed. The process is so efficient that the repaired stretch of highway is ready for traffic in a matter of hours.
We had a great trip and one of the highlights was certainly seeing the screed on the job site! Mahalo Steve and Triton Marine!
Category : Blog &Concrete Blog &Concrete Companies &Concrete Happenings &Tools of the Trade
I wanted to include a short article on a scam that many of the concrete companies may experience. If you get a notice in the mail from a company “US-YELLOW” Yellow Pages, please be aware that it is somewhat of a scam.
The paper work looks like a simple form to fill out to update your company information for publication in a Yellow Book type phone book. The company even goes so far as to include “walking fingers” in the logo. This is not the old “let your fingers do the walking” Yellow Pages we all remember as kids.
If you fill out your “updated” information, and mail back the form in their postage paid envelope, you will receive a bill in the future outlining how you owe them around $229 for advertising fees. The “agreement” is in very small print. The even have the nerve to mail you back a copy of what you “signed” along with your bill. I will post a picture of the yellow page scam on this page.
I suppose I have come up with the philosophy that I am not going to pay to be in ANY type of directory. I often receive another notice from some sort of Manufacturer Directory and find that the story is the same there. I simply let people know that I am not interested in paying to be in a directory, book form or internet.
There are easy ways to list your company for free on the internet, so people can find you through search engines like Yahoo and Google. Also, stick with a few local phone books as well.
Category : Blog &Tools of the Trade
Our little company is swimming in the big pool! Companies that supply specialty tools for companies and individuals who build the world are up against all kinds of “big box” people. Something as simple as ordering engines in the good old USA can be a bit tricky for a small company.
We recently completed another run of our concrete tool, the TTI Screedright Pro. Steel parts come from a shop in Fort Collins Colorado, nuts and bolts are ordered from various manufacturers, the “owners manual” is printed at our local print shop, and the whole thing is assembled at our shop.
All except the engines… engines are not made in America anymore. After waiting and waiting for the “slow boat from China” to FINALLY get here, our next run of screeds are boxed and ready to go… just in time for the winter season.�
Category : Tools of the Trade
We here at Trade Tool Innovations experienced a first this past weekend! We sold our first concrete screed from our shop! We have been plugging away in the past couple of years, advertising on the internet, making a few phone calls, and don’t get me wrong… we’ve shipped many out! They have gone up north to Olympia Washington and as far south as Tortola (in the British Virgin Islands). Everytime we ship a concrete screed out, we put a little pin in our map on the wall. Over the years it has been exciting to see where they have shipped out and to hear from all those who purchased one. We had, however, not had a “customer at the door” yet… except for our prototype that Dean Mercil purchased after trying it out for us:).
Back to the story…
It was a snowy Saturday morning in March… the phone rang… it was Mike from Torrington Wyoming, in town for the weekend. “Can I come over and see your screed”? He asked. “Sure” I said. And the rest is history.
Trade Tool Innovations is about “boxing” your tool for you… not “big box”. We enjoy staying in touch with those individuals and companies that purchase our screed. It is a different business model from most companies out there.Â
We give Goshen County Construction a big hello and wish them well in all their concrete adventures. More than that… we LOVE hearing how things are going!
Category : Tools of the Trade
There is really ONLY one way a true tool is invented… out of necessity… or frustration. When someone is finally frustrated by how things are going… that someone is more than likely to start thinking of better ways to do what ever it is that is frustrating him/her.
 This was a familiar site to young Tom G. He has been helping his dad pour concrete since he could stand and hold a bull float. You see, LeRoy, Tom’s dad, is no dummy. He had three sons and one daughter. And when it came time to pour concrete… you guessed it… LeRoy would hand two out of the four the dreaded “screed bar”. So everyother turn was Tom G’s.
As the years passed by, Tom G thought to himself “there MUST be a better way!’ Especially because, I forgot to mention, Tom G was the youngest out of the four syblings and it seemed as if HIS turn at the end of the screed bar came a little more often than his brothers or sister. But enough of sybiling rilvary… it doesn’t play much into the over all story.
Tom G. began to draw out and design his new “better way”! Sure he’d seen other concrete screeds come and go. He’d seen the big one that utilizes a couple of 2″X4″‘s… his dad even had a notion to use one once when he picked one up at a local auction. It was a bit big though… kind of awkward to handle.Â
Then there were the little “weedeater” type screeds. Light weight, aluminum board…etc. But Tom G being the cheapo he is wasn’t about to drain his savings to purchase screed board after screed board so he had the correct length for each pour.
Back to the “better way”… a heavy duty all steel frame (Tom G could weld it himself) that utilizes one wooden screed bar that can be trimmed to the specific length of each pour. He’d even include a little ditty he made up called “crown clamps”… (his wife affectionatly calls “clown cramps”) that would give a little bend to the board if one needed to slop the slab a bit.
The first TTI screed was born… I guess you could say a boy… it was blue. Small improvements have been made here and there to help create a lighter weight machine (58 lbs) yet not so light weight that it blows away in the Wyoming wind. It is a solid “man’s screed”. The origional screeds shipped out in three separate boxes… but Tom G redesigned the newer red model to ship in one standard size box (did I mention he is a cheapo?).
“Concrete Screed in Grass”
Category : Tools of the Trade