Pool Deck Resurfacing
You break, we fix! Just kidding! Actually, this pool deck resurfacing project in Southlake, TX got started as the result of a contractor leaving a poor finish on the concrete pool deck.
The surface was pockmarked and uneven, water was pooling (no pun intended) in spots, and the concrete had two different colors. As it was a brand new pool deck, the homeowner was not too happy with how it looked and called us to see if we could help. One look at it and we knew right away that a concrete overlay would solve their problems.
An overlay is ideal for pool deck resurfacing as it can resolve minor issues for a very economical price, especially when compared to tearing it out and repouring it.
Some of the common problems we are asked to fix are color variations, a little bit of unevenness, pitting, hairline cracking, and staining (usually from Mother Nature). What it can’t do is repair major issues such as wide cracks or concrete that has been “heaved”, i.e., lifted up or dropped down by tree roots or ground swelling.
So just what is an overlay? It is a thin layer of a polymer enhanced cement that we skim over your existing concrete slab. By that we mean it is cement that has a special glue mixed in with it that allows it to stick on to concrete in a thin layer. Without the glue, the thin concrete coat would just peel right off.
This thin layer of concrete, often called an overlay (as we are laying it over your concrete floor), allows us to correct minor issues such as leveling; it fills in holes and pits, covers cracks, and buries stains under a new layer of concrete.
It’s tough—strong enough for use in many exterior applications such as driveways, sidewalks, porches, patios, and even pool deck resurfacing.
Finally, an overlay can be intentionally stained to create a wide assortment of colors and scored (cut) into a tile or stone pattern.
You might think we did this as you see large squares in the final finish but these are actually control joints that the original contractor had placed in the pool deck.
He did this part correctly. Control joints are lines that deliberately weaken the concrete. The reason is that concrete can crack and if it does you want that crack to follow the path of least resistance. Wherever the concrete is weaker, if it is going to crack, then it will have a tendency to do so in this control joint making that crack next to invisible.
Whenever we apply an overlay we have to “honor” those control joints. By that we mean that we don’t try to level out or bury the joints, when we apply our material we pull most of it out of the joint leaving behind just a thin coating.
If we didn’t, we would most certainly get a call a few months later asking why you can see the pattern in the floor again after we had made it go away. It’s because the cracks in the control joints are reappearing.
As for our Southlake, TX project, after applying the pool deck resurfacing overlay, we sprayed on a light brown dye stain and protected it all with two coats of a solvent based acrylic sealer. It was just what they wanted at a price they could afford, especially compared to having it all torn out and starting from scratch.
