Pool Deck Resurfacing in New Braunfels, TX

Spray texture (knockdown) acrylic

A spray deck is an acrylic, water-based texture sprayed onto the concrete and then "knocked" down with the edge of a trowel. Two acrylic finish coats then add the color and a layer of protection. The maker of one such coating calls the result slip resistant and comfortable on bare feet. Because it bonds chemically, it says, the coating can go on old or new concrete. It keeps the deck's existing control joints, so the slab can still expand and contract.

Cool deck toppings

Kool Deck, a cement topping its maker invented in 1962, is splashed on with a brush and troweled to a texture 1/8 inch thick. The finished surface should be roughly 40% smooth and 60% hollows, which the maker says prevents crazing (fine surface cracks). On an existing deck, the concrete is acid-etched and coated with a bonding agent first. The fresh topping then stays under plastic for two days, and no longer. The maker's schedule after that:

• no contact with the deck for 48 hours;
• light walking after 3 days;
• normal walking after 14 days;
• heavy patio furniture after 28 days.

Cement resurfacers, pavers and painted decks

Other cement-based deck coatings can recoat an old cement coating or a pebble deck, as long as it hasn't been painted or sealed, one maker says. A thin concrete resurfacer can go on from a feather edge (tapered to almost nothing) up to 1/2 inch thick. Its maker warns that cracks in the slab can still show through, especially where joints are missing or the slab settles. Pavers are another route. The Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute says they can go over existing concrete once cracks 3/8 inch or wider are patched.

Painted decks need extra work. The spray coating above can't go over paint, and the cement coatings want paint stripped by water blasting, sandblasting or wire brushing first.

Summer heat and a cooler surface

New Braunfels averages 116.8 days a year at 90°F or hotter, on federal climate averages for 1991–2020. How hot a deck gets depends on how much sunlight it absorbs. Gray concrete and dark stone soak up heat and hold it, while light colors reflect more, one acrylic coating maker explains. Of three colors it lists, its lightest rates 75 on the solar reflectance index (a measure of how much sun a surface reflects), and its darkest gray rates 21.

Makers' heat claims don't share a common test. One coating maker says plain concrete can reach 135°F or more on a sunny day, and that its coating can cut surface temperature by up to 20°F. Kool Deck's maker says only that its topping "significantly lowers" the concrete's surface temperature. Treat each as that maker's own claim.

Heat limits the work, too. For best results, Kool Deck's maker wants the air at 50°F and rising, and no hotter than 90°F. July here averages 27.9 days at 90°F or more.

Clay soil under the slab

Expansive soils swell and lift a slab when wet, then shrink and let it settle when dry, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation says. The federal soil survey for Comal and Hays counties names Houston Black, Heiden, Branyon and Anhalt among the local clays that swell and shrink through wet and dry spells. A coating can't stop that movement, and one cement-coating maker accepts no responsibility for damage caused by it. Lake Dunlap's most widely mapped soil, Queeny gravelly loam, scores 4.5 on the federal shrink-swell measure, against 12 for Houston Black clay. Both are found there, and New Braunfels Quality Pool Resurfacing offers pool deck resurfacing in Lake Dunlap.

Good drainage helps limit swings in soil moisture, the agency adds. The city's pool code caps deck slope at 1/2 inch per foot. It also wants no more than 1/8 inch of water standing on the deck 20 minutes after water stops reaching it.

Freezes and scaling

Freezes are far less frequent, at 32.0 nights a year at or below 32°F. When they come, repeated freezing and thawing can flake the top off concrete that is soaked with water. The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association calls that scaling. It recommends air-entrained concrete, which holds tiny air bubbles, for outdoor slabs. Scaling can also come from finishing mistakes, such as troweling too early, with no freeze at all.

Permits for deck work

The city takes Deck/Patio and Flatwork permit applications online. Its fee schedule charges $0.25 per square foot for residential flatwork, patios and decks. Nothing the city publishes says whether a new coating on an existing deck needs a permit. Development Services, the city's permit office, can answer that before a recoat is booked. Universal City puts decks and concrete flatwork on its own permit list, which matters for pool deck resurfacing in Universal City as well.