Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee

Project: Residential Pool Deck – Decorative Concrete Overlay System

Installation by: Architectural Concrete Finishes

Material Supplier: SureCrete Design

Total Sq Ft: 960 sq ft

Products Used: SCR, SureSpray, Flash Patch, Eco-Stain, SureSeal 20%

With the damage that cold winters can have on concrete surfaces, you can imagine how a pool deck would look over time. The situation for this project in Tennessee is an existing broom finished concrete pool deck with multiple cracks and a old weathered look to the surface. If you where the homeowner you are probably thinking the same thing, it’s time we created a nicer aesthetic look to our outdoor living area. Let’s look at how the team at Architectural Concrete Finishes (ACF) tackled this pool deck makeover and what obstacles they encountered.

This particular client had a short schedule in which the new pool deck makeover could take place, the time frame given was one week. Not typically a difficult task, except the weather was not going to cooperate that well with showers coming during the middle part. This required the team at ACF to work 28 hours over 2 days.

With the pool deck having cracks, they chose to use an epoxy crack treatment system. They followed that up by patching any low concrete areas with Flash Patch. This material allowed for a quick setup time, typically 30-45 minutes, and allowed them to quickly get to the base coat of the pool deck makeover. ACF choose to use the latest technology in resurfacing concrete overlays, the product is called SureSpray. What makes this material desirable is its simplicity and bonding strength. It is a single component mix design, “just add water”, and it is zero VOC making it an Eco-friendly concrete overlay.

The base coat of SureSpray was applied with a stand up squeegee and left to dry overnight. The next morning they used 1/2″ reinforced tape to create 48″ square patterns on a 45 degree angle. Along the coping of the pool they created a 12″ border to complete the design of the pool deck makeover. Once the tape pattern was completed, they mixed up some more SureSpray but used an air compressor with a hopper gun to create the top surface design. Allowing the top coat to dry for several hours, they began the first phase of color. Keeping with the Eco-friendly product theme, they used Eco-Stain. Espresso was the color chosen and it was mixed with water 6-1 to create the desired color scheme. After the stain dried, they pulled the reinforced tape to reveal the pattern and began to put the first coat of sealer on the surface. The used brushes along the area close to the coping in order not to prematurely seal that area.

Once the sealer cured hard enough, they began staining the 12″ coping border with Espresso Eco-Stain at full strength, leaving a rich and much darker brown border. At this point they used a HVLP gun to spray the stain on the border. This tool is neat because it allows you to control the amount of a material going to the pool deck surface and it creates a solid look rather than a modeled look seen from typical pump up sprayers. Once the stained coping was dry, the entire pool deck received its final coat of sealer, SureSeal 30% clear.

Location: Downers Grove, Illinois

Project: Resurfacing a commercial floor

Installation by: CCI Flooring, Inc.

Total Sq Ft: 20,000

The owner of a Grocery store in Downers Grove, Illinois needed to create a new atmosphere for his daily clientele. The existing floor had ceramic tile and VCT that had to be removed first. After removal the crew at CCI Flooring began the restoration of the base floor with a deep patching material called Flash Patch. Once the floor was restored to a level, sound surface, they began the installation of the Old Village Look. The process for design and application was managed by 3 crews.

The first crew from CCI Flooring worked on the  BDC-UF Flake System in the main aisles and walk ways. The remaining crew worked on the 10,000 sq ft of Stenciled decorative concrete thin overlay called SureSpray. This system required a base coat that was integrally colored and spray down. Although this material is not considered a self leveling material, it laid down flat. Once the base coat was dry to touch they applied the stencil and began the creation of the flagstone decorative concrete look.

An interesting obstacle that CCI Flooring had to overcome was the Flagstone pattern sq ft. The original order was for 7,000 sq ft. Before the project ended, the owner liked the decorative concrete look so much that he added an additional 3,000 sq ft. This required the reuse of the original stencil, as they did not have time to order additional ones in.

As the projected was nearing its completion CCI Flooring worked with SureCrete Design to choose the right sealer that could not only protect the decorative concrete look designed but also handle the constant wear pattern of the stores clientele. They choose to apply 2 coats of Dura-Kote Epoxy 100, a zero VOC sealer. They then applied one coat of Dura-Kote Hi Gloss Polyurethane. The purpose of the Polyurethane sealer coat, was to  provide UV stablility to the epoxy and act as the protective gloss  finish.