A full pool surround and patio finished in a light warm stone blend with an anti-slip aggregate broadcast into the final clear coat. The light tone keeps the surface from loading up with heat in full sun, and the encapsulated aggregate gives grip underfoot that does not wash off. This is a finish study of a real deck we photographed, not a record of a specific job.
Before — bare slab
After — coated and flaked
Exterior decks are the job where two decisions matter more than anything else: how light the color is, and whether there is aggregate in the final coat. Get both right and the deck is cooler and grippier than the concrete it replaced. Get either wrong and people notice on the first hot afternoon.
A full pool surround running out into the wider patio and yard, uninterrupted, in a warm light stone blend. Open, unshaded, and used barefoot.
Surface temperature outdoors is driven by how much sunlight a surface absorbs rather than reflects, and that is almost entirely a function of color. A light blend like this reflects most of what hits it and runs cooler than the dark pavers or stained concrete it would otherwise be competing with. A charcoal deck in this position would be uncomfortable every July afternoon.
Slip resistance here is not a hope, it is a specification. A fine graded anti-slip aggregate is broadcast into the clear polyaspartic while it is still wet, then a second clear coat locks it in. Because it is encapsulated in the coating rather than sprinkled on a cured surface, it stays for the life of the finish instead of sweeping away in a season. The grade is chosen finer than it would be on a commercial ramp, because this surface gets bare feet.
The other reason polyaspartic rather than epoxy outdoors: it is aliphatic and UV-stable. A clear epoxy in this much direct sun ambers, and the only fix for a yellowed clear coat is grinding it off.
Look at the run out from the coping into the wider patio — the finish is continuous across what would have been separate pours. Look for the control joints, which stay legible rather than being bridged. Exterior slabs move more than interior ones because they see a far wider temperature swing, and a joint that is filled rigidly telegraphs a crack through the finish within a couple of seasons.
Choose light if the deck is in sun. Get the anti-slip aggregate written into the quote, and ask to feel a sample of the actual grade. And be realistic about the slab: cracks are repair work, but a deck that is heaving or spalling badly is a concrete problem before it is a coating problem.
Details are on patio and pool deck coating and the heat and slip questions are answered in full in will a coated pool deck get hot or slippery.
One day on site, vehicles back on the floor in about 24 hours, and a lifetime warranty on the coating.
Every step, in order, including why we diamond grind instead of acid etching the slab.
We look at the slab, the joints and the moisture, then give you a firm number at the estimate.
Tell us the room, roughly how big it is and when you want it done. We will measure, look at the slab and give you a price that does not move.
Polyaspartic concrete floor coatings installed in a single day across central Pennsylvania. Every slab diamond ground, never acid etched.
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Serving Lancaster, Chester, Berks, Dauphin, York and Lebanon counties, Pennsylvania.