What Are My Options For Sprucing Up Old Concrete Deck?

[NullQwerty]

Hey folks,

My concrete deck around 18X36 in-ground pool is 20-30 years old. It looks old and worn and it also has some cracks and some settling. Nothing too bad and it hasn't progressed in the 3 years that I've owned it, however it is not attractive.

Now, I know that the best thing for me to do is to take it all out and put down all new concrete or pavers. However I got a quote for all new concrete and it was $11K and pavers was $20K. That's much more than I prefer to spend since I'm only doing this for aesthetic purposes. So what are my other options?

These were the options I was aware of:

1) Fix the cracks and then put new layer of concrete on top of it

2) Put fabric and sand on top of it and then layer it with pavers

What else is there? What do people typically do in this situation when they don't want to completely replace it? If I went with the concrete resurfacing...does it usually hold up?

Thanks!

[Pathfinder]

Take a look at Rubaroc or another rubberized decking product.

[NullQwerty]

Take a look at Rubaroc or another rubberized decking product.

Thanks. I'm in Massachusetts. Unfortunately Rubaroc doesn't have any installers around here. I researched rubberized decking products in Massachusetts per your suggestion, but not finding too much aside from one company.

[rbdeli]

If you find an effective solution, I'd like to know if it would work on my driveway.

I patched up a driveway that was badly chipped from salt. Then I painted it with Behr Cement stain. It seemed great at first, but it's now peeling away. I was actually thinking of using this on my pool deck too, in a different color, but now I'm not going to. There must have been something I did wrong in preparing the driveway surface.

Hey folks,

My concrete deck around 18X36 in-ground pool is 20-30 years old. It looks old and worn and it also has some cracks and some settling. Nothing too bad and it hasn't progressed in the 3 years that I've owned it, however it is not attractive.

Now, I know that the best thing for me to do is to take it all out and put down all new concrete or pavers. However I got a quote for all new concrete and it was $11K and pavers was $20K. That's much more than I prefer to spend since I'm only doing this for aesthetic purposes. So what are my other options?

These were the options I was aware of:

1) Fix the cracks and then put new layer of concrete on top of it

2) Put fabric and sand on top of it and then layer it with pavers

What else is there? What do people typically do in this situation when they don't want to completely replace it? If I went with the concrete resurfacing...does it usually hold up?

Thanks!

[Strannik]

can you put some photos up? surely you could try and get couple of bags of leveling mix and fix it up yourself?

[jkusmier]

We had a large, existing concrete patio outside our walkout door. Probably should have replaced it when we installed the pool a couple of years ago, but opted not to and the deck is showing it's age - as well as a couple of cracks, probably attributable to the versalock stones that were stacked on it during the earthwork phase that proceeded the pool build. An option we've been considering is a decorative overlay, offered by companies around the country. Portfolios of work done by a couple local ones can be found here and here.

Notice the two companies have similar names? We got quotes from both and the owners weren't too pleased w/ each other...

Anyway, the product is a polymerized concrete. According to what I've read and the owners of both companies above, it's a very durable finish. Supposedly the only way to remove it is with a grinder (unless of course the surface of the underlying concrete spalls). I can't confirm the veracity of those claims, as we haven't decided what to do w/ the patio as of yet, but we did visit some former customers of the two mentioned above to eyeball the work, and it looked good - even the projects that were 4-5 years old. So, you might consider this option as well. I believe the second company is a national one w/ local franchises, so you might find one in your area. Not intending to offer props to anyone here, as I said, we haven't decided if we want to go this route, but it's one we're considering. I believe they both quoted ~$5 per square foot for two tones (a base coat that's the color of the grout, and a second coat of a different color for the flagstone/paver/etc. effect). Multi-colored flagstone or paver effects cost another ~$1 per square foot.

Note, this isn't cool deck (which I loathe). It gets hot like ordinary concrete, so I'd probably steer clear of darker colors.

[geeman]

I think you should wait until you have the funds to replace the deck with new concrete. Overlays of any type (concrete, spray decks, paints, dyes) usually fail. If they were cheap it really wouldn't matter but most are not worth doing unless your deck is in good shape to begin with; no cracks, spalling, nice and level. If you "fix" the cracks and lay new concrete over the old I can guarantee you the cracks will come right through in a year or two. If you put pavers on top, won't the pavers sit higher than your pool coping creating a trip hazard? Try to live with it for now and do it the right way later. There's no sense in doing it twice.