Concrete refinishing

I just have plain concrete around my 18 x 36 IG pool. I want to add some color to the concrete around the first section of concrete, which comes out about 3 ft from my pool. There are a couple of guys that have ads in the paper for concrete work so I called them. One guy said he could lay over the existing concrete and put a pebble tec like finish for $3+ per sq ft or he could make it look like flagstone for around $7+ per sq ft. The other guys I talked to said if you lay over the top of the old concrete with a thin coating like that it will crack and won't hold up. Has anybody had this done? If so, I would love to see some pictures and hear your results.

VOLDADDY,

I've been thinking of looking into this as well.

Are you looking just to add color or do you also want a new texture? For color, I believe you can just have someone stain the exising concrete surface. This is what I'll probably do.

Lenny

I would be way, way skeptical!!! I know a little about masonry work and this doesn't sound quite right.

How do they "kill" the edges of the overlay? How thick is the overlay? I'm sure they can do something that will look good initially but I can't imagine anything holding up for a period of time. I would ask them to show you a job that is at least two-three seasons old.

Concrete (almost all masonry) has great compressive strength but very little tensile strength (flex). If it is allowed to move even the slightest, it cracks very easily. I may learn something new on this one but I can't imagine how, for that price, they could give you a long-term solution.:( :(

Dave S.

I am very skepical of overlay products, but there are some new ones out there that seem to have a decent warranty. You could try a good pressure washing and acid stain first as a pretty inexpensive option. Be careful with sealers that could make it slippery or interfere with resurfacing if you ever want to go that route.

I'm confused....

Are your talking about your pool or the deck around the pool? The pools are not usually "just concrete". The shell is, but the finish inside is either marcite, diamond brite or such.

Zina
Pooldesign.net

I am talking about the concrete around my pool. Since it is already in place I can't have it stamped, so I was wanting to have it colored, like the "faux" finish my wife did to my bedroom. I was wanting a flagstone look. I am leery of the thin layer over my existing concrete due to the cracking. I don't think this will hold up very well, and I don't want to just throw $1k down the drain. Thanks for all the replies, and hopefully someone out there has had this done with good results for years that can post pictures.

Have you considered a product like kooldeck or spraydeck? It wont be a design, but it will give your deck color.

Zina
PoolDesign.net

We are also looking in to this; our pool deck is just brushed concrete. We did stain it light pink shortly after it was installed, but it still looks like concrete. A place around here said they can make it look like stone or tile or what ever we want. I was skeptical at first but they do it by using acid and etching the existing cement, not adding anything on top of it, then coloring it and finally sealing it if you want. I got to see a floor with all different patterns and colors in their showroom. It was amazing to see what they did to a plain cement floor, some of the floor was still plain between the parts they did etch. They suggested going with a light seal so the water would get sucked in to the concrete, but not so much we had standing water so it wasn't so slippery when wet.

I wouldn't add anything on top of the existing cement, but etching it with acid seems like it would work? Our pool deck would be about $2k, someday we hope to do it. My concern is our bull nose is also just part of the deck and I am not sure how they would deal with that.

Check out this site. Looks pretty interesting.

http://www.superconcrete.com/services.htm

Zina
PoolDesign.net

I am having 500 SF of concrete installed for an IG pool. I want color but the integrally colored concrete does not look good after about 1-3 years due to fading an blotching of color. I am thinking of a stain that would be more uniform. The integral colors are fairly dark and I live in Palm Springs so I need a light color so my feed don't get burned. Anyone have any experience with concrete stain? What is the durability like? Does it make the broom finish or trowel finish concrete slippery? I want the concrete to look new and not like a redone surface so I am nervous about the stain concept. Advice?

In my previous house we got rid of the epoxy stone finish, and replaced it with a product called SunDeck. It will add color and texture on top of existing concrete. If you have a lot of cracking in your exisitng concrete they will add score lines to it, because eventually it will have surface cracks like concrete. The great thing about the product is water doesn't penetrate it, and it stays cool in the hottest of days. It is the cousin of Kooldeck which is applied to fresh concrete. It is fairly expensive if I remember correcly. If you search on Google, you can probably find their website for more info.