How it works
A coating, not a repour.
The slab you already have is almost always structurally fine. What is wrong with it is the surface: too hot, too slick, and looking its age. This fixes the surface and leaves the slab alone.
The system
What actually goes down.
We install the Encore Coatings COOL! system, a cementitious coating applied in two roller coats over prepared concrete and finished with a clear sealer.
The coating is tinted with a compatible exterior color, which is why the color range is effectively unlimited. It also matters for performance: lighter colors reflect more solar energy and stay meaningfully cooler than dark ones. If heat is your main reason for doing this, we will push you toward the lighter end of whatever palette you like.
The finish carries a fine texture. Enough to give you grip on a wet surface, not so much that it is unpleasant to stand on barefoot or hard to sweep.
Good candidates
- Bare concrete in sound condition, with or without hairline cracks
- Existing knockdown or textured toppings that are still bonded
- Slabs with staining, patching, or mismatched repairs
- Surfaces that get uncomfortably hot in full sun
- Decks that are slick when wet
Not good candidates
- Slabs with structural cracking, heaving, or settlement
- Existing toppings that are delaminating across large areas
- Surfaces with active moisture coming up through the slab
If yours falls in the second group we will tell you during the estimate rather than coating over a problem.
On site
What to expect.
Most residential decks run two to three days. The work itself is not slow, but the coating needs time to cure between stages and rushing that is how a finish fails early.
Day one, clean and prep
Deep clean and etch so the coating bonds. Hairline cracks filled, spalled areas patched, edges taped, landscaping and water features protected. Patching needs to set before anything goes over it.
Day two, coat
Two coats rolled on in your color, worked for consistent texture, with cure time between them. We stage the work so there is always a dry path back to the house.
Seal and cure
Clear sealer goes on last, often the third day depending on weather. We will give you specific times for foot traffic, furniture, and getting back in the pool before we leave.
- You do not need to be home, but someone should be reachable by phone
- The pool stays full. We protect the coping and water line.
- Furniture needs to be off the deck before we arrive, or tell us and we will move it
- Cure times depend on temperature and humidity, so the exact schedule is set on site, not from a brochure
- Cool or humid stretches can add a day. We would rather tell you that than rush the cure.
Season
Indiana gives us a window.
The coating needs appropriate ambient and surface temperatures to cure correctly, which puts our install season at roughly May through September. We do not stretch it into cold weather to book a job, because a coating that cures wrong fails early and then it is everyone's problem.
Booking in late winter or early spring gets you the widest choice of dates. Estimates happen year round.
Aftercare
- Rinse with a hose and mild cleaner. No harsh solvents.
- Use furniture glides. Dragging metal feet will mark any coating.
- Keep pool chemicals off the surface undiluted, and rinse spills
- Avoid deicing salts in winter, which damage concrete generally
See if your deck is a candidate.
Send photos and we will tell you honestly whether coating is the right call or whether you have a problem that needs something else first.