We just went through the decking options for our pool about a week ago. One of the options we looked at was our PB's version of Kool Deck. All the Kool Deck versions are basically a thin coating placed over regular concrete. They come out and pour the concrete, then after it's cured they come out again and install the deck coating. It's cool on the feet and looks nice, but in the end I was concerned about the fact that it's a coating and eventually will start chipping and delaminating and will need to be replaced. We ended up going with washed aggregate (concrete with stone aggregate), it's cheaper and has an excellent life expectancy (same as regular concrete). Salted concrete is another option, it has a texture and look similar to Kool Deck. Then there's stamped & stained concrete, but reports are that it is very slick when wet and also gets quite hot. Lastly there is natural stone, it has the best look in my opinion but it is also the most expensive.

Good luck!

I had my deck poured last week. Yea, with all the rain we have had. I went with poured concrete that was mixed wet, salted and later pressure washed. Soon it will be saw cut and later an etching, powdered vinyl topper sprinkled and dampened to create the highs and swirls and finally acid stained with two shades and sealed with low luster sealer. The end result will be a travertine tile appearance. The thing I like most about this deck is the easy repair capability if ever needed.

tresw - Thanks for the info. Chipping is my main concern. I have a washed aggregate patio & it's a little too hard on the feet for me. I love the look of it but I'm just not sure it's what I want around the pool. Our PB was really pushing the stamped concrete but I'd heard too much regarding how slick it is.
bf-tx - Can you post pics of your decking? It sounds beautiful. I love the look of stone but I have to cut costs somewhere!!!

I had an existing patio with exposed aggregate, but did not want it around my pool. I also wanted these two areas to be the same. I already have antoher courtyard area with brick. So, my pb was really big on the kool deck even though i was advised against it. I wanted to overlay my existing exposed aggregate patio with concrete and do just the broomswept concrete for my pool decking and then stain it all. I ended up not being able to do this because I was told that i could not pour just a thin layer over my existing patio but that I could do an overlay of kooldeck on it. So, against my better judgement I went with the kooldeck. I absolutely hate it. It looks good enough and everything is uniform and the same. The color is good, but its a b*t*h to clean! I really don't know what else I could have done though short of ripping up my existing patio and repouring a plain concrete patio to match the new pool decking and then score and stain it all. Thats really the look I wanted, but am now stuck with the kool deck. Like I said, it looks good. I have the old redish colored brick coping with brick expansion joints. This blends with the brick courtyard and brick planter in front of the pool. Then I have the light colored kool deck on my patio and deck. But its just hard to clean. I have to hose it off, and its over 1000 sq. feet not icluding the brick courtyard. If I try to sweep it off, my arms feel like they are going to fall off and you don't really get it clean. The leaves that blow on it crumble into little pieces and get stuck in the small little pits(low areas) of the kool deck. And you better have a power nozzle on your hose too.

teppy - thanks for your insight. It was very helpful. I found out over the weekend that a neighbor used the same pool co. as us & has the kooldeck. They've had it several years so I'm going to go look at it & then make a decision.

I am a big fan of interlocking concrete pavers for a variety of reasons. First, they are not at all slippery. Second, because they rest on a sand base, they are a bit cooler than poured concrete, esp. after being hosed down. Third, they are easier to change out if need be (we laid our pool deck in the middle of a home remodel/addition, which necessitated changes in the hardscape post/construction). Finally, becausee there are several colors used in many of the patterns (I went with gharcoal/brown/buff), I was able to tie them into both the existing (gray) stamped conrete patio and the pinkish-hued Cantera pool coping without ripping out the former.

Quote: "I have a washed aggregate patio & it's a little too hard on the feet for me. I love the look of it but I'm just not sure it's what I want around the pool."

It's definitely a factor. The comfort level of walking on washed aggregate is affected by the aggregate shape & size, the amount of washdown done by the installer and the toughness or tenderness of individuals' feet. We've got about 750 s.f. of it and the only time I've cussed about it is when there's a rock on it that I've stepped on, loose rocks blend right in. When I step down and catch a rock under my heel it hurts!!

Quote: "I ended up not being able to do this because I was told that i could not pour just a thin layer over my existing patio but that I could do an overlay of kooldeck on it."

They were telling you the truth, you can't pour a thin topping of concrete over existing concrete. It'll just chip right off again. You can use a self-leveling compound, but it's expensive and it usually needs to be overcoated with something else to look decent.

tropicalparadise-

We also weighed the pros and cons of different options available for pool decking and ultimately decided on stamped concrete. This decision was based largely on the poolscape theme we were after and the flexibility that stamped concrete allowed in design options (animal tracks, rock texture, color and matching existing boulders around the pool). We also overlaid 2" of concrete with rebar over our existing 400 sq.ft. patio and textured it to match the pool decking and stepping stones. The type of texture will affect how slippery the end stamped product is. In our case, with a heavy rock texture mat, the surface is not slippery, but I could imagine some of the smoother texture mats not offering as much traction. So far the heat from the concrete has not been a problem, but much of our decking is in shade and we went with a light mocha color.

Our PB was pushing multi-coat hard but we had the same concerns as others on this post regarding durability of these lamination coatings. The PB has multi-coat at the entrance to their office building and it is starting to delaminate after a few years of life.

Our second choice was pavers by artistic pavers out of Florida, but ultimately, we were after a more natural look to match the rest of our poolscape and pavers looked too contrived for the overall theme we were after.

Lots of options and each has its own merits. Depending on your desires and features that are important to your own poolscape, a little homework is the right thing to do, despite all the headaches.

Hope this helps!

Our neighbor's Kool Deck is 17 years old and not a chip or peel. It has faded in the Arizona sun and needs a fresh coat of paint but the structure of the product has held up without a problem.

We just installed our pool in November so I can only speak of short term. We used Kool deck. Almost all of our pool decking is in the hot Georgia sun (2300 sq ft.) so we wanted an option that would not be hot on our feet. I have children and comfort is a huge priority. I also liked being able to use color to prevent the "glare". We absolutely love the look and feel of our pool decking. It is very inviting.

Thanks for all of the insight & opinions. After looking at some existing pools with Kool deck we've decided to go with it.

I've posted some pictures of our pool construction. The pool was dug Jan. 30. Everything moved very quickly until the plumbing was finished. It's been 2 wks. of nothing.

The rock for the coping & waterfall is the next step.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Future Tropical Paradise

I think the best and cheapest is broomed finish concrete!
Hate most of the busy,multi colored crap.

PB pushing cool deck.Passed saved $4000.

JR....

Sounds like you already made your decision. Thought I'd throw this out there for anyone else researching decking. The link below is to a newsletter article that goes over a lot of the decking options. It's the 3rd article, down I think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deck options