Gulfport pool decks you can cross barefoot and wet
A pool deck has two jobs that pull against each other. It needs enough texture that a wet kid running for the steps has something to grip, and it needs to be kind to bare feet in July sun. Most of what we decide on a coast deck is texture and pigment, and the color follows from those.
An uncoated pool surround on the coast gets cooked from above and soaked from the side for most of the year.
Kevin Garner started this as a family company in 2021, Duraflex certified, and he still works the decks with Aaron, Kyler and Averie.
Bare concrete beside a pool takes a beating on the coast
Sun is the first problem. Bare concrete and dark coatings both soak up heat through a summer afternoon, and everyone crossing a pool deck is barefoot. That is why the pigment matters as much as it does. A lighter, cooler color holds less of that heat, and a deck that hurts to cross is a deck nobody uses after lunch.
Water is the second, and on a pool deck it never really stops arriving. Chlorinated splash and salt carried in on the breeze both settle into the pores of bare concrete and dry there. A chlorine tolerant finish keeps all of that on the surface, where a rinse with the hose can deal with it, instead of the slab soaking it up.
Shade brings its own trouble. The strip under a tree or along the fence stays damp long after the rest has dried, and that is where the green film grows and where people slip. Concrete near the coast also keeps moving, because the ground under it is wet and sandy, so the cracks in an old deck may still be on the move.
The pool deck coatings page covers the work itself. For this one, send over the details or call 601-319-9619.
How a pool surround gets coated around the water
Growth and old paint come off
Whatever is living in the shaded corners, and whatever paint or sealer was rolled on before, gets ground off with the extraction running. A pressure wash makes the green look gone, but it is still down in the pores, and a coating laid over it lets go. Taking the top of the concrete off is the only way to get all of it.
Cracks get chased
Every crack gets cut open, cleaned out and filled before any coating goes near it, and expansion joints stay free to move. Coating straight over a crack in a pool deck just gives it a fresh place to show. Where the slab is clearly still moving, the joint gets detailed so the coating can live with it.
Choose the texture for the wettest, fastest kid who will ever use that deck.
Grip is part of the build
Aggregate goes into the wet base, and we lay more of it near the steps and the shallow end, where people climb out dripping. Across the open deck it stays fine enough that a bare foot reads it as texture, never as sandpaper.
Carried to the coping, then sealed
The edge where the deck meets the coping is where water gets under a poor job, so it is cut in by hand and carried right up to it. The topcoat goes on last in a cooler pigment, chlorine tolerant, laid over the texture without drowning it.
Pool decks that were coated for looks
The pool decks that disappoint people were usually chosen by how they looked on the day, before anyone had lived with them through a summer.
No texture where the water pools
Every deck has a low spot where splash sits after everyone has gone in. On a smooth coating that puddle is the most dangerous square foot in the yard, and it is usually right by the steps. If texture is not built into the coat, nothing done afterward puts it there.
A dark color in full sun
A deep gray or a dark blend can look sharp on a sample and be too hot to stand on by the middle of a summer afternoon. People stop using the deck, or they cross it on tiptoe. On a pool deck the color choice is partly a comfort choice, and it deserves a real conversation.
Paint over a moving crack
Caulk the crack and roll paint over it and the deck looks fixed for a season. The slab keeps moving underneath, the line comes back through, and water gets into it and under the coating on both sides. Cracks have to be opened up and dealt with properly.
Chlorine as an afterthought
Pool water is not rainwater. Chlorine and the salt in the air both work on a finish that was never chosen with them in mind, and the first sign is usually a dull, chalky band where the splash lands. The products on a pool deck get picked for that water from the start.
Deciding how the deck should feel underfoot
Start with who uses the pool. A deck that mostly sees adults with a drink in hand can run a finer texture than one with kids sprinting from the gate to the deep end. Grandparents and dogs push the same way, toward more grip. We would rather have that talk on the deck itself, looking at where people actually walk, than guess at it over the phone.
Then the color, which on a pool deck is mostly about heat. Lighter, cooler tones stay comfortable longer under an open sky, and they show less of the chalky film that dries out of splashed water. Darker blends hide dirt and hold the sun. The chip deck comes out to the house, and we set it down in the sunniest spot you have.
The last thing to settle is the date. An outdoor coating needs a dry day and dry hours after it, and in a coast summer that means watching the forecast together and moving if we have to. Pick a stretch when nobody needs the pool, because the deck is off limits until it has cured.
Where Gulfport sits for us
Gulfport is a Harrison County town on the Mississippi coast, inside the area we cover from Laurel, and because outdoor work depends on the sky, a pool deck date gets planned with you and moved when the forecast says so.
The rest of what we coat in Gulfport
Choosing somebody to do our Floors was a hard decision but I am so happy we picked ICM coating masters. The results are beautiful and The time and effort put into the work was amazing.Verified review
Questions we get asked
Will a coated pool deck be slippery?
It should not be, as long as the texture is chosen for wet feet. Aggregate goes into the wet base so the grip is built into the floor itself. We run it heavier near the steps and the shallow end, where people climb out, and finer across the open deck.
Does the coating get hot in the sun?
Every surface in direct summer sun gets warm. Color makes the biggest difference, and a lighter, cooler pigment stays far more comfortable underfoot than a dark one. We use a cooler pigment on pool decks for exactly that reason and will steer you away from a deep color if bare feet are crossing it.
Can you fix the cracks in my old deck?
We cut them open, clean them out and fill them before any coating goes down, and joints that are meant to move are left able to move. Near the coast the ground under a slab stays wet and sandy, so some cracks are still active. We will say which ones when we look.
Will chlorine or salt water damage it?
The finish we use on pool decks is chlorine tolerant, which is the first thing we check when choosing it. Salt and chlorine left to dry on any surface leave a film, so a rinse with fresh water every so often keeps it looking right. Standing water in a low spot is the bigger worry.
How long is the deck off limits?
The coating goes down in a day on most residential decks. You can walk on it after 12 hours and put furniture and planters back after 24. Leave a bit longer before heavy traffic if the weather has been damp, because humidity on the coast slows the cure.
Do you work outside when the weather turns?
Not with a coating. Rain on a fresh coat means grinding it back off and starting again, so we watch the forecast with you in the days before and move the date if the sky looks wrong. Moving a date loses a few days. Redoing a rushed deck loses far more.
Show us where people climb out of the pool
Call Kevin and tell him who uses the pool and which corner stays damp. We will walk the deck and look at every crack before putting a number on it, and the texture gets settled before anyone talks about color.
Have a look at the gallery, then get the details over to us.