Concrete pool decks in Garden Grove CA - a surface that drains and grips wet feet

Installing a concrete pool deck across the US usually costs about $10 to $12 per square foot, and that's the market's going rate, not our price. Where yours lands depends on tearing out the old deck, how much base work the ground needs, the finish you choose and how hard the backyard is to reach. I'll measure and write it up at the estimate so you have a real number for your yard.

The safest finish is one picked for grip first, because a pool deck is going to be wet and walked on barefoot. Broom, textured, exposed aggregate, coated and overlay finishes all differ in traction and in how hot they get, and very dark colors can get uncomfortable in full sun. A broom finish, fine ridges dragged across the fresh concrete, is the plain choice that gives wet feet something to hold.

Some cracking is likely, because nobody can keep concrete from cracking entirely, but well-planned joints control where cracks go and keep them small. Ask anyone bidding your deck how they'll lay out the joints, and I'll show you where ours go before we pour. One maker's guide also says to inspect the caulked joint between the deck and the pool edge every year and recaulk it whenever it cracks or pulls away, since most of those caulks last five to ten years.

If the old slab is sound enough to take a coating, resurfacing is a cost-effective way to refresh it and cover its flaws, so it's worth asking before you price a full tear-out. A deck that's sunk, heaving or broken into pieces usually isn't a good candidate, because a new surface just follows the problem underneath. I'd rather tell you a resurface will do than sell you a new slab.

The city lets you or someone you authorize get a required permit, but it says it's wise to have your contractor get it, because then the contractor is responsible for calling for and passing the inspections. Garden Grove issues permits for building or altering a swimming pool, and its list names pools, structures and fences, not pool decks. I'll check with the city's office about your job, and when a permit is needed, we pull it and handle the inspections.

Most of the time goes into what comes before and after the pour, meaning the tear-out and base work ahead of it and the cure afterward, when the new concrete is gaining strength and needs to be left alone. Where the ground can swell and lift, one pool engineering firm calls soaking the soil until it fully swells before the deck goes in the most important step, and that can add days. At the estimate I'll walk you through what your yard needs and the order it happens in.