Concrete is typically a great option for any structure you desire to build, be it a driveway, patio, sidewalk, or even a pool deck. To identify the correct material to choose, you first need to determine the properties of a pool and what you need for it. There are many factors you would need to consider, this includes the budget, safety, maintenance, durability, and lastly, is the general design of how it fits with the rest of your property.
Naturally, there are numerous other options, but concrete can surely offer the most advantages. Even if you have your heart set on a different material, like stone or wood, you might still want to consider using concrete as the material around your pool for a few various reasons. Let’s break down the factors of why concrete would be good to use for your pool.
Affordability
As briefly mentioned, concrete is generally cheaper. You can save as much as 50% and upon your pool deck by choosing concrete. With concrete, you are expected to only pay anywhere from $5-$18 per square foot. Even with some additions such as getting concrete stamped for better design, it would still be between $12-$18 per square foot, while getting texture concrete would cost about $6-$9 and above per square foot.
Safety And Durability
Naturally, durability is another very important factor, especially for structures such as pools since it could get very dangerous for you and other occupants of the place. Not to mention, when the material you use is strong and durable, your deck will ultimately last a very long time, making the investment more worth it. Concrete is widely-known to be a durable material, especially for patios and decks. It would also be a low-maintenance option compared to other alternatives.
Maintenance
There are many durable alternatives with long life spans, but out of all of them, concrete is one of the easiest to maintain. Other options such as bricks and paving units may shift over some time. This means that they would need some releveling or replacement. But there’s more required for this, such as refilling the joints between paving units with some sand, this would prevent weeds from growing between them.
Meanwhile, using poured concrete eliminates all these problems. Naturally, concrete would still need to be maintained, but even with just some occasional cleaning and annual resealing to maintain, you can maintain its pristine appearance. You should also consider the fact that pool decks have special performance requirements.
Design
Another thing that concrete is known for is its versatility in terms of design. Although some people may think of concrete to be a boring, plain, grey surface, that is simply wrong. In fact, far from it. There are many types of concrete such as broomed concrete, stamped concrete, and textured concrete.
Basically, stamped concrete uses coloring, release agents, and stamps to impress different designs into the wet concrete. Meanwhile, broom finished concrete, as the name suggests, is created by dragging a broom across the surface of fresh concrete. Lastly, textured concrete imprints a texture into the deck without color or a sealant.