Whats Best? Concrete or Pavers For My Swimming Pool Deck?
Posted by Kent Carpenter on Mon, Oct 24, 2011 @ 08:33 PM
Swimming pools are not complete without the installation of an impervious surface commonly called a "pool deck". Over the years that I have been in the swimming pool business I have personally witnessed the "good, bad and the ugly" of many residential and commercial decking choices. Appearance, Durability, Maintenance, Safety and Cost are all important factors in selecting a suitable deck material to meet your needs and of those factors safety should always be the most important.
Personally I prefer pavers to poured concrete in any finish. Concrete choices today include plain, acid etched and stained, stamped, overlayed with Kool Deck or another decorative polymer based type coating system such as Stardek. Most people prefer any finish to plain concrete however they may decide to go ahead with the plain concrete to remain within a tight budget which is certainly completely understandable. Typically premium finishes such as stamping or acid etching can double the deck project cost although they truly produce stunning results if done by a well experienced concrete contractor.
Why I prefer pavers to poured concrete:
- Pavers are more natural looking.
- Pavers are as permanent a decking as you can have. There are only two types of concrete, concrete that is cracked and concrete that is going to crack. Pavers do not crack!
- If your concrete cracks and you want to fix it your options are very limited. Cracks cannot be repaired attractively (if at all) and if the concrete is to look decent again you will have to break it up and haul it away which is expensive and a real negative and then pour new concrete with the premium finish and hope your contractor can come close to matching the old and the new.
- If you ever have an underground water line leak in your swimming pool or any underground utility problem for any reason you will have to cut and break up the concrete to repair the leak. With pavers all you will have to do is pick them up repair the leak and reset the pavers.
- Pavers can be added, removed, changed whatever you would like without specialized equipment or tradesmen. Pavers can be broken down into wheel barrow capable loads and installed by homeowners small areas at a time if they are on a budget. Concrete requires heavy trucks and gaining access to the pool to pour the concrete can be a real problem with sprinklers, landscaping and such. I have personally a homeowner's concrete driveway be cracked by the concrete truck delivering the concrete to pour the pool deck!
- Pavers require no maintainence and look the same as the day you install them even decades later unlike concrete.
Pavers do cost more per sq. ft. initially if you hire a paver contractor to install them however they will be there year after year looking beautiful. Of course you can install them yourself. You may find a few muscles that you have not used in a while but you will save money and can work at your own pace physically & financially. You control how the project progress on your timetable.
Pavers can settle over the years and they sometimes require spraying with a grass killer due to grass or weeds however they can easily be reset if need be as they will settle without cracking unlike concrete. Yet with a little effort you can restore the paver deck to look like new as the pavers themselves will not crack or break!
Paver decks and wallstones make the perfect base and backdrop for that outdoor pizza oven, fireplace, firepit or outdoor kitchen!