Bare feet on hot concrete in July. Kids running full speed on a wet surface. Chlorine water splashing onto the same spot a thousand times a summer. Sunscreen, spilled drinks, dragged patio furniture. A pool deck in Jacksonville takes more punishment than any other slab on your property, and most of them weren’t poured to handle it.
We’ve torn out pool decks that were less than eight years old. Spalling surfaces, cracks running from the coping to the fence line, sections that settled and now hold a half inch of standing water every time it rains. Every single one had the same problem — bad base prep, thin concrete, or both.
LCE Concrete Contractor Jacksonville pours pool decks built for this climate and this kind of abuse. Licensed, bonded, insured. Four years in business, 5-star Google rating, and a crew that’s poured enough pool decks around Duval County to know exactly where other contractors cut corners.
Call or text. Free estimate. Same-day callback.
A pool deck isn’t a patio with a hole in the middle. The pour is more complicated, the finish requirements are stricter, and there’s zero room for drainage mistakes.
Water has to move away from the pool. That sounds obvious but we fix this problem constantly — decks where the concrete slopes back toward the coping and dumps rainwater, deck wash, and debris right into the pool. We set the grade so water sheets off the deck surface and away from the pool edge. Every section. Every side.
The slab goes down at 4 to 5 inches thick with rebar reinforcement. We form around the pool shell, leaving expansion joints between the deck and the coping so the concrete can move independently from the pool structure. Skip that joint and the deck will crack the coping or push against the pool shell when the concrete expands in the heat. We’ve seen it buckle bond beam tile right off the wall.
Base prep is the same as any structural pour — excavate, grade, compact, aggregate base, compact again. But around a pool there’s usually disturbed soil from the pool excavation that never got compacted properly. The backfill zone around the shell is the most common failure point on a pool deck. We identify those areas and either recompact them or over-excavate and bring in clean fill. That extra hour of dirt work saves you from watching a section of your deck sink two years from now.
Pool deck concrete in Jacksonville runs between $8 and $18 per square foot. Big range, and here’s why.
A straightforward broom-finish deck around a standard rectangular pool on flat ground with decent soil — $8 to $12 per square foot. A stamped or colored deck with curves, multiple elevation changes, old deck demo, problem soil around the pool shell, and integrated drainage — $14 to $18.
Square footage is the biggest cost driver. A pool deck can be anywhere from 400 to 1,500 square feet depending on how much surrounding area you want covered. After that, it’s finish type, reinforcement, demolition of existing concrete, and soil conditions.
We quote after we see the pool and the yard. Not over the phone, not off a satellite image. Soil around pool shells is unpredictable and we’re not going to guess at it and then surprise you with a change order on pour day. The estimate is free, written, and final.
Standard grey concrete around a pool in Jacksonville gets hot enough to fry an egg by 2pm in August. That’s not an exaggeration. Dark-colored concrete is even worse.
We offer a few ways to deal with it.
Spray texture (knockdown finish)
— this is the classic “cool deck” look. A cementitious overlay sprayed onto the slab and knocked down with a trowel to create a slightly rough, light-colored texture. It stays noticeably cooler than plain concrete because the texture creates micro-shadows and the lighter color reflects more heat. Most pool decks in Florida use some version of this.
Light-colored stamped concrete
— choosing a lighter integral color and a stamp pattern with texture keeps the surface cooler than smooth dark concrete. Not as cool as a spray texture, but it looks more upscale and some homeowners prefer the tradeoff.
Acrylic coatings and overlays
— applied over cured concrete. These come in a range of colors and textures and most are formulated to reflect heat. Good option if you want to resurface an existing deck that’s structurally sound but too hot or too ugly.
We’ll talk through which option fits your pool, your budget, and how much you hate wearing flip-flops to your own backyard. The right finish makes the difference between a deck your family actually uses and one they avoid from May through October.
Bad drainage is the most common complaint we hear from pool owners calling about their existing deck. Water sits on the surface. It runs toward the pool instead of away. It collects against the house foundation. It ponds in the low spot where a section settled.
Some of these are fixable without a full tear-out. If the deck is structurally solid but has low spots or bad grading, we can sometimes grind and overlay to correct the drainage. If the base has failed and sections have settled, those areas need to come out and get repoured on a proper base.
On new pours, we design the drainage into the slab from the start. The deck pitches away from the pool on all sides. If the yard grade works against us — say the house sits uphill and the pool’s in a low spot — we install channel drains or catch basins at the deck perimeter to redirect water before it becomes a problem.
Standing water on a pool deck isn’t just annoying. It’s a slip hazard, it breeds algae and mosquitoes, and if it’s sitting against the pool shell it can cause long-term structural issues with the bond beam and the surrounding soil. We take drainage seriously because the consequences of getting it wrong aren’t cosmetic — they’re expensive.
If your existing pool deck is cracked, stained, spalling, or just looks worn out, you’ve got two options. Resurface it or rip it out and start over.
Resurfacing works when the concrete underneath is still structurally sound. No major cracks, no settled sections, no hollow spots when you tap on it. We can apply a spray texture, stamped overlay, or acrylic coating over the existing slab to give it a new surface without the cost of full demo and repour. It’s faster, cheaper, and less disruptive.
Full replacement is the move when the slab has failed. Settled sections, wide cracks, crumbling edges, base erosion. Putting a pretty coating over broken concrete is a temporary fix that peels off in a year. If the structure’s gone, the structure’s gone. We demo the old deck, fix the base, and pour new.
We’ll tell you which one your deck actually needs. Not which one makes us more money — which one actually solves the problem. If an overlay will hold up, we’ll say so. If you’re wasting money resurfacing a failing slab, we’ll say that too.
We know pool decks. Not in a brochure-claim kind of way — in a “we’ve poured them in August heat when the concrete sets up twice as fast and you’ve got a 30-minute window to get the finish right” kind of way.
Family-owned, veteran-owned. Small crew that does its own work. The guy who quoted your job is tied to the guys running the screed and the trowels. No subs, no strangers, no crew that showed up for the first time this morning.
Four years in business. 5-star Google rating. Licensed, insured, and we guarantee every pour. If something’s wrong, we’re back on-site fixing it. Not arguing about it, not pointing fingers — fixing it.
Our trucks show up marked. Our crew shows up on time. And when we leave, the only thing left behind is a pool deck that drains right, looks right, and holds up.
We pour pool decks across Jacksonville — Mandarin, San Marco, Riverside, Arlington, Southside, Westside, the Beaches, Northside. Also Orange Park, Fleming Island, Ponte Vedra, and St. Augustine.
Pool season in Jacksonville is basically year-round, and we pour year-round too. If you’re building a new pool and the shell’s going in soon, call us now so we can coordinate timing with your pool builder. If your existing deck needs work, don’t wait until the surface gets bad enough that somebody gets hurt on it.
Don’t let somebody pour it like an afterthought. Call LCE Concrete Contractor Jacksonville for a free estimate anywhere in the Jacksonville, FL area. We’ll pour it right so you’re not redoing it in five years.
Four to five inches with rebar reinforcement. Five inches if the deck will support heavy features like an outdoor kitchen, fire pit, or raised planter walls. We spec the thickness to what the deck has to carry and what the soil conditions look like around the pool.
The pool shell needs to be fully cured and the backfill around it needs to be compacted. For concrete pools, that’s usually 7 to 14 days after the shell pour. For fiberglass, we can go sooner since the shell doesn’t need cure time. We coordinate with pool builders regularly — just connect us and we’ll sort out the schedule.
Plain smooth-troweled concrete around a pool is a lawsuit waiting to happen. We always apply a textured finish — broom finish at minimum, spray knockdown or stamped texture for better grip. If you’re coating the deck, the coating itself adds traction. We don’t pour slick surfaces around water. Period.
Yes. Tight backyards, limited access, existing landscaping we need to work around — we deal with it constantly in Jacksonville’s older neighborhoods. We can phase the pour if needed, and we form and joint the sections so the finished deck looks like one continuous surface.
Light colors, textured finishes, and spray knockdown coatings all reduce surface temperature. A light tan spray-texture deck can be 20 to 30 degrees cooler than dark grey smooth concrete in direct sun. We’ll recommend the best finish for heat reduction based on your budget and the look you’re going for.
Resurfacing runs roughly $4 to $8 per square foot. Full replacement with demo and new pour is $8 to $18 depending on finish type and site conditions. Resurfacing is cheaper but only works if the existing slab is solid underneath. We’ll check it and give you an honest answer on which route makes sense.
Call or text us. We come out, look at the pool and the existing deck or the site if it’s a new build, and hand you a written number. No deposit to get on the schedule, no pressure to sign that day. Just a price and a plan.
