What kind of concrete decking did you go with? Unfortunately travertine isn't in the budget, so we're evaluating broom finish vs textured vs salt finish, and colored vs non-colored, etc. Our pool design is pretty modern and geometric, and just curious what others have done and been pleased with.

My advice is to ask them to see examples of finished pools with the various options. Salt finish to me can hold a lot of dirt and debris and be a pain to keep looking nice.

Most people that go for a color, go for a neutral earth tone to look similar to a stone color. Just keep in mind it's going to fade and end up lighter or washed out.

Textured helps hide imperfections and damage down the road. And yes, it's going to happen when someone drops something or drags a chair, etc.. It can also be hard on the feet after they're tender from being in a pool for while.

Broom finish is going to look like a city sidewalk with lines from the broom. So normally people end up with textured, stamped, or salt finished. Is stamped not an option? If you have a modern design, a rectangular grey slate stamp is usually a good option. Also give the ability to do some more modern design like grenerey through parts.

We have a rectangular pool. We have travertine surround but the decking is natural salt concrete. Looks great and low maintenance. I believe there is a light broom on that, but not quite sure. It's not slick at all. Our back porch which is two-steps up from the pool deck has a light-broom finish.

Thanks! Would you mind sharing a photo of what you have? No worries if you don't/can't.

We have a rectangular pool that we had built in 2020. Instead of a deck we did artificial turf, it looks awesome, would definitely do it again.

Mine is similar to the second pic, just a little more grey in color.

For me, I've found that most customers feel STRONGLY about how they want their concrete to look. The exposed aggregate blends well with existing patios but a lot of people have sensitive feet. The last 2 pools that I built have 1) just a broom finish. They had a stained patio but liked the light color and 2) poured concrete pavers. This is a great, budget friendly option for a high end look. We put turf on this project but you could do river rock.

Sorry, one more. We added grey color powder to the mix then cut diagonal score lines to look like large pavers. Customers loved it.

I would say a salted finish with a light broom breaks up the finish but allows for a light texture to be present to keep slipping to a minimum. Stamped concrete tends to get really slick.

That's the downside of a stone deck. Most are quite slippery.

Also, ask your builder about the possibility of using some brass skimmer lids instead of plastic. They should be able to get them from a tile distributor (Noble Tile, for example). Plastic lids (like the ones above) just make a beautiful pool look cheap.

Stamped concrete/textured concrete/cool deck is super low maintenance, easy to clean, and looks great. Keep grass, dirt, and other and organics as far from your pool edge as possible.

If using SWG, make sure any coping stone is resistant to corrosion and sealed correctly.

I would avoid flagstone all together. Nightmare to keep clean and looks terrible if not meticulously maintained in many cases.

We loved our coolcrete

Turf right up to travertine edging. No other decking for us except a few concrete step pads.

How long have you had the coolcrete coating? Looking at doing this on patios and step pods. Does it also help with concrete being slippery when wet?

we were not fans of broom finished so we have very smooth (no salt) finish and its perfect (to us!), not coolcrete, just concrete. it does not get hot and gets lots of sun.

DeBoss said:

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How long have you had the coolcrete coating? Looking at doing this on patios and step pods. Does it also help with concrete being slippery when wet?

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Had it for 6 years or so before we sold. I assume its still going strong as it was when we left it. Never had any issues and it's textured just like a sheetrock wall so it's not slick at all.

We ended up with large brick pavers and they've been going strong for 8 years.

fire09 said:

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Stamped concrete/textured concrete/cool deck is super low maintenance, easy to clean, and looks great.

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This (stamped) is what we did. Absolutely love it.