Have you noticed that some concrete decks are gray concrete and others have a colored topping that seems easier on your bare feet? Some products significantly lower the surface temperature of concrete.

Video Transcription

Male: The family building this home in Texas Hill Country one of the low maintenance backyard they want to enhance their view of the native grasses, trees, limestone out croppids and long horn cattle. They wanted a large deck for entertaining so they chose a Mortex keystone cool deck for its cooling and comfortable non-skid surface. The cool deck’s kind of levered edge ties the deck into the fiberglass pool. The fiberglass pool had been installed a couple of weeks previously and the pool has been allowed to settle. Ted Deason of Mortex is here to layout and established the levels and drainage slopes for the deck. Ted: Once we have our grades established, first thing we’ll do is we will form the perimeter of the deck according to our architectural plans. At the perimeter of the deck, we’re setting first the grade on the inside and then we’re marking down for slope on the ground level. So, that way we get our correct pitch on the depth in order to get slope. So we have drainage, we’re going to put deck drain down the center between the house and the pool. This is our drain ride. Male: The drain ride is made from extruded PVC and its put into place before the deck is poured. It will go through the 4-edge standard slab and allow for some expansion and contraction. Additional PVC pipes below grade were added for complete drainage. Ted: One nice thing about this drain is we get to drain out, fully out of the drain. We get water out, we can send it down. And we don’t end up with pipes up in the deck. So we cause cracking of the deck. These pipes will be just a little below the surface of the dirt. And that way we are fighting the map in our concrete. Male: On the morning of the pour, the cantilever forms are put on the inside of the pool. The concrete deck will completely overhang the pool. The installer bins the forms and presses them against the pool stop edge and the adhesive conforms the pool. This form has a patented spear of button arrangement. The installers put a tie through the form and attach the tie to the top of the pool. They put the button on the back side and wretched it in to tighten the forms so that it stays in place when they pour the concrete. Since the homeowners didn’t want to lose any trees in their backyard the concrete was pumped through the garage. The concrete is poured against the edge along the cantilever forms. After the concrete sets but before it gets hard the installers twist the button which break the spear off. The spears recessed into the concrete so they can pull off the cantilever forms and finish the edge. Ted: These cantilever forms allow us to remove the forms at a time when the concrete is really soft and let’s just take it off early so that we can finish the edge and so that we get the chemical bond between our topping and the base concrete. Male: The concrete deck goes to a standard finishing process. Immediately after pouring and screed in the concrete the control joints are put in for crack control. They take up the stresses of the concrete shrinking as it loses water. When the concrete sets up it undergoes a tremendous amount of shrinkage. The control joint’s job is to weaken the concrete so the concrete will have a controlled break. The crew then brooms the surface until the concrete has the sandpaper semi-coarse finish for good bonding. Ted: The homeowners wanted a low maintenance weather resistant deck but they didn’t want to go with ordinary gray concrete. They wanted to add some color. They did that with keystone cool deck which you can actually pick up in 9 different colors from aqua to the peach that they used here. They also do specialty colors as well. The cool deck is composed of synthetic iron oxide pigments and a proprietary mixture of natural organic substances. This material is actually mixed and applied directly to the fresh concrete so it bonds together as one unit. Male: A mixture of 10 gallons of marble sand, 1 unit of keystone cool deck, 1 bag of white cement and 8 gallons of water covers a minimum of 300 square feet. First they splash the cantilever edge which sets up more rapidly. Ted: The actual application of cool deck is done by hand in general. We have a specific brush where an actuality we’re literally casting it upon the surface to the concrete. The process of casting the cool deck material onto the deck’s surface produces none and voids type texture. We will comeback and we’ll actually trial the nodes down to produce the flats. And this is what gives us the texture that makes it a very non skid surface. We regulate the amount of flat and void so that it is to rough and so that the deck we can set tables and chairs on it and they don’t tear or anything. Male: This results in a hard permanent better wearing surface. When the process is complete, the family has an attractive non-skid textured deck that will remain comfortably cool even in the Texas summer sun. To find out more about the keystone cool deck for your new house, visit Mortex’s website at mortex.com.