Hamilton Residence Indoor Pool

This is a project we did in 2006 in Crete, Illinois, a south Chicago suburb.  The homeowner called us after a disastrous pool deck overlay install by the pool company.  Above left, you can see how the decorative finish is unappealing and the cement overlay is delaminating.  We had no choice but to tear it out and redo it.  Our installation appears above right.

We began with a propane-fueled scarifier - because the project was indoors and the power requirements were too high for home electricity - with an attached dust collector (above left) to remove the overlay and get back down to clean, sound concrete.  We then ground the concrete smooth (above right) to remove the ridges left by the carbide teeth of the scarifier.

Next, we troweled down a new cement overlay and stamped it with an Italian slate texture and ivy leaf border chosen by the homeowner.  You can see the new, patterned cement in the photo above left.  With the pattern in place, we then acid-stained the main body of the cement overlay a light brown color, and the ivy pattern a shade of olive.

Above are two more photos showing our work in progress.  At left, you can see the ivy border being stained by hand, and above right is the entire surface stained light brown.  This was the best work sequence to maintain the true olive color of the ivy.

Above are two more before and after photos, which best illustrate why you should never allow the company that builds and installs your pool to also do the decorative finish work - it is not their specialty or strong suit, and after all the construction, they are just eager to get out there!  We specialize in this work, and we do not cut corners. 

The last four photos show the new, finished pool deck after re-opening the pool, and furnishing and decorating by the homeowners.  The homeowners were ecstatic with the result and had a big celebratory party shortly after we finished.

The icing on the cake for this project was that the homeowners received a full refund from the pool company, after Premier Veneers owner, Jeff Donius, wrote an expert letter as a member of the American Society of Concrete Contractors' (ASCC) Decorative Concrete Council (DCC) for their arbitration case.

Premier Veneers also won first place for this project in Concrete Decor Magazine's 2006 Concrete Restoration contest, which you can read about here.