Concrete Pool Decks in Smithtown, NY

A concrete pool deck is the slab around the water, and it answers to rules an ordinary patio does not: it has to stay separate from the pool's structure, drain away from the water, resist slipping when wet and leave room for the barrier New York requires around every pool. The Pool and Hot Tub Alliance's draft residential standard, PHTA-5, asks for slip-resisting surfaces and at least 1/8 inch of fall per foot, and pool structural engineers call the joint at the coping an extremely important component. Suffolk's outwash soils drain well, but on a flat lot the deck's own pitch is the only thing moving water off it. Whether the job is a new pour or pool deck resurfacing over a sound slab, the choices come down to movement, water and heat.

National cost guides put a new poured concrete pool deck at $4 to $8 per square foot in one survey and $5 to $15 in another, and stamped concrete at $12 to $20, $8 to $19 or $15 to $30. The survey with the $15 to $30 stamped range prices a concrete deck around a 12 by 24 foot pool, leveling included, at $6,750 to $8,000. Resurfacing runs $3 to $12 per square foot in two surveys, and one puts whole jobs at $1,500 to $10,800 for 500 to 900 square feet. Those are national published ranges, not a quote. The price moves with tear-out of the old deck, compaction of the backfill around the pool, grading and drains, the finish, and how far the deck runs toward the house and the fence. To set these against patios and driveways, see concrete costs around Smithtown, job by job.

A pool deck is a slab on grade with three extra rules. It stays separate from the pool: the joint at the coping, the cap along the pool's edge, is a flexible mastic joint run the full depth of the deck, and no reinforcing steel crosses into the deck from the bond beam, the thick concrete ring at the top of the pool wall. It drains away from the water: the draft PHTA-5 standard sets 1/8 inch per foot for textured or hand-finished concrete and 1/4 inch per foot for exposed aggregate. And it resists slipping when wet. The rest is ordinary exterior flatwork on a compacted base: air-entrained concrete to survive freeze-thaw, and control joints at 24 to 36 times the slab thickness, about 10 feet apart in a 4-inch slab by the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association's example, cut at least a quarter of the slab deep.

Pour well before the pool opens. Islip averages 3.3 nights at or below 32 degrees F in April and none from May through September, and new concrete needs at least 7 days of curing, longer when temperatures sit near 40 degrees F. Traditional sealers go on about 28 to 30 days after the pour; cure-and-seal products can go on sooner. The Town's pool rules shape the job as well. Section 322-17D requires every pool to be completely surrounded by a permanent barrier built to the state code, so the fence must be back and closed before anyone swims. Section 322-17C keeps water overflowing or emptied from the pool on your own land, and Section 322-25 keeps stormwater on the site. A wide deck in a required yard should also be checked against Section 322-12I(8), which limits paved surfaces to 25% of each required front, side or rear yard.

Cornell Cooperative Extension lists Riverhead sandy loam, Haven loam and Plymouth loamy sand among Suffolk's major soils, and USDA describes Riverhead and Haven as well drained soils formed in glacial outwash and Plymouth as excessively drained sand. On a flat outwash lot that helps, because water that reaches the lawn soaks in, but the land adds little fall: USGS describes the outwash plain as moderately flat, sloping about 20 feet per mile. The deck's pitch has to do the work, and PHTA-5 also wants roof and site drainage sent away from the pool area. The weak point is the backfill around the pool shell, soil dug out and pushed back when the pool went in. Pavement guidance asks for uniform support compacted to 95% of Standard Proctor density; loose backfill settles, and the panels beside the coping drop or tip toward the water, where 98.3 freezing nights a year at Islip turn puddles to ice.

Before asking for prices, measure the deck and the pool, note where water stands after rain, check whether the joint at the coping is open, filled with sealant or packed with mortar, and photograph any lifted panels or loose coping. Mark the fence and gate locations, because the barrier has to be complete before the pool opens. Suffolk County's home improvement contractor law covers both swimming pools and masonry, so ask any contractor for the county license number, a certificate of liability insurance and a written scope that states the slope, the coping joint and the finish. If the deck continues into a patio or a walk to the house, that slab work is covered on the concrete patios and walkways page. Then send the measurements and photos through the quote form.