Patio Resurfacing in Palm Bay, FL

Can your concrete patio be resurfaced?

Concrete patio resurfacing works when the slab is solid and level and only looks tired. Stains, a worn broom finish, faded color and hairline cracks are surface problems, and resurfacing covers them. Small shrinkage cracks and crazing get covered by the prime coat and base coat of an overlay. Any crack as wide as a credit card or wider gets repaired before the new surface goes down. A painted or sealed patio still qualifies once that old coating comes off.

Concrete that heaves or has severe cracks is past resurfacing. Crumbling edges and rebar showing through point to a tear-out too, and so do sections that have settled. Resurfacing will not solve a soil problem under the slab. Sandy soil here drains fast but settles, so one corner of a patio can sink well after the pour. Once the slab itself has failed, any new surface on top of it fails too.

A patio that fails the test comes out instead. With concrete removal, we break up the old slab, haul it off and grade and compact the sand. Then a new concrete patio gets poured in its place. Other patios are sound but too small, and a new slab can extend them. New concrete will not match the old color, and a resurface over both slabs evens the look. The new slab has to cure first, and one maker's sheet says at least 28 days.

How we prep a concrete patio for its new surface

Prep decides how long a resurfaced patio lasts. Poor prep is the most common reason an overlay fails. Before we resurface a concrete patio, we pressure clean the slab and diamond grind it to clean, rough concrete. Grease, oil, stains, rust, old sealer and wax all have to come off first. Paint goes too, since paint and heavy sealer block the bond. For thin pavers, grinding takes down high spots and old patch edges.

Cracks get cut out and filled before any new surface goes down. An overlay will not bridge an existing crack, so that repair keeps the new surface whole. Control joints in the old concrete carry through into the new surface, so movement has somewhere to go. On a stamped overlay, we re-cut those joints through the new layer. A slab that keeps moving will still crack the new surface, which is why the slab test comes first.

How much height does each route add at the door?

Height matters most where the patio or lanai meets the house. Any lift shows up first at the door thresholds and the slider track. A spray texture coat is the thinnest of the three, and it barely changes the height. A stamped overlay sits higher, though it still adds only a fraction of an inch. Deeper patterns need more material, so the pattern you pick sets the final height. We check it against the slider track before you choose.

Thin pavers add the most height of the three. Thin pavers set over concrete lift the surface about an inch and a half, once the setting bed is counted. The slab carries the load under them, so it has to be flat and stable. If that height crowds a door or a step, an overlay or a spray coat fits better. We measure every door and step before quoting, so the doors still swing.

What changes on a screened lanai floor?

Screened lanai floors are good candidates for patio resurfacing, since the slab sits protected and usually stays in good shape. No machine fits through a screen door, so material comes in by wheelbarrow or gets pumped in. That is slower, but your cage stays in place. The aluminum base track and the posts sit right on the slab. Thin pavers get saw cut around them, and spray work starts with everything nearby taped and covered in plastic.

Heat and grip matter on any patio, and most of all under bare feet. Color sets the heat, since light shades reflect more sun and dark shades absorb more heat. A light spray texture patio coating helps keep a floor cooler, and its highly textured surface is slip resistant. A stamped overlay gets most of its grip from the sealer, since sealed decorative concrete can turn slick when wet. So we mix a clear grit into the sealer.

A stamped overlay or a spray texture coat gets sealed last, and that sealer takes the sun first. Year round UV fades the color on bare concrete here, so the sealer does real work on a Brevard patio. Plan on resealing about every six years, and sooner on a patio that sits in full sun all day. A new coat brings the color back up. On the beachside, salt air is one more reason to keep the sealer current.

What drives the cost of patio resurfacing?

Patio size comes first, because every part of the job scales with the square footage. The route moves the number most. A spray texture coat sits at the low end, and thin pavers sit at the top. Pattern and color come next, since one color and one pattern cost less than a multi-color design with borders. A hand-carved compass star or a border band adds hand work as well. Steps and the cuts around enclosure posts add more.

The condition of the slab moves it from there. Crack repair adds prep time, and so does grinding off old paint or sealer before the new surface goes down. Access counts too. Behind a narrow side gate or inside a screened lanai, material comes in by wheelbarrow or gets pumped in. A resurface skips the tear-out and haul-off that a new pour carries. We measure the patio, check the slab and price the actual job at a free on-site estimate.