Have you seen the primitive pool builders on Youtube lately? It simply fascinates you to see two men build water parks and swimming pool villas from scratch bare-hands and with essential tools.
You can have your Youtube-approved moment if you learn how to make your swimming pools. Start with the basics. In today’s post, you will learn one of the most celebrated pool decks designs, the stamped concrete pool decks. If you haven’t discovered it yet, pool deck stamping is a fun project. Most expert pool contractors enjoy doing this one. The installer of the decks gets to use stamps.
Picture how in your childhood days you used stamps with cartoon characters designed on them. And then you got the stamp pads where you can press the stamped patterns, and voila! You got a perfect drawing, shape, or print on the paper.
Read on and learn the process of stamping with pool decks.
Methods to Decor Stamped Concrete Pool Decks
There are four essential processes to follow integral to stamped pool decks. These are:
- Base Color
- Stamped
- Washed
- Sealed
1. Settings Up the Pattern: Stamp or Stencil
The first process is to look at or create the stamping design. But before that, get a fine line drawing between what is stamped and what is stenciled.
There are occasions that these two techniques get intermingled. When using stamps and stencils, you use cutouts or patterns from material to design or press on fresh concrete. After the slabs are cured, then you instantly have decorated concrete.
Stamping is scrubber mats, and stencils use frame-like outlines of patterns and shapes. Stained patterns are easier to achieve since the rubber mats got all the decor handled.
You can ask a concrete contractor to customize the design of the stamping patterns.
2. Setting Up the Base Color
Next is the base color. This e gives an idyllic look to the stamped patterns by giving each shape and outline to make the stamped image stand out.
First, let’s make a distinction between what is a base color or the release color.
The color that immediately pops up right after stamping is a grey, plain stone look. Usually, stamping takes the natural form and appearance of the concrete or cement mix itself.
Base color: now the base color when you decided to color the stamped pool deck by adding concrete coloring onto the mix.
There are two ways to achieve the base color.
1- base color using color hardener
2- base color using integral coloring
Accent color: now the accent color. This gives drama to the whole stamped flooring. Accent colors create either a dark contrast to the base color or lighter ones. This process is like adding shading to your still-life painting.
3. Release Color
The specific method to add accent color is through the release coloring/ the release color is added to the base color on the stamped design to prevent the stamp mat from sticking on the concrete while wet.
As the release color is combined, it automatically adds an accent to the flooring design.
4. Stamping Stage
Now the part where all the magic happens. The stamping stage. Once the base color and accent coloring are in place, the concrete slab is ready to get stamped while curing.
The installer will press on the rubber mat with the design on the concrete. The key to this step is controlled and precise stamping. Once an installer stamps the material using different weights each time, the patterns will become chaotic, uneven, and unappealing.
This is why it’s always recommended to hire professional decorative flooring contractors to handle a seamless and polished job.
5. Washing and Cutting
Consider this process as the polishing stage. The contractor needs to ensure an even and leveled stamping drain on the concrete surface. They need to do final cutting and washing to let beautiful unblemished stamped decks emerge on the surface.
6. Sealing
Lastly is sealing the stamped design. The sealer is the last touch of creating drama to the stamped decks. Unless a sealer is added, the accent color will not achieve its desired effect. So better finish the stamped designs for your pool decks with a sealer. Happy stamping!
