Care & maintenance
Rinse it, keep it sealed, and it keeps looking like week one.
Rinse it, keep it sealed, and it will keep looking like it did the week it went down. Almost every problem we get called about traces back to a surface that went too long without resealing.
Routine cleaning
A hose and a soft-bristle brush handle most of it. For anything greasier, use a pH-neutral cleaner. Avoid acid washes and harsh degreasers — they attack the cement matrix that holds the shell in place, and the damage is not reversible.
If you pressure wash, keep it wide-fan and keep it moving. A narrow tip held in one spot will cut the surface open.
Resealing
The sealer is the part that wears, not the Shellcrete. How often it needs redoing depends on sun, traffic and how close you are to salt water. A shaded lanai goes far longer than a west-facing pool deck fifty feet from the Gulf.
The signal to watch for is water: on a sealed surface it beads. When it starts soaking in and darkening the surface instead, it is time.
Coastal exposure
Within roughly three thousand feet of saltwater, salt reaches concrete faster and accelerates spalling on anything left unsealed. If you are on or near the water, treat resealing as scheduled maintenance rather than something to get to eventually.
Pool chemistry
Splash-out is normal and fine. Draining or backwashing directly onto the deck repeatedly is not — concentrated pool chemistry sitting on a surface will eventually mark it.