Commercial pool decks
Commercial pool deck resurfacing in Sarasota
Shellcrete by SRQ Modern resurfaces pool decks for Sarasota condominium associations, hotels and homeowners' associations, and a deck like that is a different job from the one behind a house. Its surface is set by the Florida Building Code's section on public pools, its pool answers to the Department of Health, and the people who use it are still there while the work goes on.
One home in five in the city of Sarasota is in a building of fifty units or more, so a great many shared pools sit a short drive from our yard. How the material scales across a large deck, and how it is specified zone by zone, is on the resort and commercial page.
Is your pool a public pool?
Under Florida law most shared pools are public pools, and the exceptions are narrow. A pool serving no more than 32 condominium or cooperative units, and not run as a public lodging establishment, is exempt from the Department of Health's supervision except for water quality. A larger association can be exempt too if its recorded documents prohibit renting units for periods of less than 60 days, but it still files with the Department, has its construction plans approved and receives an initial operating permit.
Hotels, and associations that rent by the week, are inside the rules. Which side of that line a pool sits on decides who has to see the deck plan, so it is the first thing we ask a board.
The four feet around the water
The Building Code calls the band of deck around a public pool the wet deck: an unobstructed area four feet wide around the pool's water edge, its ladders and its handrails. It has to be concrete or another nonabsorbent material with a smooth, slip-resistant finish.
That makes it a finish decision before a colour one. On a Shellcrete deck the grip comes from the shell, so the band around the water takes the exposed shell finish, and a honed finish goes where the loungers sit, in the same material and colour on either side of a joint.
New decking, and what it leaves alone
The Florida Building Commission has said that installing new decking is not a modification of a public pool when the deck meets the wet-deck rule and the deck markings are brought up to the current code. Those markings are the depth and no-diving markers set into the deck around the water, and on a resurfacing job they are laid out again rather than poured over.
The Department of Health's notice of resurfacing for a public pool carries the pool's operating permit number, and it says that where the deck is altered, the wet deck is kept as originally approved or brought up to current accessibility requirements. The Department's own guidance tells operators to contact both the local building office and the Department before resurfacing, and that is where we start.
Phasing around the people who live there
A condominium deck is closed in sections rather than all at once, and the joint plan doubles as the phasing plan: each pour stops at a planned joint so the next one starts cleanly against it. We set those lines out with the board before the first section is roped off, so residents know which side of the pool is open on which days.
Heat is the other conversation a board has with its owners. A pale deck reflects more of the sun and stays cooler underfoot, which is why the cool-deck comparison is worth sending round before the colour vote.
On the keys, two lines in the sand
On Siesta Key and Casey Key, Sarasota County's Gulf Beach Setback Line runs along the beach, and building seaward of it takes a variance from the County Commission; pool decks have been through that process. Further out sits the state's Coastal Construction Control Line, seaward of which new construction needs a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection unless the rules exempt it.
The state exempts repair and maintenance that stays within an existing foundation and leaves the foundation alone, so resurfacing a deck where it already is and making it bigger toward the beach are two different questions. We find out which one a project is before we quote it.
Twelve minutes from the yard
Our yard and showroom are on 14th Street West in Bradenton, about six and a half miles from Sarasota City Hall, twelve minutes in light traffic. A commercial deck here is close enough for the crew to come back each morning rather than stay over, which is what phasing around residents needs.
For one house rather than a building, pool deck resurfacing in Sarasota is the page to read.
Further afield, Shellcrete in Orlando is resort and commercial work only.
Commercial pool decks questions we get in Sarasota
Does our condominium pool count as a public pool?
Usually, unless it is small or closed to short rentals. Florida exempts a pool serving 32 condominium or cooperative units or fewer, not run as public lodging, from the Department of Health's supervision except for water quality. Above 32 units, an association whose recorded documents forbid renting for less than 60 days is exempt too, but it still files with the Department and gets its plans approved. Hotels are public pools.
Do we need a permit to resurface a commercial pool deck?
Expect two offices. The Department of Health's guidance says to contact the local building office and the Department before resurfacing a public pool, and its resurfacing notice carries the pool's operating permit number. The Florida Building Commission has said new decking that meets the wet-deck rule, with the deck markings brought up to code, is not a modification of the pool. We take the paperwork in that order.
Can the pool stay open while the deck is done?
Parts of the deck can, depending on where the pool's entries and its four-foot wet deck fall. We phase by joint lines agreed with the board, so one section is closed, poured and finished before the next is roped off. Whether swimmers can use the pool during a phase is the operator's call under its permit, and we plan around the answer. Resort walkway surfacing covers the routes to and from the deck.
Worth reading first
- Concrete pool deck ideas for Florida: colour, grip, joints and edgesConcrete pool deck ideas sorted by the decisions that matter in Florida: colour for heat, texture for grip, joints as pattern, the coping edge, borders, turf and what goes in before the pour.
- Exposed aggregate concrete vs exposed shell in Florida: how they differExposed aggregate and exposed shell are the same technique with a different stone. How they differ barefoot, in colour, and in cleaning and sealing on a Florida driveway or pool deck.
- Pool deck drainage in Florida: why water sits and what fixes itWhy water sits on a pool deck, how to tell a fall problem from a clogged drain or a settled slab, and what a new surface can correct once the drains are sound.
- Pool coping in Florida: which material belongs on the edge of your poolWhat pool coping does, how travertine, pavers, poured cantilever and precast edges compare on grip and heat, and how the coping has to meet the tile and the deck.
