Cool Deck
Cool deck — the sprayed finish that stays walkable in July
Cool deck, spray deck, knockdown texture, Kool Deck — people call it four things and mean the same finish. Bare feet on a light, textured deck in August is a completely different experience to bare feet on plain gray concrete, and that difference is the whole point of it.
Why homeowners pick Keen for this
Colour is what keeps it cool
Most of the heat a slab holds comes from how much sun it absorbs. A light sprayed finish reflects where dark concrete stores, which is why the H2Cool line only comes in the lighter half of the palette.
Texture is what keeps it safe
The knockdown pattern leaves thousands of small high points for a wet foot to grip. That is grip built into the surface itself, not a coating that wears off it.
It goes over concrete you already have
If your slab is sound, we can spray a cool deck straight over it. No tear-out, no new pour, and a tired gray deck comes back looking new.
Sprayed as its own visit
On a new pour it goes on after the slab has cured, not while it is green. That is a second trip for us and the only way to do it properly.
Color
Color Seal, over knockdown texture.
The cool-deck finish is a sprayed knockdown texture sealed in color. The H2Cool line is the one built to stay easier underfoot in the sun — worth knowing before you fall for a shade that only comes in the standard series.
Showing 15 of 15 Color Seal colors.
Tap a color to see which series it comes in.
These are a starting point, not a match. Screens lie about color, and so do printed cards — the chart's own fine print says a card can't be used for a final choice. Cure, weather, sun and the slab underneath all move the finished shade. Pick two or three you like here, and we'll spray real samples on your concrete before anything else happens.
Colors are shown over a sprayed knockdown texture, which is how we apply them on a pool deck. Over a different surface — a smooth slab, an overlay, an older deck — the same color reads differently.
Color Seal is made by Innovative Concrete Technology. Custom color matching is available on the Pro 220 series, and White is offered but not shown here.
How it goes
01
Look at the slab
We check it is sound, flat enough and draining the right way. If it is heaving or the cracks are structural, a spray finish just hides the problem for a season and we will tell you so.
02
Clean and prep
The surface is cleaned and profiled so the material bonds. Old sealer, grease and curing compound all have to come off first.
03
Mask and protect
Coping, walls, the house and your plants get covered. Overspray is the part of this job that separates a careful crew from a fast one.
04
Spray and knock down
The acrylic-and-cement material is sprayed on and then knocked down by hand to the texture you picked. This is the step that has to be judged by feel.
05
Colour seal and finish
Sealed in your chosen Color Seal colour, with a non-slip additive where the deck will be walked on wet.
What you pay, and when
One honest, fixed price, itemized in writing before we start. Half at signing and half at completion — no progress-payment ladder, no change-order surprises unless you ask us to change something. Keen work carries a one-year workmanship warranty; cracking, color variation and efflorescence are inherent to concrete and are excluded, and we say that up front rather than in the fine print.
Sealer
What goes on
Every stained and stamped slab we finish gets an EZ Chem solvent-based acrylic sealer at 25–30% solids. Solids is the part that stays behind once the solvent flashes off, so a higher-solids sealer leaves a thicker, longer-lasting film than the thin box-store product. Solvent-based rather than water-based because it bites into the concrete and carries the colour deeper, which is what gives a stained slab that wet, saturated look instead of a flat film sitting on top.
Non-slip, where it matters
Where the slab is going to be walked on wet — a pool deck, a shaded patio, steps — we add a non-slip additive to the sealer. It is broadcast into the coat rather than sprinkled on after, so it wears with the sealer instead of off it. If your slab will get wet, tell us and we will spec it that way; it is not an upcharge we spring on you later.
Re-sealing
Sealer is the part that wears, not the colour. On the Coastal Bend we generally look at re-sealing every two to three years, sooner on a slab that bakes in full sun all day or takes salt spray. Your care sheet gives the interval for your job, and we will come back and do it.
Recent cool deck work
Full gallery
Take it with you
Cool Deck care sheet
One page on how to look after it, what will damage it, when to re-seal, and which bits of concrete behaviour are normal rather than a defect. We hand you this on the day; it is here so you can find it again in three years.
Questions
Straight answers, before you call.
Cool deck, spray deck, Kool Deck — what is the difference?
Nothing. They are four names for one finish. The trade calls it spray deck or knockdown texture because that is how it goes on; homeowners say cool deck because that is what it does; Kool Deck is a brand name people use generically, the way everyone says Sheetrock. Whichever word you use when you call us, we know what you mean.
Is Kool Deck a brand?
Kool Deck is a brand name that people now use for the whole category, the way everyone says Sheetrock. What we spray is an acrylic-and-cement knockdown texture applied over the cured slab — the same cool, grippy result, using the products we trust here on the coast.
How much cooler is it, really?
We are not going to give you a number we cannot stand behind, because it depends on the colour you pick, the time of day and how much shade you have. What we will say is that the difference between a light sprayed deck and dark bare concrete in August is the difference between walking across it and hopping across it. Pick a lighter colour and you get more of that difference.
Can you spray it over my existing pool deck?
Usually, yes — that is a lot of what we do with it. The slab needs to be structurally sound and reasonably flat. If it is lifting at the joints or rocking underfoot, resurfacing buys you a year and then you are back where you started, so we would quote a replacement instead and say why.
Does it get slippery?
The knockdown texture grips well on its own, and where the deck is going to be wet we add a non-slip additive into the sealer coat. Tell us the slab is around water and we spec it that way from the start.
How do I look after it?
Rinse it, keep it swept, and re-seal on the schedule on your care sheet. A sprayed deck lives or dies on its sealer, and re-sealing is a job we are happy to come back and do.
Financing
Financing available.
One short application, 30+ lenders competing, a decision in real time. Projects financed up to $200,000 — deposits and progress payments can also be made by card or bank transfer.
Tell us about your project and we'll come out, measure, and hand you an itemized quote — materials, timeline and total. The price on the paper is the price you pay.
Serving Corpus Christi, Rockport, Ingleside, Kingsville and the Coastal Bend.