Outdoor concrete that can take a Carolina summer.
A textured chip finish over your patio slab, with grit in the topcoat so it grips when it is wet. Ground first and poured by the owner. Built to last.
Insured and bonded · 5 years · every patio poured by the owner
A quote for the patio
A few photos and the rough size of the patio get you a real number.
Carolina weather lands on a patio first.
A garage floor has a roof over it. A patio gets everything else. Sun bakes it all afternoon, a storm soaks it an hour later, and on a Saturday it carries the grill, the table and everybody who came over.
Bare concrete handles that badly. Rain and grease soak straight in, a green film grows in the shady corner, and the low spots turn slick. Paint from the shelf peels, because nothing opened the slab up before it went on.
What we put down outside is a chip system. Vinyl chips get broadcast into the base coat, then a clear topcoat locks them in place. The chips hide pollen and yard dirt between hose-downs, and the blend gives the patio a color that stays put.
Every patio we coat gets grit in the topcoat. Outside, water is a given.
That grit is the part people never think to ask about. It is a fine aggregate mixed into the last coat, and it gives a wet patio real traction under bare feet and flip-flops. A smooth clear coat looks great on day one and turns slippery the first time it rains. We will not leave one outdoors.
What you end up with looks finished and cleans up with a hose. And it stays safe to walk on through a wet summer.
What the grind turns up on a patio.
Pikeville sits on coastal plain ground. The soil is sandy, the water table rises and drops through the year, and a slab poured on top of it moves a little. On a patio that shows up as hairline cracks, usually running out from a corner or along the wall of the house.
Those cracks are normal. Coating over them is the mistake, because they come right back through the new finish. So a patio gets the same first day as every floor we do. The diamond grinder takes the top of the slab down to open concrete, and each crack it exposes gets chased out and filled before any color goes on.
The grind also takes off whatever the years left behind. Peeling porch paint, an old sealer gone cloudy, the dark ring where the grill has dripped. Grease that soaked in deep gets a degreasing pass first, so it cannot ghost up through the chips later.
If a crack is wide, or one side has dropped below the other, we say so on the walk-through. That is the slab itself moving, and no coating will hold it together.
The slab and the sky pick the pour date.
We pour outside most of the year. A patio is a different job from a garage, though. There is no roof and no door to pull down, so the date comes from the slab and the forecast, and the calendar has very little say.
Slab temperature
Resin cures through a chemical reaction. That reaction speeds up on a hot slab and drags on a cold one, and a patio in full afternoon sun runs a lot hotter than the air around it. We check the slab itself. On a summer job that often means an early start, so the coats go down before the sun reaches the concrete.
The forecast
Rain on a fresh coat is the one thing we plan the whole job around. We look at the days on both sides of the pour, and if a storm line is headed our way we move the date. Moving a day costs nothing. Grinding off a ruined topcoat costs a lot.
Humidity
For about eight months a year the air around here is heavy, and moisture can also come up from the ground through the slab. We test for it before we quote, so the system we put down matches what your patio is actually doing.
Spring and fall
Those are the seasons everyone wants their patio done, so they fill first. A mild week in winter is often a good pour day and a lot easier to get. Call early and we will tell you where you would land.
Living on the patio once it is done.
A coated patio asks for very little. A few habits keep it looking the way it did the day we packed up.
The hose is the cleaning plan
Most weeks a garden hose and a stiff broom take care of it. Pollen, leaves and yard dirt rinse off the chips without a fight. For something stubborn, use a bucket with a little mild soap. There is no need to drag out a pressure washer.
Furniture feet
Metal chair legs and table feet are where a topcoat picks up scratches. Felt or rubber caps help a lot, and so does lifting a heavy table to move it instead of dragging it across the patio.
The grill spot
Grease is the patio stain everybody has. On a coated slab it sits on top instead of soaking in, so wipe it up while it is fresh. A grill mat under the cooker makes cleanup even easier.
The first few days
Light foot traffic is fine the morning after the pour. The resin is still hardening for days after it looks finished, so ask us before the grill and the heavy furniture go back out. That call depends on how warm it has been.
Other floors we pour around Pikeville.
Pikeville is a short haul from our shop in Goldsboro, well inside the 60-mile radius we work from there. A lot of patio calls end with a second job on the list.
If the garage needs help too, the epoxy flooring page walks through how we pick a system for it. A workshop or laundry room that takes a beating points toward quartz epoxy flooring, and a slab you want to keep as plain concrete fits concrete sealing. Got a pool out back? The pool deck coatings page covers what changes near the water. Our patio coatings page covers every town we serve, and the Pikeville page has the rest. Or skip ahead and tell us what the patio looks like.
Patio questions we hear a lot.
Will a coated patio be slippery when it rains?
Not the way we finish it. Fine grit goes into the topcoat on every outdoor job, and that is what gives the surface traction when it is wet. A smooth clear coat is the slippery one. It looks fine in a dining room and has no business on a patio.
Can you coat a patio that has cracks in it?
Usually, yes. Hairline cracks are normal on sandy ground, and they get chased out and filled during the grind so they stay hidden under the finish. A crack that is wide, or one with an edge that has dropped, means the slab is moving. We point that out before we quote.
Does the patio have to be empty?
Yes. The grinder has to reach every inch of the slab, so the grill, the furniture, the planters and the hose reel all come off before we start. Moving them a day or two early makes the first morning go a lot smoother for everybody.
What happens if it rains during the job?
We work hard not to find out. The pour date comes from the forecast, and if a storm looks likely we move it. A grind day can sometimes go ahead with rain around. The coats do not go down until we are confident the patio will stay dry while it cures.
Can the patio match my garage floor?
Yes. If we are coating the garage as well, the same chip blend can go on both, so the house reads as one finished job. The only real difference is the grit. Outside it is never optional, and we set the topcoat for a surface that will be wet often.
Can my covered porch get the same finish?
Yes, and a roof overhead makes it an easier job. A covered porch sees less direct sun and rain, but it still gets wet shoes and blowing storms, so it gets the same grit in the topcoat. Send photos and we will tell you what that slab needs.
Show us the patio.
Send a few photos and the rough size. Beto will tell you what he sees in them, then come look at it before you get a number.
Call and Beto Ponce answers himself. Want to see chip floors and metallic pours first? Start with the gallery.
(919) 440-1333