Kemah Exterior Concrete
Outdoor concrete on the bay side of Kemah gets hit from every direction. Gulf sun bakes it from above, salt air rides in off the water, and the clay underneath holds moisture long after a rain. A coating made for a closed garage will not make it through one summer out here. Elite Coatings puts exterior-rated chemistry on pool decks, covered outdoor kitchens, patios and walkways, and every one of those jobs starts with a moisture test on the slab before we pick a system.
Why a garage coating gives up on a patio
Most failed patio coatings we look at around the bay share one history. Somebody put an interior epoxy outside. Indoor epoxy is a fine product in the room it was made for, with the door shut and no sun reaching it. Put it under open sky and ultraviolet light starts breaking the resin down. The surface yellows, then goes chalky, and then it lifts at the edges where water creeps underneath.
Exterior work pulls from a different shelf of materials. Coated systems get a UV-stable polyaspartic topcoat that keeps its color in direct sun. Bare or polished slabs get an exterior-rated sealer, usually a silane-siloxane or an acrylic, chosen for how much sun that surface takes in a day. When we write up a patio or deck quote, the topcoat and sealer are named on the paper. If a bid for your deck does not say what goes on top, ask. The answer tells you whether the floor will still look right two summers from now.
Pool decks where wet feet and chlorine meet
Pool decks on the bay side take the worst of it. Chlorine splash every time someone climbs out, sun most of the afternoon, salt hanging in the air, and kids running on wet concrete in bare feet. Grip is the first thing we design for. A glossy finish looks great in a photo and turns into a hazard the moment it gets wet.
- Slip texture. Aluminum oxide or silica aggregate goes into the topcoat or sealer, set coarser near the steps and the coping where people stand dripping.
- Chlorine resistance. Our exterior chemistry is rated for pool water and shock treatments, so splash does not soften or cloud the finish.
- Heat underfoot. Lighter tans and grays stay cooler for bare feet, and we set sample boards out on your deck so you can feel the difference.
- Pool access. We mask the coping and tile line and work in sections when the pool has to stay open during the job.
None of that matters if the deck itself is moving. If we find joint heaving or a section that has dropped, you hear about it before we talk about finishes.
Covered outdoor kitchens and their open edge
The outdoor kitchen pictured above is a good example of a floor with two jobs. Under the roof it behaves like a kitchen floor: grease spits off the grill, sauce drips, somebody drops a plate. Out at the open edge, rain blows in sideways and the afternoon sun reaches several feet under the beam. A floor built for only one of those conditions fails right at the line where they meet.
For these spaces we usually run a pigmented base with a broadcast of color chips, then a UV-stable topcoat across the whole slab so the covered half and the exposed half wear the same way. The speckle hides crumbs and grill spatter between cleanings, and the texture gives some grip after a hose has been run across it. Where the slab meets the yard, we seal the edge so water cannot wick in from the grass side. Grease comes off with a degreaser and warm water, and the coated surface does not soak up stains the way raw concrete does. Bayfront restaurant patios get the same treatment, built heavier for the foot traffic and nightly cleaning.
Walkways, stepping pads and the paths between
Not every outdoor slab needs a full coating. A front walk, a run of stepping pads through the yard, or a side path along the house often just needs cleaning, repair and a good exterior sealer. The concrete keeps its natural look, the sealer keeps water and salt from soaking in, and upkeep is a wash and a fresh coat when the time comes.
Stepping pads have one quirk worth knowing. Their edges sit right at grade, so yard water hits them constantly, and the sides are where sealer wears out first. We work the sealer down over the exposed edges and let it soak in, rather than leaving a thick film on the face that peels later. On a walk, cracks get a flexible filler before sealing so the line does not open back up after the first hard rain.
Test the slab first, then pick the system
Kemah slabs sit on clay that hangs onto bay-adjacent groundwater, and that water moves up through concrete as vapor. Trap it under the wrong coating and it pushes the finish off from below, usually as blisters along the joints. So before we recommend anything for an outdoor slab, we run a calcium-chloride moisture test and go over the number with you. A wet reading steers us toward a breathable sealer or a moisture-tolerant primer. A dry one opens up the full menu of coatings.
Salt air is the slower problem. Salt that settles on bare concrete draws moisture into the surface and, over a few seasons, starts to scale the top layer away. A sealed or coated slab lets you rinse it off. Homes closest to the water, out toward Todville and along the bay side of NASA Parkway, get the heaviest dose.
Got a deck or patio that needs a second look?
We will come out to price the floor, run the moisture test, and tell you plainly what that slab can take.
Outdoor slab questions from Kemah owners
How soon can we use the pool deck again?
It depends on the system. A sealer job opens up sooner than a coated deck, which needs its full cure window before furniture goes back and before it sees standing water. We put the dates in writing before we start, and we plan the whole job around the forecast.
Can you coat over an old painted or peeling patio?
Not on top of it. Old paint and failing coatings come off first, by grinding, so the new system bonds to clean concrete. Anything left under a new topcoat becomes the weak layer, and the new floor peels right along with it. We check how much is left during the quote visit.
Will a coated pool deck get hot in the sun?
Any surface in direct Gulf sun gets warm. Color matters more than chemistry here. Light tans and grays stay noticeably cooler under bare feet than dark tones do. We bring sample boards so you can set them in the sun on your own deck and feel the difference before choosing.
Does an outdoor kitchen need a different coating than the patio around it?
Usually one system runs across both, so there is no seam where the cooking area meets the seating area. What changes is the texture. Around the grill we keep the broadcast finer so grease wipes up easily, and toward the open edge we can add more grip for days when rain blows in.
What happens to a sealer this close to salt water?
A good exterior sealer keeps salt from soaking into the concrete, which is what causes scaling on bare slabs near the bay. It does wear, mostly on surfaces in full sun. When water stops beading on it, that is your signal for a reseal: a wash, light prep and a fresh coat.
Do you work on restaurant patios and commercial decks too?
Yes. Outdoor dining areas at bayfront restaurants get the same exterior chemistry, built heavier for the traffic and cleaning they see. We can schedule the work around service hours so the patio is not lost on a busy weekend, and we walk the space with you first.
How far does your crew travel to reach Kemah?
Our crew works out of a shop in Friendswood, about thirty minutes west of Kemah, so a bay-side job is a normal day for us. We also take on outdoor work in Seabrook and League City, each one five to ten minutes up the road from Kemah.
More concrete work for Kemah properties
Our exterior concrete service page explains how we handle outdoor work across the region. You can head back to everything we do in Kemah, browse finished decks and patios in the project gallery, or set up a quote visit when the weather suits you.
Tell us about the deck, patio or walk.
Send a few details and a photo if you have one. Justin or someone from the crew will call back to talk through the slab.
- Photo review or on-site visit
- Moisture test before any spec
- Straight talk on sealer versus coating
Prefer to talk? Call (346) 624-0125
Where we work around Kemah
We cover Kemah from the boardwalk out to the Todville waterfront, plus bay-side homes along NASA Parkway and the businesses along 146.