St. Augustine Beach, FL, in St. Johns County
Pool Decks and Wet Feet on St. Augustine Beach
On Anastasia Island, the slabs that matter most are the ones around the pool, under the outdoor shower and at the foot of the stairs of a raised house. Those are the floors we plan for here.
Island living near the pier
Everything here gets wet. Pool water splashes over the deck, the outdoor shower runs after every trip to the beach, and afternoon storms roll through all summer long. On a beach lot, a floor that turns slick when it is wet is a real hazard, and that one fact drives most of what we recommend on the island. Shine is nice to look at. Grip is what keeps a kid running from the pool to the shower on his feet.
St. Augustine Beach is its own small city on Anastasia Island, with a pier and the Atlantic right there. The homes are beach houses, many of them raised, and pools and outdoor showers are about as common as garages. Sand gets tracked over every surface, inside and out, no matter how many mats are at the door.
Then there is the sun. An exterior slab on the island sits in full UV most of the day, and cheap coatings chalk, fade and yellow under it. Salt air settles on everything, and the sandy ground under the slabs holds water close to the surface. So every outdoor system here gets a UV-stable topcoat and real texture, and every slab gets a moisture test before we pick anything.
Raised houses, pools and the shower out back
On a raised house, the ground level is usually concrete: parking, storage and the spot where beach chairs, coolers and wet towels land. Owners ask about turning that slab into something that looks finished and can be hosed off after a beach day without a second thought. It also tends to be the first floor guests see when they come up from the street, so how it looks matters more than people expect.
Then there is the pool deck, and the walkway that runs from it to the outdoor shower and the back door. People want those surfaces cooler under bare feet, easier to grip when wet and able to stand up to chlorine. Inside, some beach homes have slabs at ground level that owners would rather finish with a coating than cover with tile or carpet that holds sand.
On a raised house, the ground level is usually concrete: parking, storage and the spot where beach chairs, coolers and wet towels land.
Systems that can take the island
What Matt reaches for most on St. Augustine Beach slabs, and why. See all of Matt’s floors.
A pool deck system with a textured, UV-stable topcoat handles chlorine and constant splash, and a lighter color keeps it more comfortable under bare feet in the middle of summer.
The ground level under a raised house takes sand, gear and wet towels. A flake system over a ground slab sweeps out and rinses clean, and it handles the car too.
Walkways and shower pads that stay wet need grip above everything else, so we build texture into both the broadcast and the topcoat on these.
An interior ground-floor slab in a beach house can take a solid-color epoxy floor that shrugs off sand and mops clean, out of the sun that wears on outdoor coatings.
The driveway and side paths still take full sun and salt air. Where you would rather keep plain concrete, a sealer slows down staining and keeps the surface from drinking up every rain.
When Matt heads out to the island
St. Augustine Beach is close to home for us. Matt comes out and walks the deck, the shower area, the ground level and anything else you want done. He tests the slabs for moisture, watches how water drains off the deck and looks at the cracks around the pool, because those decide what the job needs before any color does.
You will hear which system goes where, how much texture he recommends and how long each area takes. Many patios and garages here finish in one day. Pool decks depend on the weather that week, and we would rather move a deck by a day than coat a damp slab. Call Matt at (904) 671-3930 and he will put your deck on his list to come see.
Or email spartancoatingsfl@gmail.com with the town and a photo of the floor.
Matt answers this phone himself
Based in St. Augustine, FL, working in St. Augustine Beach.
Finished floors first? See all of Matt’s floors.
Other St. Johns County towns on our route
Most homes here are older single-story block houses on slab along the Matanzas, which makes the garage and back porch the usual candidates for a new floor.
West of I-95 at SR-16, the golf-course neighborhoods date from the late 1990s on, and three-car garages over younger slabs are the norm.
Long known for potatoes, Hastings has barns, workshops and equipment sheds whose slabs carry tractors and dirt instead of a family car.
Older waterfront homes and newer builds share the Intracoastal here, so one driveway might be a tired, chalky slab and the next a fresh pour.
Over the Vilano bridge on A1A, houses sit on a thin strip between the Tolomato River and the Atlantic, and sand works its way into every garage.
This stretch of Anastasia Island carries Frank Butler’s name, from the days his beach was the one African American beach in the area, and its slabs get the same salt and blowing sand as the rest of the island.
Everything in the county: St. Johns County.
Questions from St. Augustine Beach
Will pool chlorine eat a coated deck?
A properly built pool deck system with a polyaspartic topcoat stands up to chlorine and normal pool chemicals. Splash and spills should still be rinsed off instead of left to dry in the sun, and shock or acid should never be mixed or poured out on the deck itself. Give it a rinse when you hose off the furniture and it keeps its color longer.
Our house is raised. Can you coat the slab underneath it?
Yes. The ground level under a raised house is often a plain slab, and it takes a coating well once it is ground and tested. It is shaded, so it stays out of the worst sun, but it can stay damp, especially near the beach. Matt checks it for moisture, and if the slab needs a barrier primer, it gets one before anything else goes down.
Can the pad under our outdoor shower be coated?
Usually, as long as the water drains off instead of sitting there. That pad has to be completely dry while the coating goes down, so the shower stays off until Matt says the floor is ready. Texture matters most here. Wet feet on a smooth floor are a bad mix, so we build in more grip than we would on a garage.
Will a coated pool deck burn bare feet in summer?
Any surface in full Florida sun gets hot, and color makes a big difference. Lighter colors stay noticeably cooler than dark ones, so we steer pool decks toward light blends and solid colors. A pool cage or a shaded corner changes things too. Matt will talk through color with you while he is standing on the actual deck.
Can a garage floor match the look of a beach house?
Sure. Flake comes in light, sandy blends and soft grays that sit well in a beach house, and they hide tracked-in sand between sweeps. If you want something cleaner, a solid color works too. Ask Matt to show you the blends, and look at them in your own garage light, which always looks different from a screen.