What we build with
Rubber granules for Florida heat and sun
Which crumb goes into your deck, how coarse it is, and why that matters.
Which crumb goes into your deck, how coarse it is, and why that matters.
Black SBR is recycled tire crumb. It is springy, cheap by volume, and it does the structural work. On a playground it is the layer that carries fall height. On a pool deck it is the layer that soaks up slab movement so the top does not crack. Colored EPDM is a different rubber. It is colored all the way through, so a scuff shows the same shade as the surface around it. It costs more, so we keep it where it earns the money, in the top layer you touch. Pour the two together and you get depth from the cheap grade and looks from the expensive one. Pour EPDM all the way down and you pay for rubber nobody ever sees.
Granule size decides how the finished floor feels and how flat it will trowel. Fine grades lay down tight and smooth. That is what you want on a pool deck where people walk barefoot and drag a chair across it. Coarser grades leave more air between the grains, and that air is what gives a playground its give. Put a coarse grade down at pool deck thickness and it will not close up under the trowel. You end up with open pockets that hold sand and pool water. Put a fine grade under a swing set and the cushion goes hard. Depth is set by what the surface has to do, then the granule is matched to that depth, never the other way round.
Recycled crumb is only as good as the screening behind it. Cheap loads still carry steel wire from the tire belt, nylon fiber, and a lot of fine dust. Wire works its way to the surface and finds a bare foot. Fiber floats up as fuzz that will not trowel down. Dust drinks binder, so the mix takes more resin and still comes out weak. Our SBR arrives screened clean and every bag gets a look before it goes near the mixer. If a load looks wrong it goes back on the truck. On a deck near the ocean, salt air already works on anything metal that reaches the surface, so wire is not a small problem here.
1We visit within 24 hours, measure and hand you a fixed price.
2Pick the blend and the depth. We repair the base so it holds.
3Poured, cured and walkable in 24 to 48 hours.
It will if the blend is on file, and yours is. Every EPDM mix we pour is recorded by color and by ratio before the first bag is opened, so a patch is mixed from the same recipe. Florida sun does age a surface, so a fresh patch can read slightly brighter for a few weeks until it settles in with the rest.
You can, and on thin decorative work we do exactly that. It costs more per sq ft, because EPDM is the expensive grade and you are buying it at full depth. On anything thick, a playground or a track, the SBR base is the sensible way to buy that depth. Say the word at the measurement and we will price both ways.
Less than pavers or dark concrete, and far less than a painted slab. Color drives it more than the rubber does. Light sand and gray blends stay comfortable barefoot through the afternoon. Deep black or dark blue picks up real heat by two in the afternoon in July. If your deck sits in open sun we show you the light blends first.
It depends on what the surface has to do. A pool deck or a patio sits thin, just enough to level the slab and feel soft under bare feet. Playground depth is driven by the fall height of the equipment above it, so it goes thicker. We measure your slab and your equipment at the free visit, then the depth goes into the written quote.
Granule is only half the surface, and what glues it together is covered on the binder page.
Same surface, other components. Each one named on your written quote.
Free on-site measurement within 24 hours. No obligation.
