San Antonio City Sidewalk Resurfacing Transformation
SOSA crews resurfaced 1,500 square feet of concrete sidewalk in downtown San Antonio as part of a large capital improvement program. This project was awarded with the SUNDEK Project of the Year for 2024.
When the City of San Antonio embarked on a 6-year capital improvement program, they set out to make major improvements throughout the city. One of the many projects on their list was to improve sidewalks along Commerce Street (North Main and Soledad), which is essentially the main vein that runs through the city. The city contacted SUNDEK of San Antonio (SOSA) to see how they could help.
Get a free resurfacing estimateThe Challenge
Resurfacing the downtown sidewalks using Classic Texture ensures that the city will have safe and good-looking sidewalks for years.At their first meeting, SUNDEK learned exactly what the city wanted to achieve: they had large areas of sidewalk that needed serious repair, but they couldn’t afford to tear out massive slabs of concrete above locations such as city basements, vaults, and tunnels. The city wanted SUNDEK to repair these areas and match the newly resurfaced concrete with the existing fine wash top crass finish.
The task at hand was not an easy one. “When you try to wrap your mind around an acrylic finish matching a porous concrete substrate, that’s quite the challenge,” says Craig Roohan, General Manager of SUNDEK of San Antonio. But it was a challenge that SUNDEK artisans were up for. Craig and his team came up with a custom, three-color aggregate effect on Classic Texture that would match what the city requested.
The Solution
Classic Texture, known for its durability and reliability, is an excellent solution for sidewalks. In addition to looking great, this knockdown texture finish is also perfect for a spot that will see massive amounts of foot traffic due to its slip resistance. In fact, it’s commonly used at waterparks and community pool decks for that reason. Its textured profile also makes it less hot than plain gray concrete. Absorbing less solar radiation makes it less of a contributor to urban heat island effect, which is a common issue in big cities.
Over the course of 2.5 years, crews created 34 samples for the city of San Antonio to make sure the texture and colors were just right.Samples & Preparation
Moving from concept to execution was not a quick process—SUNDEK of San Antonio worked with the city of Antonio for about 2.5 years, going back and forth to fine-tune the mockups and materials to get approval from all necessary parties. The samples SUNDEK created weren’t small. Rather, they created 5-by-4 samples so that city officials could get a clear picture of what exactly they’d be getting. After 34 samples and many discussions back and forth, SUNDEK got the final stamp of approval from the city and the developer to move forward with their work.
The city wanted a specific look, and SUNDEK delivered, using Classic Texture, a custom base color, and aggregate effects, also in a custom color.This large project began with demolition so SUNDEK’s production team could get down to a solid substrate. As they began this process, crews came across some issues: inferior substrate that needed to be addressed before the Classic Texture coating could be applied. As SUNDEK of San Antonio’s sales associate Steve Scott describes, “the production team had to literally float up to a couple inches of material and smooth it out to make it look like concrete again.” After that time-consuming step, the team moved on to the installation process.
Installation
Installation began with a primer bonding basecoat. Once the sidewalks were properly primed, the team applied the Classic Texture system, scoring it into a pattern agreed upon by the city and SUNDEK. From there, crews applied the base color: a custom blend of Tweed Gray and Oyster White. After that, they applied aggregate effects in another custom blend of Tea N Cream, Franciscan Tan, and Bone White.
From the time their work on the city sidewalks began with the demolition to the time that they applied the final aggregate effects, SUNDEK of San Antonio maintained an impressively clean and safe working environment. “Our team was nothing but professional from day one to the last day that we were on site,” says Craig. Crews took extra care to ensure the safety of nearby pedestrians and employees working in the area.
On top of delivering a beautiful finished product that the city is thrilled with, the 15 SUNDEK of San Antonio crewmembers who worked for 28 days straight did it all in 100+ degree temperatures. “All the credit goes to the crew,” says Steve, “They never quit. The project looks amazing.”
Related: Commercial Concrete Resurfacing
See a video of the project here.
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We work in San Antonio and all the major cities in the area including Boerne, Bulverde, Canyon Lake, Castle Hills, Cibolo, Fair Oaks Ranch, Garden Ridge, Helotes, Hollywood Park, New Braunfels, Schertz, Shavano Park, Spring Branch, and Terrell Hills.