by Blue Ridge Design Studios

How to Resurface a Patio with SwiftDeck interlocking Patio tiles

If you're building a new patio deck in your backyard or want to resurface your existing patio, it's so quick and easy with HandyDeck interlocking patio tiles. There's very little surface preparation required – no nails, no adhesives, no special tools, no carpentry skills and no extra parts required.  All the decking materials you'll need are right inside each carton of tiles.

The basic requirement for building a patio deck with Handydeck is a solid, level and well drained surface, either indoors or outdoors.  And although the most common use for the tiles is resurfacing concrete patios, most hard surfaces can be covered with these patio tiles including balconies, patios, veranda decks, rooftop decks, entrances, above ground pool decks, hot tub decks, spa surrounds and other (well drained) wet areas.  Even high traffic commercial areas are no problem.

• First, measure the area to be covered to work out how many tiles you will need.  You might need extra tiles if you have to cut any tiles to fit odd shaped areas or curves.

• Start laying the patio tiles from one corner of the area to be covered.  Place the first tile in position and then lock the adjacent tile in place by pushing it down to engage the special connecting tabs on the sides of each tile. 

• Continue snapping the deck tiles into position this way until the complete area is covered and all the tiles are securely locked in place to each adjacent tile.

Different deck designs can easily be made by combining tiles from other available styles... and you can change the designs at will.  So if you're remodeling or covering a front porch for example, you could even make different front porch designs for different seasons if you felt so inclined.

One of the more difficult problems faced with most conventional deck installations is building the deck to fit around pipes, posts or corners.  With SwiftDeck or LinkDeck wood tiles it's a simple matter of cutting out the required shape from the tile using a jigsaw or handsaw and locking the tile into place.  Making a template of light cardboard the same size as the tile makes the task even easier and avoids any errors in cutting the tile to shape. Any screws in cut out sections should be replaced at appropriate points in the remaining part of the tile to ensure that all slats are securely fastened to the base.

If you want to hide the plastic connecting tabs on the outermost row of tiles, reducer strips are available which just click easily into place onto the outer row of tiles.  For coners, mitered reducer strips are also available (sold in pairs).