Splash Pad Resurfaced to Make a Texas-Sized Vision a Reality

Posted on July 9, 2025 in Blog

McMullen County officials had big plans in store for a small community in Tilden, Texas. Decades earlier, a donor gifted land for public use, and the county envisioned a space for the community to gather: McMullen County Heritage Park. Along with basketball courts, pickleball courts, exercise stations, community BBQ areas, and trails leading to the nearby Frio River, the county wanted the park to include an especially fun space for kids: a playground and splash pad. The county hired Kraftsman Commercial Playgrounds & Water Parks for help with the play space, and in turn, Kraftsman contacted Craig Roohan, General Manager of SUNDEK of San Antonio, to discuss surface solutions.

Kraftsman and SUNDEK have collaborated on numerous projects in the past, with SUNDEK always ready to deliver top-notch surfaces that meet the demands of the high-quality play areas that Kraftsman designs. After reviewing the unique design plans, Craig suggested using Classic Texture with Aggregate Effects.

Classic Texture is SUNDEK’s most popular product for outdoor commercial spaces. It makes the perfect coating for spaces where water is present, as it is known for its slip resistance and staying cool, even on hot summer days. It’s perfect for a location such as Tilden which has average summer temperatures in the high 90s. Classic Texture is also easy to clean—a must for a location that will see a lot of foot traffic.

Aggregate Effects, which are built on top of the Classic Texture system, is created by spraying multiple speckles of finish coat in various colors to emulate the look of aggregate concrete. This would serve as the background, and SUNDEK would use Classic Texture in a variety of colors to create the elements included on the unique design.

At McMullen County Heritage Park in Tilden, TX, SUNDEK of San Antonio used Classic Texture, Aggregate effects, and seven custom colors to create a stunning surface for kids to run and play.

SUNDEK of San Antonio used Aggregate Effects in two colors to create the speckled background. For the other design elements requested for the surface, they mixed seven custom colors requested by the client.

Kraftsman and the county were happy with the proposed surface coatings, and SUNDEK of San Antonio set out to begin their work on the project. To complete the splash pad design, an artistic bird’s-eye view of the Texas plains with cacti, animal footprints, stars, and a lasso encircling both the splash pad and play structures, the crew would need templates to accurately portray the designs at the proper scale. After receiving the design plans and CAD files, Craig worked with SUNDEK’s template vendor to create polyplastic templates for each design element.

The project team sent SUNDEK seven Sherwin Williams custom colors which they requested SUNDEK to match and use for the design scheme. For any project, SUNDEK can mix standard colors to create the clients’ desired colors. After completing the color mixes, SUNDEK showed them to the design team for review and approval.

Precision was essential throughout this project, and SUNDEK of San Antonio brought their expertise at every step. After applying the Classic Texture base and layering on the Aggregate Effects to create the background, the crew carefully taped off specific design elements—such as cacti, flowers, and other decorative features—to prepare for the application of the vivid accent colors. This method ensured clean lines and crisp detailing for each component of the intricate design.

The meticulous detail required to complete the rope design is shown here. After tracing the custom design template, SUNDEK of San Antonio crews carefully masked off the surrounding areas to ensure color only ended up where intended.

When the Aggregate Effects application was complete, the team masked those completed areas off so they could begin applying the design elements using the custom-made templates. Masking and protecting the surface is always important, but on this project, it proved to be especially difficult, as the wind, which picked up around 10 am each morning, tended to blow at the project site all day long.

On a detailed design such as the one for this project, a wavy line or even slightly misplaced color can put a damper on the professional look of the finished piece, so careful application is always required. Once they completed the surface, SUNDEK applied Eco Clear sealer for maximum protection.

After eight days of diligent work by SUNDEK of San Antonio crews, project stakeholders came to look at the finished surface. While everyone agreed the project looked spectacular, there was a major problem: even though SUNDEK received design and color approval before putting down any product, at some point there was a miscommunication among stakeholders, and several entities involved in the project were now requesting changes.

Learn more about our splash pad and waterpark coatings.

One major change involved the color. Rather than using two shades of bluish-teal and dark green for the barrel cacti, flowers, and stars, the designer wanted three shades of green. For the lasso, they also decided that they would rather have a lighter shade of brown and a different contour for the rope design. Additionally, the Aggregate Effects blend, the entire background of the surface, needed to change. Originally, one color had been requested for the speckles, but they now wanted two colors.

The changes—a surprise to SUNDEK—were not minor. Essentially, SUNDEK of San Antonio needed to redo the entire project. “Every once in a while with these larger commercial projects, you’re thrown curveballs out of your control,” says Craig, “But as a contractor, all you really can do is step up to the challenge.” And that’s exactly what SUNDEK of San Antonio did. Craig and his team began working on a plan to address the changes.

Because SUNDEK had protected the surface with a coating of Eco Clear sealer, it wasn’t just a matter of applying new color. They needed to sand off the sealer so the new product and color would adhere properly. Additionally, after prepping the surface, the crew had to repeat the process of taping everything off and applying coating and color where appropriate, being careful to honor the same artwork and maintaining the same size and placement—an extremely difficult task. For the new rope contour, which was more of a free flow, hand-drawn shape than the original specifications had outlined, SUNDEK created a new template.

After the project was complete, the client requested design changes, veering from the previously approved design. In addition to color changes, there was also a change in the lasso design. To address the revisions, SUNDEK created a new template for the lasso, resulting in the design shown here.

A bird’s-eye view shows the intricacy of the project and how it connects the splash pad and play areas.

Completing the surface the second time around took about 10 days. Despite the unexpected design changes, SUNDEK of San Antonio professionally and expertly moved forward with professionalism, expertise, and flexibility, providing the county with the desired outcome and leaving no trace of the original design or colors. County officials were thrilled with the result: a stunning surface that not only serves as an artistic element for the space, but will provide a durable, comfortable, reliable surface for community members to enjoy for decades.

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