Although a lot of homes typically have a concrete area at the back or side of the house which can be used as a patio for entertaining or relaxing, over time, most concrete patios begin to look rather dull and drab or worse still, may start showing signs of cracking. But since the thought (and expense) of bringing in jackhammers to dig up the existing patio and replace it with something better is something that most people don't wish to contemplate, it means that many patio decks just continue to remain looking rather forlorn and underused. But this needn't be the case. There's a quick and easy method for simply resurfacing the area with new materials without the need to remove any existing concrete. And the solution is to use interlocking decking tiles.

Although these deck tiles have now been around for more than 10 years, they are still relatively unknown because they are generally not sold widely in home centers, although they are essentially a do-it-yourself product. The idea behind interlocking deck tiles is that you place the tiles over any existing hard surface, which could be not only concrete, but also bricks, existing ceramic tiles, stone pavers or even well compacted gravel to create a floating type of outdoor flooring. The tiles are held together by interlocking tabs on all sides of the tile. The base of the tile is a plastic mesh type structure into which the tabs are molded. So basically any water flows through between the gaps in the tiles and flows away quite freely underneath the plastic base to the normal drainage point.  With these tiles, you don't need any extra fixing devices such as screws or adhesives and you really don't need any special carpentry tools unless you want to cut up tile to fit a specific shape.

Essentially, you just start by placing a tile in one corner of the area you want to cover, and then snap the next tile into place on one side of the first tile. You just continue this method by snapping each tile to its neighbor until the entire area is covered. It's best to lay the tiles in an expanding triangular fashion although you don't have to worry about alignment or spacing, since the interlocking method automatically takes care of these potential problems for you.

Most commonly these interlocking tiles are made of hardwood, but you can also get them in various other materials including composite wood, slate, granite, ceramic and sandstone, and in all cases they have the same quick and easy snap in place connecting mechanism, although there can be some slight differences between the actual mechanics of the interconnection. But even with the stone tiles you don't need to spend extra time in grouting between the tiles. You simply leave the gaps open to let the water flow through naturally. This actually also has the advantage that you don't get water pooling on top of the tiles creating a potential slipping hazard.

As well as they used on patio decks, these deck tiles can of course be used over for other deck flooring applications around your home, including balconies, verandas, porches and even walkways or paths.  For verandas and such like where you might want a neat edge to the paved area, you can typically purchase special clip on edge transition pieces which will provide a sloping transition from the tile height to the surface that you are laying the tiles on.

With balcony floors, these decking tiles are particularly useful because they can so easily be transported to site in a normal elevator and laying the tiles doesn't involve messy adhesives etc. Another advantage is that if you are planning to move from one apartment to another, if you want to, you can simply lift up the tiles and take them with you to your new location.

Maintenance requirements are also typically very low. With the wood tiles you should still coat them with a decking oil every year or so to reduce the rate at which the wood will fade to a silvery gray color, but otherwise you might only need to vacuum any leaves etc. that fall between the tiles from time to time. And with the stone deck tiles there should be even less  maintenance.

So for a quick and easy transformation of your patio deck or other hard surface, interlocking deck tiles can be a great outdoor flooring option.