Porcelain Paver & Plank Decking for Rooftop Bars & Restaurants

The safety of patrons is undoubtedly the primary consideration when specifying decking for rooftop bars and restaurant decks in high-traffic commercial spaces, apart from aesthetic considerations.

Any deck subject to crowds and heavy pedestrian use should be able to withstand damage or breakage in use, should be fireproof, slip resistant, low maintenance and highly resistant to staining from grease, food and wine. In colder regions, it also needs to be frost resistant, and very often, resistance to wind uplift resistance must be considered, even in locations not normally associated with hurricanes or tornadoes.

Here’s how Archatrak porcelain pavers and planks can successfully meet these challenging requirements.

Ensuring Safe Surfaces

Although porcelain pavers are exceptionally dense, strong and durable, they are nevertheless somewhat brittle and can suffer from impact damage or breakage if hard objects are dropped on the pavers from a significant height. This also includes impact from heavy glassware or bottles.

For this reason, our T30 (1 1/8” thick) porcelain pavers are our primary recommendation for elevated deck surfaces in high traffic restaurant and bar applications since they have three times the breaking strength of 2cm porcelain pavers, but are just 1/2″ thicker.

As shown in the video opposite, T30 porcelain will not normally suffer any damage when wine bottles or beer glasses are dropped on the T30 pavers from a height of 6’.

But for maximum safety at deck heights above 4”, we recommend installing Archatrak self-adhesive ‘Shock Control’ sheets or steel plates on the underside of both T20 and T30 pavers as outlined below.

Breakthrough Protection Solutions

Archatrak offers three solutions to minimize the possibility of injury should any porcelain paver suffer damage or breakage in service.

1. Shock Control 2.0 is a flexible, self-adhesive, fiberglass reinforced sheet, pre-cut to cover the underside of a 23.5″ x 23.5″ (nom.) paver. The sheet is attached to the paver by peeling off the protective backing and pressing the sheet onto the underside of a dry paver.

Be aware however that Shock Control is primarily designed to hold in place pieces of any broken paver and provide temporary support only.

2. Archatrak ‘Spansafe’ Steel Protection Trays are constructed of 1mm thick galvanized steel sheet with ¾” high downturned edges on all four sides. The plates are laid over the pedestals and the porcelain pavers are then laid directly over the trays.

A rubber shim (Archatrak ETE-LGH2) is normally placed in each corner between the pavers and the plates to minimize noise transmission.

3. Archatrak Fiberglass Grating Panels provide a rigid structural surface on which to lay porcelain pavers. The 4′ x 8′ panels are laid over adjustable height pedestals. 3/8″ thick rubber support pads with inbuilt spacer tabs are placed under each corner of the pavers to provide correct spacing of the pavers and to minimize noise transmission.

Wind Uplift Mitigation

Archatrak offers two solutions to mitigate the wind uplift of porcelain pavers when used as decking for rooftops.

1.With T20 pavers, Galvanized steel sheets are placed over the pedestals and the sheets held to the pedestal with a central screw and washer. Pavers are adhered to the metal plates at each corner. With this system the metal plate offers the additional benefit of break-through protection.

2. With T30 1 1/8” thick porcelain pavers a slot is cut in each corner to accept a stainless steel hold down washer. The washer is secured to the pedestal with a stainless steel screw.

This solution offers the greatest protection against wind uplift, with the thicker T30 pavers also offering superior impact resistance.

Colors to Complement any Environment

Archatrak supplies over 90 colors of porcelain pavers in styles that mimic the look of stone, wood, cement and even metal, plus styles that complement both rustic and modern environments. See our Colors page for our complete range of porcelain pavers and planks.

For even more options, we can source in excess of 200 additional colors from our Italian suppliers.

While the most common size of porcelain pavers is 24” x 24”, we can supply pavers in many other sizes up to slabs as large as 48″ x 96″ and plank style pavers 48″ long in widths of 16″, 12″ and 8″.

Installation Options

For rooftop bars and restaurants decks, pavers are typically laid over adjustable height paver supports.

For locations subject to strict fire codes, we can supply totally non-combustible paver supports to elevate porcelain pavers decking for rooftops. These solid steel, fully height adjustable paver supports span a height range from 1″ to 20″.

At the lowest elevations, typically at door thresholds, stackable, fixed height rubber support pads can be used to support the pavers, permitting a clearance as low as 1 ¼” with ¾” thick pavers.

With plank style pavers 8”, 12” or 16” wide, a pedestal supported rail system is typically used to provide the required support, offering the added benefit of more lateral stability for the pavers.