The most Central Florida surface there is
A screened pool enclosure is a structure almost nobody outside this part of the country has, and it is
the surface where technique matters most. It is thin extruded aluminum and tensioned fiberglass or
polyester mesh, sitting outdoors, in shade, over water, in one of the most humid climates in the
country. It grows things. And it does not forgive a heavy hand.
How to tell what you are looking at
Green or black on the frame, worst along the top rails and the north side — algae and mildew.
This is what cleaning removes, and it comes off with a cleaning solution and time rather than force.
A gray, dull film across the mesh that dims the view of the yard — the same growth, living in the
weave of the screen. It also lifts with a low-pressure wash, and the difference in how much light
comes through afterwards is usually the thing owners notice first.
A chalky white bloom on older painted or bronze frame — oxidized finish. Cleaning takes the growth
off it; it does not bring the finish back. That is a repaint, not a wash, and we will say so rather than
let you expect otherwise.
Panels that sag, bow, or have pulled away at an edge — a spline or tension problem, not a cleaning
problem. Cleaning does not fix it and can make a marginal panel worse, which is why we look for it
before we start.
What goes wrong when it is done wrong
The mesh stretches out of the spline. Screen is held in its channel by a rubber spline under
tension. Concentrated pressure pushes the mesh out of that channel. What you get is a sagging or
detached panel — which is a re-screen, at a price that dwarfs what the cleaning cost.
Water goes straight through. A screen panel does not stop water. Anything you have under the cage
that should not get soaked — outdoor furniture cushions, a television, a sound system, an outdoor
kitchen, rugs — will get soaked if the operator does not plan for it.
The frame gets marked. Aluminum framing, particularly older bronze-anodized or painted frame, can
be streaked or dented by close-range pressure. Once it is marked it stays marked.
Debris ends up in the pool. Some rinse water reaching the pool is unavoidable on any enclosure job.
Sending the accumulated growth off the frame straight down into the water is avoidable, and comes down
to how the job is sequenced.
How it should be done
- Walk it first. We note existing tears, loose spline, bent members, corroded fasteners and any
panel that is already fragile — before we start, so there is no argument later about what we found
versus what we caused.
- Cover or move what should not get wet. Cushions, electronics, grills, rugs.
- Low-pressure solution across mesh and framing. The growth on a cage is algae and mildew. It
comes off with chemistry and time, not force.
- Work the top rails and horizontal beams. This is where growth actually starts, because that is
where water sits. A cage cleaned only at eye level looks clean from inside and filthy from the
street.
- Detail the doors and kick plates by hand. Screen doors, hinges, latches and the solid kick
panels at the bottom take the most contact and hold the most grime.
- Controlled rinse, then rinse the deck. So nothing is left standing on the deck to dry back into
a haze.
Inside as well as outside
Where access allows, the inside face of the mesh and the interior framing are detailed as part of the
job. Some enclosures have plantings, furniture or a screened kitchen wall that limits reach. We will
tell you honestly what we can and cannot get to before we quote it, rather than discovering it on the
day.
Damage we find, and what we do about it
We clean enclosures. We do not re-screen them, replace spline, or straighten framing. If your mesh has
gone brittle with age — and an older cage often has — it can tear during any cleaning, including a
careful one. We will flag that at the walkthrough and let you decide whether cleaning is worth doing
before a re-screen or after it. If we find something that needs a screen company, you get a note and a
photo, not a sales pitch.
Do the deck at the same time
The pool deck sits directly beneath the enclosure and receives its rinse water. Cleaning the cage and
not the deck means either cleaning the deck twice or looking at a spotless cage over a dirty floor.
This is the one pairing where doing them together is genuinely better work rather than a bigger
invoice — which is why it is packaged as the Florida Outdoor Reset.
What to put in the quote request
Enclosures vary more than any other surface we clean, so a few specifics get you an accurate number
faster:
- Roughly how big it is — “over a 30 x 15 pool” or “single-story lanai” is plenty.
- Whether it is single-story height or a tall two-story cage, since height changes the job.
- About how old the screen is, or whether it has been re-screened. Older mesh goes brittle, and that
sets how conservative we have to be.
- Anything already torn, sagging or bent, so it is on record before we arrive.
- What lives under it — outdoor kitchen, television, speakers, cushions — so it can be covered or moved.
- Whether the pool has just been serviced or balanced, so the rinse can be sequenced around it.