Lanai & Pool Cage Cleaning
Avalon Park

Pulte built Avalon Park on 70-foot lots, and the extra width usually goes to the back yard. That means larger pool decks, wider lanai slabs and bigger screen enclosures than in many Ave Maria neighborhoods. More screen and more flat deck means more surface collecting dirt, and on a new home, owners are often surprised how quickly a bright white cage starts to look grey. While the last Avalon Park home sites are built out, fine dust from neighboring lots drifts onto screens and settles on new pool decks.

The main reason is dust. Ave Maria is still growing, and with new phases, roads and open lots nearby, fine soil blows across Avalon Park on dry days. Screen mesh catches it like a filter. Once the dust is on the screen, humidity and dew turn it into a film that holds mildew spores, and the cage darkens from the bottom panels up. The deck below collects the same dust and turns slick when it mixes with algae in shaded corners.

Then there are lovebugs. Southwest Florida has two lovebug flights each year, typically in late spring and again in late summer, and inland neighborhoods near open land see heavy swarms. They stick to screens and frames, and their bodies are acidic enough to mark finishes if left for weeks. A cleaning after each season keeps them from staining the frame coating.

Irrigation causes the orange stains you may already see on the pool deck, lanai pavers and the base of the cage. Water with iron in it leaves rust-colored marks wherever a sprinkler head hits hard surfaces, and on a light-colored paver or travertine deck those marks are obvious. They are mineral stains, so pressure won’t remove them; they need a rust remover made for pavers and concrete, applied after the deck is cleaned.

New screens are in good condition, and we want to keep them that way. The mesh on most pool cages is vinyl-coated fiberglass that stretches or tears under a narrow, high-pressure stream. We wash it with a mild solution, use a soft brush where needed, and rinse from the inside out at no more than 300 PSI with a wide fan tip. Frames get the same low-pressure approach so the new powder coat isn’t scuffed. New screens and frames are easy to damage with the wrong tools: a pressure washer held close stretches mesh out of its spline and can mark new aluminum. Our screen rinse stays at low pressure, so new mesh stays tight in its frame.

Pool decks get a surface cleaner at controlled pressure, which cleans evenly without the stripes a hand wand leaves. Paver joint sand is easy to blast out on a deck that hasn’t been sealed yet, so we keep pressure down near joints and can re-sand afterward if needed. If you plan to seal the deck, cleaning first is required, and sealing a new deck once it has cured helps lock the sand in and slow staining.

For most Avalon Park lanais, every 6 to 12 months is right. Homes backing onto open land or active construction see dust and lovebugs sooner and may want two cleanings a year, timed after each lovebug season. Homes facing a lake or with shade from a neighbor’s two-story wall tend to grow mildew on the shaded side first, so we spend more time there.

What changes the price. Cage size is the main factor. A compact spa cage on a smaller plan is at the low end, a standard pool cage is the most common job, and the large enclosures that wide Avalon Park lots allow move into the large-cage tier. Two-story cages are harder to reach. Adding the deck floor, treating rust stains, and how long since the last cleaning also affect the quote, which is always written and given before we start.

Choosing who cleans it. Ave Maria has no shortage of trucks offering quick pressure washing, and on a new home the risk is someone running a high-pressure tip across your screens and paver joints. Ask what PSI they use on screens, whether they use a surface cleaner on the deck or a hand wand, how they treat rust, and whether they carry insurance with a certificate they can send you. Clear, specific answers are a good sign.

Before we arrive, move small items you don’t want handled, turn off any irrigation zone that sprays onto the deck for the day, and keep pets inside. Your pool service doesn’t need to change anything; we keep cleaning water out of the pool where we can, and the amount that reaches it won’t upset the chemistry in a meaningful way. If you’re a new owner, we can also add the lanai to the written maintenance schedule we prepare for the roof and pavers.