Lanai & Pool Cage Cleaning
Island Walk

DiVosta laid out Island Walk around a chain of lakes at Logan Boulevard and Vanderbilt Beach Road, and nearly every one of its roughly 1,850 homes looks across water. That is why people buy here, and it is also why the back of the house works harder than the front. Screens on the water side stay damp long after sunrise, collect pollen blowing off the banks and trap the tiny midges that hatch along the shoreline. Within a year, the panels facing the lake look grey from inside even when the street side still looks fine. Screens facing a lake catch more moisture, more insects and more airborne pollen than a cage facing a neighbor’s wall. Lakefront exposure commonly turns shaded frame members green and dulls the screens on the water side first.

The enclosures are now twenty-plus years old. Island Walk went up between about 1998 and 2004, and many of its cages and lanai frames are original or close to it. Painted aluminum that has spent that long in Southwest Florida sun turns powdery, and the white residue comes off on your hand. Ordinary washing will not bring the color back. A dedicated oxidation treatment lifts the loose layer, and we show you a test section first so you can decide whether it is worth doing on every beam. Aged aluminum oxidizes into a chalky white film that a rinse won’t touch; it needs a brightener.

Villa lanais are small but crowded. The attached villas, including the two-bedroom-plus-den Capri plan, usually have a screened lanai off the living area rather than a full pool cage. One villa listing on Kingston Way describes exactly that: a large screened lanai with a lake view. These spaces fill up with furniture, plants and a grill, and they share a wall line with the neighbor next door. We keep spray and rinse water on your side, and if both owners want the work done, we can schedule the pair together so the screens and frames match.

Pool homes need the full treatment. On single-family plans such as the Oakmont and the larger Carlyle, a screened pool enclosure is common. A 2001 single-story home on Prescott Lane, for example, is listed with a tile roof, concrete and stucco walls, a private in-ground pool and a screened lanai facing the lake. On a cage like that, we clean the roof panels, beams, side screens, kick plates and the deck floor in one visit, working from the top down so dirt never lands on finished surfaces. Dirty screens block the view you bought the home for, and a screen-safe clean restores it without stretching or tearing a panel.

Townhome patios have a second story above them. The two-story townhomes give you a screened ground-floor space with walls and windows rising above it. Mildew often starts on the stucco just above the screen line, where water drips off the upper windows. We treat that band while we are there, so the clean screen is not framed by a dark streak.

Reclaimed water leaves an orange signature. The Prescott Lane listing shows central reclaimed irrigation, and reclaimed water often carries iron. When sprinkler heads near the cage spray the kick plates, lower screens and pool deck, they leave orange-brown bands that pressure alone cannot lift. We use a rust treatment made for the job and rinse it well away from the lake bank. For larger stained areas on walls or walks, see our rust stain removal service. Reclaimed water appears as an irrigation source in recent listings, and where sprinklers hit the lower screen panels and kick plates, mineral staining is common and needs rust chemistry rather than pressure.

Screen-safe means low pressure, not no cleaning. Pool cage mesh tears and stretches if a narrow nozzle gets close to it. We hold a wide fan well back from the screen, let a mild solution do the work and rinse from the inside out. Floors, which are often pavers or a painted coating, are cleaned separately at a setting that suits the surface underneath.

Check before you change anything. Island Walk has an Architectural Control Committee with its own application forms. Cleaning by itself does not change how a home looks, but if the inspection shows you need new screens, a recoated frame or a different color, ask the committee first. The listings also describe the association as handling exterior maintenance for homes; whether that ever extends to lanais or cages depends on your documents, so check with the management office before booking.

Pricing. Villa and townhome lanais under 800 square feet begin at $249. A standard single-family pool cage begins at $299, and larger enclosures from 1,500 to 2,500 square feet begin at $399. A cage with an outdoor kitchen begins at $499. Heavily oxidized aluminum adds $75 to $150. If you want the cage and the deck floor done together, that package begins at $399.

When to book. Lake-facing screens go grey fastest after the summer rains, when the air is warm and wet for weeks. Early fall is a good window, before seasonal residents return and the clubhouse calendar fills up. Many owners book again in spring, right before they leave for the summer, so the cage stays presentable while the home sits empty.

Getting ready for us. Bring cushions and electronics indoors, and move potted plants away from the screen walls. Leave the pool running normally; we cover the skimmer area where needed. Island Walk is gated, so we confirm gate registration with you or your property manager before the visit, and you receive before and after photos when we finish.