Terrace & Summer Kitchen Cleaning
Seaglass at Bonita Bay

All ten Seaglass floor plans are three-bedroom homes of 2,889 to 4,663 square feet, and every one has generous outdoor space. That means more glass, rail and floor per owner than in most towers.

Wind off Estero Bay carries fine salt that dries into a film on glass and rails. Rain doesn’t help; drops dry around the salt and make spots worse. Left for a season, salt starts to etch glass and pit metal rail finishes.

Summer kitchens add grease. Smoke and splatter collect on tile, cabinet faces and the ceiling above the grill, and need hand degreasing with a cleaner made for outdoor kitchens.

Screened terraces catch salt and pollen in the mesh, which blocks the breeze. Those screens are brushed and rinsed at the same visit.

Tall glass, tall ceilings. Ronto built the tower residences with 10-foot ceilings and 8.8-foot sliders, and the penthouses go higher, to 10 feet 8 inches or 11 feet 4 inches. On the terrace side, that means each slider is a big sheet of glass, and the ceiling above it sits high enough that mildew in the corners often goes unnoticed until it has spread. We bring extension poles and soft brushes so the whole ceiling gets washed, not just the part within reach, and we squeegee each slider in full-height strokes so there is no line across the middle of the glass. Tall glass also shows every streak when the late sun comes across the bay, so the finish has to be right.

Gas grills on the terrace. The original plans gave tower residences a gas grill on their outdoor space, and the wrap-around units add a full summer kitchen. Before we degrease anything, we make sure the grill is off and cool and cover the burners, knobs and igniter so no water or cleaner gets into them. Grease on the wall tile and the ceiling above the grill is worked by hand, then rinsed with very little water. Grease that drips onto the terrace floor is treated before the floor wash, because a general cleaner only spreads it.

On the edge of a preserve. Seaglass sits in the northwest corner of Bonita Bay, directly on the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve. Whatever runs off a terrace can end up in that water, so we use biodegradable products, keep the amount of water low and squeegee floors to the terrace drains instead of letting rinse water sheet over the edge. Wading and diving birds feed along the mangroves, and their droppings on rails and terrace floors need their own pre-treatment before the glass is finished.

Screened or open, the method changes. On an open terrace, salt lands directly on the glass rail and the floor, so those get most of the attention. On a screened terrace the mesh takes the first hit, then sheds dust onto the floor every time the wind moves it. We brush and rinse the screen from the inside at low pressure, so the mesh is not pushed out of its spline, and we note any torn panels or loose frames for you rather than working around them. Pollen season in spring is when screened terraces need the most help, because the yellow film collects in the mesh and then washes down the frames onto the floor with the first rain.

Rooftop terraces. The two private rooftop terraces that serve the top penthouses take sun, rain and salt with no ceiling overhead at all. Floors there gray faster than on the floors below, and drains collect leaves and grit. Rooftop terraces are quoted on their own after we see the size, the surface and how water drains off it.

The second-floor amenity deck. The shared deck has a walk-in pool, a spa and a screened cabana with a bar and grill. That deck belongs to the association, not the owners. When the board orders it, we clean the cabana screens, degrease the bar and grill area and wash the deck in sections so residents still have somewhere to sit by the pool.

A newer building worth protecting. Seaglass was finished in 2018, so most terraces still have their original glass and rail finishes in good condition. Regular cleaning is cheaper than fixing etched glass or pitted rails later. Owners who clean every few months rarely see the hard spotting that builds on terraces left for a full year.

Pricing. Screened terrace work at Seaglass begins at $249 when the screened area is under 800 square feet. If the aluminum screen frames have gone chalky, the oxidation treatment adds $75 to $150 to that visit. Glass, rails and summer kitchens vary so much from plan to plan that we quote them per residence after a look.