Pool Cage Cleaning — Lely Resort Naples FL

Pool cages installed in Lely Resort in the 1990s and early 2000s have 20–30 years of Florida’s UV and humidity exposure on their aluminum frame members. The result is advanced aluminum oxidation — the chalky white or yellow discoloration that pressure washing has no effect on. Oxidation is not surface dirt; it is the aluminum frame surface itself that has changed chemically. Only aluminum brightener chemistry dissolves it.

On a new or recently maintained cage, oxidation is a minor surface issue. On a Lely Resort cage that has gone several years without professional oxidation treatment, the discoloration can be significant — and the longer it progresses, the harder it becomes to reverse with a single cleaning. Regular annual cleaning with oxidation treatment prevents the discoloration from advancing to the stage where recoating is the only option. Recoating an older cage is significantly more expensive than maintaining it with annual cleaning.

Golf course-adjacent pool cages in Lely Resort also accumulate organic debris from course landscaping — pollen, grass clippings, and leaf debris that accelerates biological growth on screens and frames. The cleaning sequence matters: frame and oxidation treatment first, screens rinsed inside-out at correct low pressure second. High-pressure washing on Lely Resort’s older screen mesh tears it — replacement is expensive. We clean screens at 100–300 PSI maximum at correct distance.