Pool cage cleaning soft washes the aluminum frame, the screen mesh and the gutter track of a screen enclosure at low pressure. High pressure tears screen and stretches mesh away from the spline. The shaded side of a cage grows mildew fastest because the screen blocks drying sun and slows airflow. Call 941-266-5284.
Pool cage cleaning is one of the services Sarasota homeowners bring up with us directly, and it is one of the most neglected surfaces on a property. People look through a screen enclosure every day without ever looking at it. Then one afternoon the light hits the frame at the right angle and the mildew line along the top of every beam becomes impossible to unsee.
Sarasota Paver Sealing Pros cleans pool cages and screen enclosures throughout Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice and Lakewood Ranch, usually alongside the lanai or pool deck underneath. This page covers what actually grows on a cage, why the shaded side is always worst, and why screen enclosures are soft wash work rather than pressure work.
What actually grows on a pool cage?
Three things, and they live in different places. Mildew and mold grow on the aluminum frame, concentrated along the top faces of the horizontal beams where water sits after a rain and where dust settles. That is the dark line you notice when the sun angles across the cage.
The screen mesh itself collects a fine film of dust, pollen, salt and organic material that dulls it and cuts the light coming into the lanai. Homeowners often assume their screens are just old. Frequently they are just dirty, and a cleaned cage brings noticeably more light into the space underneath.
The third place is the gutter track, the channel that runs along the top of the cage where it meets the roofline. It collects leaf litter, palm debris and standing water, and it is out of sight from every angle a homeowner normally looks from. A packed gutter track holds moisture against the frame continuously, which is why growth around it is always the heaviest on the structure.
| Part of the cage | What builds up there | Why that spot | How it is cleaned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top faces of horizontal beams | Mildew and mold line | Water and dust sit there after rain | Soft wash solution with dwell time |
| Gutter track at the roofline | Leaf litter, palm debris, standing water | Out of sight, collects everything from above | Cleared by hand, then flushed |
| Screen mesh | Dust, pollen, salt film | Mesh traps airborne material continuously | Low pressure rinse, never a pressure wand |
| Shaded side panels | Heavy mildew and black growth | Never dries, no sun and reduced airflow | Stronger dwell, sometimes a second pass |
| Kick plates at the base | Splash staining, soil and organic growth | Rain splash and irrigation overspray | Soft wash, treated with the floor |
| Door frames and hardware | Grime at hinges and handles | Hand contact and constant movement | Detail cleaned by hand |
Why does the shaded side of the cage grow mildew fastest?
Because it never dries. Mildew needs moisture, and moisture leaves a surface through sun and airflow. A screen enclosure reduces both by design. The mesh diffuses direct sun and it damps air movement, so the cage creates its own humid microclimate underneath.
On the side of the cage that faces away from the sun, or the section shaded by the house itself or by a live oak, that microclimate never breaks. Morning dew is still there at midday. Afternoon rain is still there overnight. Under those conditions growth is not a maintenance failure, it is the expected outcome.
This is the same reason the shaded corner of a lanai floor is always the worst part of the floor. The cage that keeps bugs out also keeps the drying sun out. It is a good tradeoff, but it comes with a cleaning schedule attached.
Can a pool cage be pressure washed?
No, not the screens and not really the frame either. Screen mesh under high pressure tears outright, or worse, it stretches and pulls away from the spline that holds it in the frame channel. A stretched screen looks fine until the first breeze, and then it ripples. Re-screening a panel costs considerably more than cleaning the whole cage.
The frame is aluminum with a painted or powder coated finish. High pressure marks that finish and can drive water into the fastener points and the joints between members. Once water is inside a hollow frame member it stays there.
Cages get soft washed. A cleaning solution is applied at low pressure, given time to work on the mildew, then rinsed. The chemistry does the work, the water just carries it on and carries the dead material off.
Get your lanai ready before we arrive and the job goes faster
- Move furniture, cushions, rugs and the grill out of the enclosure if you are able
- Take down anything hanging from the frame, including lights and plants
- Close the sliders and any windows facing the lanai
- Keep pets inside for the duration of the work
- Tell us if the pool needs to be covered or if you handle the chemistry yourself
- Point out any screen panels that are already torn or loose at the spline
- Make sure we have access to an outdoor water spigot
- Decide whether the floor is being cleaned in the same visit, which is the better order
What happens to the pool and the lanai furniture during the cleaning?
The pool is the main thing to plan around. Rinse water and dead organic material come off the cage and some of it will find the water unless the surface is covered or the flow is directed away from it. We walk the enclosure before we start and decide how to handle it based on the layout, and we tell you what to expect for your pool chemistry afterward.
Furniture, cushions, grills and anything else in the lanai should be moved out or moved to one side. We move what is left, but a cleared enclosure is a faster and better job. Screen doors and the sliders into the house should be closed.
Most homeowners have us clean the cage and the lanai floor in the same visit, which is the sensible order. Cleaning the cage sends debris down onto the floor, so the floor is done after the cage rather than before it.
Should the lanai floor be cleaned at the same time as the cage?
Yes, and in that order. Anything we take off the frame, the screens and the gutter track lands on the floor underneath. Cleaning the floor first and the cage second means doing the floor twice.
It is also the natural point to look at the floor honestly. Lanai floors in Sarasota are usually pavers, travertine or concrete, and all three are porous. The shaded areas grow black algae in the pores, not just on top of them, which is why a garden hose lightens them for a week and no longer.
If the floor is going to be sealed, the cleaning is the first half of that job anyway. Lanai paver sealing is one of the things our customers talk about most, and it starts with getting the cage and floor genuinely clean.
How often does a Sarasota pool cage need cleaning?
It depends on shade, tree cover and how close the property is to the water. A cage in open sun with no canopy over it holds up considerably longer than one under a live oak that drops material into the gutter track year round. Properties near the water deal with salt film on the screens on top of everything else.
The practical signal is the top faces of the frame beams. When the dark line starts to reappear along the horizontals, growth is established and it will accelerate from there. Cleaning at that point is a lighter job than waiting for it to cover the members.
Keeping the gutter track clear does more for the interval than anything else. Standing debris in that channel keeps the frame wet permanently, and no cleaning schedule outruns a surface that never dries.
What can I do myself between professional cleanings?
Rinse the screens with a garden hose on a fan setting from the inside out, which pushes dust back out of the mesh rather than driving it in. Keep the gutter track clear of leaves and palm litter. Trim limbs that overhang the cage, both for the debris and for the sun.
What we would ask you not to do is put a pressure washer on the cage yourself. Screen damage is the single most common self inflicted injury on a lanai, and the repair costs more than the cleaning would have.
If mildew is already visible on the frame, a hose rinse will not touch it. Mildew on aluminum needs a cleaning agent and dwell time, the same as any other biological growth.
