Questions Manatee County homeowners ask most often about their pool cages and lanais, before and after a storm.
It depends on the cage. Modern code-compliant enclosures are engineered to ride out design winds with screens in place, and cutting is no longer the blanket advice it once was. Older pre-code cages are a different conversation, worth having with an aluminum contractor before the cone shows up.
They are part of the cage's engineered wind load path. The diagonal bracing lets the frame flex in a gust without reaching failure and keeps it from twisting. A pre-season check covers tension, corrosion, and the concrete anchors, and replaces rusted or slack runs.
Photograph the damage before anything is moved if you plan to file a claim, then have loose panels and hanging mesh made safe. The rescreen comes after, on a stated schedule. A cage that sits crooked or has a bent member needs an in-person look before anyone says what it needs.
Many Florida policies put screen enclosures under Coverage B, other structures, often capped at a fraction of the dwelling coverage, and some exclude screen wind damage without an endorsement. Hurricane deductibles run as a percentage. Check your own policy; your photos build the file and your insurer decides the claim.
Wind fatigue is invisible and salt corrosion starts under the head. Every fastener in the cage went in on the same day into the same air, so the ones that look fine are on the same clock as the ones streaking rust. Renewing all of them once with marine-grade stainless ends the cycle.
Like-for-like rescreening usually does not. Structural frame repair does, and any repair in a flood zone needs a permit, which covers the whole island and Cortez. Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach, Bradenton, Palmetto, and the county each have their own desk. The contractor keeps it straight for your address.
Made-safe visits come first and are scheduled as fast as the queue allows. After a widespread storm the rescreen queue is real, and you will be told where you are in it when you call rather than promised a date that will not hold.
Contractors in this network represent to us that they hold what their work requires, but we do not guarantee it. Verify any Florida contractor yourself at myfloridalicense.com before hiring. It takes a minute.
Polyester super-screen resists the white chalking fiberglass develops in salt air. Bayside lanais with mangrove edges nearby usually want 20/20 no-see-um mesh on the water-facing wall. The contractor matches mesh to how each wall faces at the visit.
Bradenton, Palmetto, Ellenton, Parrish, Terra Ceia, Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach, and Cortez, including the neighborhoods on both banks of the river. See the full service area list.
Call (941) 964-0781 or request your FREE, no obligation written estimate online. A local screen contractor will call back to schedule the visit.