Short answer: the mesh is rinsed at under 100 PSI and the aluminium frame is cleaned by hand. It takes longer than a pool deck and costs about the same. Typical range $175–$475.
Pool cages get put off longer than any other exterior surface, because from inside the house the mesh is nearly invisible and the grime accumulates too gradually to notice.
Then you clean it and realise how much light you had been losing.
What builds up on an enclosure is a mixture: pollen, dust, cobwebs, mildew on the shaded side, and a black film on the frame where aluminium oxidises. Almost all of it lifts with a solution and a gentle rinse. Almost none of it needs pressure — and pressure is the one thing guaranteed to cost you money here. Screen mesh will tear or stretch at forces well below what any hard surface would shrug off, and a single blown panel costs more to replace than the whole cage cost to clean.
Not sure what your property needs?
Send photos. We will tell you what we would do and roughly what it costs — even if the answer is that it can wait.
How a cage is actually cleaned
- 01
Walk and document
Existing tears, loose splines, bent members and failed fasteners photographed before anything starts.
- 02
Clear the interior
Furniture moved, pool covered or runoff diverted, plants around the base soaked.
- 03
Apply solution
A cleaner suited to mesh and anodised aluminium, applied low and worked from the bottom up.
- 04
Hand-clean the frame
Uprights, headers, kickplates and corners done by hand — this is where most of the visible grime lives.
- 05
Soft rinse the mesh
Under 100 PSI, wide fan, always perpendicular to the panel so nothing pushes against the spline.
- 06
Rinse everything below
Deck, coping, plants and any glass flushed clean.
The frame is the part people notice most afterwards. Aluminium develops a dull grey-black oxide film, particularly at the Beaches where salt speeds it up, and cleaning it back is what makes the enclosure look genuinely restored rather than just less dusty.
Existing damage gets documented before we start
This matters, so it is worth stating plainly.
Screen enclosures in Florida take a beating — UV degrades the mesh, storms stretch it, branches tear it, and splines dry out and shrink. On a cage more than about eight years old, it is entirely normal to find damage that nobody had noticed.
We photograph what we find before touching anything. Not to protect ourselves from blame, but because the alternative is an argument nobody can win — you cannot prove a tear was there first, and we cannot prove it was not, and everyone ends up unhappy.
If the mesh is genuinely brittle, we will tell you it may not survive even a gentle rinse and let you decide. Cleaning a cage that is due for rescreening is money you may prefer to put toward the rescreen.
What if a panel tears while you are cleaning it?
On sound mesh at correct pressure, it does not. Where mesh is already UV-degraded and brittle, it can — and that is exactly the situation we flag before starting rather than after.
If we cause damage to sound screen, we cover it. That is what being insured is for, and it is a fair question to ask any contractor before they start.
What pool cage cleaning costs
Typical Jacksonville range
$175–$475
Priced by cage size and frame condition. Torn panels are documented before we start, never after.
| Job size | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Small cage (under 800 sq ft footprint) | $175–$275 |
| Standard cage (800–1,500 sq ft) | $250–$375 |
| Large / two-story screen enclosure | $350–$475 |
| What changes the price | Effect |
|---|---|
| Heavy mildew on the frame | +$50 to $125 |
| Cage + pool deck together | save $50 to $100 |
Ranges reflect typical Jacksonville-area jobs in 2026. They are planning estimates, not quotes — the real number depends on access, buildup severity, and what the surface is actually made of. See how Jacksonville pricing works across every service →
How often does a pool cage need cleaning?
Once a year for most Jacksonville properties. Twice if the cage backs onto preserve land or sits under heavy canopy.
The signal is not really the mesh — it is the frame. When the white or bronze uprights start looking patchy grey, the enclosure has been collecting for a while. Cages that back onto preserve in Julington Creek, Nocatee and the Intracoastal West communities collect noticeably more leaf litter, spider webbing and mildew than street-facing ones.
Booking it alongside the pool deck saves $50 to $100, because the setup, water source and prep are already done.
Areas where we do this most
Answers
Screen enclosure questions
Can you pressure wash a screen enclosure?
How much does pool cage cleaning cost in Jacksonville?
Do you clean the frame as well as the screens?
What if my screens are already torn?
How often should a screen enclosure be cleaned?
Will cleaning get rid of the mildew smell?
Related
What people usually book alongside this
Get a real number, not a range
Send a few wide shots plus close-ups of the worst areas and we will price it properly.
Or email hello@jaxpropressurewash.com
What helps us quote fast
- One wide shot of each side that needs cleaning
- Close-ups of the worst staining
- Your address, so we can check the property size
- Roughly when it was last cleaned