After completing all of our other outdoor renovations, the last two home repairs we needed were re-screening the pool cage, and a tile repair to the pool itself (which had a slow leak).
We had the entire pool cage re-screened by Poolside Screen Repair of Orlando. It took the two installers from Poolside Screen Repair a full day to take down the old screen, replace it with the new screen, and also install two new screen doors. We also had one of the installers return the next day to re-screen our windows around the house, which were showing age and wear and tear from the sun.
Here in Central Florida, most of the home pools are screened in to keep out bugs and other critters that may wonder into the pool area. I’ve had a couple portions of the screen repaired over the years due to hurricanes and squirrel damage, but have never had the entire pool cage re-screened in the 22 years I’ve lived here. You can’t really tell from looking at the photos below but there were tears in many of the screens, as well as algae build-up, and pine needles on the roof from the nearby trees.
First all of the existing pool screens were cutout and removed from the frame. Steve (DOS) and I were both amazed at how quickly and efficiently these guys worked.
Next, the new screens for the pool cage area were cut to size from gigantic rolls of screen, which the workers prepared on the side yard of the house.
Steve (DOS) and I stayed out of the screen installers way for the most part, but as we were both curious how they would repair some of the screens (especially the ones on the roof of the pool cage), we took a few photos.
The pool screen guys even installed two decoy owls on either end of the pool screen, which we are using to (hopefully) scare off the squirrels. DOS wouldn’t let me buy a BB gun or paintball gun to shoot at the squirrels, (LOL!) so a neighbor suggesting using the decoy owls.
Surprisingly, the owls seem to work keeping the squirrels away from the house. I’ve also hung up some some owl ‘cutouts’ that have holographic coatings which reflect the light, and have tiny bells on them for noise. And if that’s not enough, I’ve even set a wireless speaker outside temporarily and play some owl sounds I found on YouTube. Supposedly you’re supposed to move the owls around periodically, so the clever squirrels don’t get used to them being in the one place. Will see if they continue to work as a squirrel deterrent! The decoy owl holograph cutouts are actually pretty cool as they move with the wind, and at night reflect back color.
On the second day of the pool re-screening, I had the company Red Rhino come out to the house to diagnose a pool leak I suspected was happening. The pool re-screeners had basically finished the previous day, and were just doing some last minute structural finishes to the frame, so they weren’t in each others way. You can tell who is doing what by their colorful shirts: the Poolside Screen Repair guys outside the pool cage and are in the aqua blue shirt, and the Red Rhino tech is inside the pool area wearing the red shirt.
We have noticed a slow leak over the last couple months to the pool, but with so much rain recently we were sure it was truly leaking as the water level quickly dropped. It’s normal in Florida for a pool to have evaporation of up to have an inch a day, but the pool was leaking more that as we could tell by the water level dropping below the tile diamond marker we measure it by.
I had used Red Rhino four or five years ago, and they are very efficient at finding leaks. The Red Rhino tech said that the leaking is not uncommon in Florida pools due to the sandy soil and the pool itself re-settling a bit over time. The tech made lots of measurement, as well as physically got in the pool and used dye to locate the problem area, which happened to be a 20 foot section of tile.
Finally last week another Red Rhino technician named Cody did the tile repairs for the pool. It was quite an extensive repair, and the pool water level was lowered to beneath where the leak was happening, but fortunately not having to completely drain the pool.
Cody worked on the pool repair all day, but got it completed the same day, and fortunately there was no rain or summer Florida thunderstorms to stop the work.
After Cody was done finishing the tile work on the pool, he cleaned the deck and pool up beautifully, and all that remained was to slowly refill the pool. DOS and I started refilling the pool using two hoses from different outlets, and by midnight the pool was full, and no longer leaking. With the re-screening done, and now the leak fixed, we can now enjoy the pool! Thanks Poolside Screen Repairs and Red Rhino for your outstanding employees and quality work!
