Palm Coast property photo blog
Palm Coast pool homes: the screen cage, the lanai and the yard
A pool inside a screened cage is one of the signatures of a Palm Coast home. It is also the part of the property an owner far away sees least, tucked behind the house where no street view reaches. Screens tear, leaves pile up, furniture moves, and storms test the cage. This guide covers what happens to a pool area in Palm Coast while the owner is away, and the property photos that bring it into view.
Why so many Palm Coast pools are caged
Drive any street in Palm Coast and look between the houses, and you will see aluminum frames and screen rising over the back yards. A screen enclosure, usually called a pool cage, keeps leaves, insects and animals out of the pool and lets owners use the lanai without mosquitoes on a summer evening.
Cages became standard on Florida pool homes decades ago, and Palm Coast, built largely from the 1970s onward, has thousands of them. Many span both the pool and a roofed lanai attached to the back of the house.
For an owner who lives elsewhere, the cage and pool are both a selling point and a responsibility. The main site's Palm Coast property photo guide describes the kinds of houses found across the city.
Out of sight from the street
From the street, a Palm Coast pool home shows its front: the roof line, the garage, the entrance, the lawn and the beds. The cage is behind the house, usually hidden by the house itself, a fence or the shrubs along the side.
That means an owner relying on street photos alone sees nothing of the pool area. A torn screen or a cage door blown open can sit for weeks or months unnoticed.
On a Full Property visit, the photographer circles the outside of the house on its open grounds, through both side yards and across the back. The pool cage is photographed from outside the screen, along with the lanai and the yard around it. Nobody goes inside the cage or the house. The main site's questions and answers explain what that visit includes.
What happens to the screens
Cage screens take sun, rain and wind every day. Over years, ultraviolet light makes the mesh brittle, and a brittle panel tears easily in wind or when a branch or frond falls on it. The spline that holds each panel in its frame can work loose, letting a panel bow or pop out.
The roof panels of the cage collect leaves, pine needles and palm fronds, and in heavy rain they can sag under the weight of wet debris. A panel torn open lets in leaves, frogs, lizards and birds, and the pool and deck beneath begin to collect what the cage was built to keep out.
From the open grounds, photos show the side and end panels clearly, and the roof panels as far as can be seen from the ground. An aerial video shows the whole cage roof from above. The main site's guide to reading delivered photos shows how to look along a row of panels.
The pool, as seen through the screen
Most owners away from Palm Coast keep a pool service visiting weekly or every other week, to balance the water and clean the filter. The owner funds it, but rarely sees the result.
Photos from the open grounds show the pool as it appears through the screen on the date: its color and clarity as seen from there, leaves on the surface or the bottom, the deck around it. They never test the water, open any equipment or say whether the pool is in good order; that is the pool service's work.
A dated photo that shows green water or a deck buried in leaves gives the owner something specific to raise with the service. The main site's guide to a Flagler summer away describes the months when pools and yards change fastest.
Lanai furniture and what blows around
A Palm Coast lanai usually holds outdoor furniture, a grill, plants in pots and perhaps an outdoor kitchen. Inside a sound cage, most of it stays put. When a screen tears or a door is left open, wind can move chairs and cushions, and a storm can send lighter items into the pool.
Before leaving for a season, many owners stack the furniture, store the cushions and bring the grill in. Others leave the lanai set up for a manager, a renter or their own return.
Photos from the open grounds show the lanai and its furniture as they stand on each date, seen through the screen. A set after any windy spell shows whether anything has moved. The main site's guide to owners who spend part of the year up north covers closing up a house for the season.
Storms and pool cages
A tropical storm is the hardest test a pool cage faces. Wind presses on the screen like a sail, and a cage with intact screens catches a great deal of it. Falling limbs and fronds tear roof panels, and in strong storms whole sections of frame can bend or collapse.
Some owners have screen panels removed before a strong storm to let the wind through, a choice for the owner and their screen company. Either way, the cage is one of the first things owners want to see after a storm passes.
A set from the open grounds in the calm days before a storm records the cage and lanai as the storm will find them. A matching set after the roads open shows what changed. The main site's after the storm guide describes the frames to compare.
The yard around the cage
Around a Palm Coast pool cage, the yard does its own thing: lawn grows up against the cage frame, shrubs planted along it spread against the screen, and vines climb the aluminum if they are not pulled. Irrigation heads near the cage spray the screen and the deck with water that leaves mineral spots.
Behind many cages is a fence, a canal or a wooded preserve. On a canal lot, the cage often faces the water, and the seawall and dock lie just beyond it. On a lot backing onto woods, branches overhang the cage roof.
Photos from the open grounds show the cage and the yard around it together, so an owner can see whether the shrubs need cutting back or the overhanging limbs need trimming. The main site's guide to how frames are named explains how each photo is labeled.
Renting out a pool home
Pool homes are among the most sought after rentals in Palm Coast, both for long leases and for seasonal visitors. A pool brings more use of the back of the house: more traffic through the cage door, more furniture moved around, more toys and floats left out.
During a lease, the back of the house is the tenant's to enjoy, and photos from the street show only the front. Between leases or between seasonal stays, a set from the open grounds shows the cage, the lanai and the yard as the house empties and again before the next arrival.
Photos are always of the property, never the people using it. The main site's guide to a monthly routine for absentee landlords covers rentals more broadly.
The equipment beside the house
The pump, filter and heater that keep a pool running usually sit on a concrete pad beside the house, outside the cage, often next to the AC condenser. They hum along quietly, and an owner far away rarely thinks about them until something goes wrong.
From the open grounds, photos show the equipment pad as it looks on each date: the equipment in its place, the ground around it, any water standing near it, and plants growing over it. Nobody opens a cover, turns a valve or touches a switch on a photo visit, and nothing is tested or judged.
When a set shows something different from the last one, such as a puddle beside the pad or a cover lying on the ground, the owner can ask the pool service to look. The main site's questions and answers explain what a visit from the open grounds includes.
Before you return to the pool
Seasonal owners look forward to the first swim of the season, and nothing spoils it like arriving to a cage full of leaves, a torn panel over the deep end or furniture stacked in a corner. A set of photos from the open grounds a week or two before arriving shows what the pool area will look like.
With that set, the owner can ask the pool service for an extra cleaning, the screen company for a repair, or a handyman to set out the furniture, so the lanai is ready on the first evening back.
The same set, held against the one taken when the owner left, shows how the cage and lanai came through the months away. The main site's guide to keeping an empty home looking cared for covers the rest of the house.
A plan for a pool home owner away
For an owner far from a Palm Coast pool home, a practical plan combines two views. Photos from the street every month for the front of the house. Photos from the open grounds every two months for the cage, the lanai and the back yard, with an extra set after any windy spell or storm. And an aerial video once a year to show the whole cage roof and the house together.
The regular photos can repeat on a schedule, and every set is dated and kept, so a cage in May can be laid beside the cage in October.
To set up photos for a pool home in Palm Coast, visit FlaglerPropertyWatch.com.