Rescreening a Pool Cage After a Storm: Check the Frame

A storm that strips a pool cage tends to leave the same scene: the aluminum frame standing, the screen hanging in strips or gone. Before anyone orders mesh, find out whether the frame came through undamaged. New screen puts the wind load straight back on it.

Why does a pool cage lose its screen but keep its frame?

Pool cage screen gives way before the frame for a reason the Florida Building Commission has on record. The full-scale wind test report prepared for the Commission by University of Florida and Florida State University researchers says the code does not require screens or screen attachments to meet the design wind speed, and that losing screen generally reduces the force on the structure. In that test, screens began failing at a test wind speed of 80 mph.

Some enclosures are engineered around that behavior on purpose, with the frame sized for panels that are removed, retracted or cut. The Pool Pros article on pool cage wind ratings and what the code assumes covers that design method. After a storm, the finding that matters more is the next one.

Can a torn screen still damage the frame?

A torn screen can damage a frame in two ways, according to the same Florida Building Commission report. The first is unbalanced loading: a post with screen still on one side and none on the other. One vertical post in the test failed that way, even though the applied wind never exceeded the design loading.

The second is a failed screen attachment that stays fastened at one end and flutters. The researchers found that a fluttering attachment appeared to contribute to the failure of a structural member.

A cage that lost half its panels is not automatically better off than one that lost all of them. Posts beside a half-failed wall, and members with a loose attachment still flapping against them, deserve the closest look.

How do you tell whether the frame survived?

Frame damage on a pool cage shows up in predictable places, and most of them are visible from the deck. Florida Building Code Section 2002.2 names the primary members, the ones everything else depends on: beams, posts, columns, joists, structural gutters, headers, eave rail, purlins and roof brace. Chair rails, kickplate rails and wall brace are secondary members.

Walk the enclosure in this order:

1. Posts. Sight down each one for a kink, bow or twist. Start with posts next to the house and posts that had screen on one side only.
2. Post bases. Check the brackets and fasteners where each post meets the deck. The Commission’s test found local failure in brackets at the base of a post.
3. Beams and roof bracing. The test report explains that intact bracing keeps beams from rotating in wind, and that beam rotation after a bracing failure can bring the whole structure down.
4. The connection to the house. Look where the enclosure fastens to the house. With its tension cables removed, the test specimen had a screen-to-host connection fail.
5. Tension cables. Check for slack cables and cables pulled from their mounts. The test found cables lost significant tension over repeated wind runs.
6. Screen attachment members. Distorted 2x1 members and screws that have pulled out were the first failures the test recorded.

A frame that passes every item is a rescreening job. A bent primary member, a failed brace, a damaged base or a torn connection at the house is structural repair. The report describes screen enclosures as having little redundancy, with the failure of any member likely to cause failures of others. Treat any one of those findings as a job for a licensed enclosure contractor or an engineer before new screen goes up.

Does rescreening a pool cage need a permit?

Rescreening and structural repair are treated differently across the counties Pool Pros Construction works in, and your answer also depends on which building department serves your address. Pinellas County’s storm recovery permitting page, for example, applies to unincorporated Pinellas and a short list of cities where the county is the building official, Belleair Shore among them. The City of Tampa issues its own residential screen enclosure permits.

Jurisdiction	Rescreening only	Structural repair	Source
Pasco County	“Re-screening” is on the no-permit list, which does not apply in special flood hazard areas	Not on the no-permit list	Pasco County Permit Exemptions List
Manatee County	No permit, but a license is required	Structural work excluded from the state exemption	Manatee County, What Does Not Require a Permit
Pinellas County	“Replacing or repairing a pool enclosure or screen room” needs a permit	Needs a permit	Pinellas County Storm Recovery Permitting
Hillsborough County	Non-structural single-family work under $7,500 can apply for an exemption through HillsGovHub	Excluded from the exemption	Hillsborough County, Work Exempt from Permits

What does Florida’s $7,500 permit exemption cover?

Florida’s $7,500 permit exemption, the rule behind the Hillsborough row, is section 553.79(1)(g), Florida Statutes, added by Chapter 2026-63 and in effect since July 1, 2026. Local governments must exempt a single-family owner or the owner’s contractor from a permit for work valued under $7,500. The exemption excludes structural, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and gas work, and excludes property partly or entirely in a flood hazard area.

The exemption is not automatic. The statute requires a written request with the contract or other documentation of the work’s nature and value. Manatee County adds that an approved exemption must stay on site during the work, and that county staff will not inspect exempt work. On a lot in a flood hazard area, that carve-out settles the question before the dollar figure matters.

What if the cage was designed for screens to be cut?

A cage engineered under Florida Building Code Section 2002.7, the screen-removal method, leaves a paper trail worth finding after a storm. Panels designed to be removed, retracted or cut must be identified with permanent labels on the adjacent structural members, or by other means the building department approves, and the engineering submitted with the permit must identify them.

Where the design relies on cutting, Section 2002.7 requires the contractor to provide replacement screen for a one-time replacement of all screen and spline designated to be cut. If your frame carries those labels, find out whether that screen was ever supplied before paying for new mesh.

For a cage designed this way that also serves as the pool barrier, Section 2002.7 requires the barrier’s minimum height to be maintained when panels are cut or removed. Check a storm-damaged cage against Florida’s pool barrier law before treating it as a barrier again.

What should you check besides the cage?

A storm-damaged pool cage sits over a pool that needs its own inspection. The checklist for what to check after a storm before anyone swims covers the pool itself.

Words matter when you call the building department. Manatee County’s guide lists screening an existing porch or lanai under an existing roof and slab as its own no-permit item, separate from rescreening. The difference between a Florida room, a lanai and a screen enclosure is worth knowing before that call.

Pool Pros builds and services pools, and Pool Pros Construction projects in Bradenton, Lake Jovita and Carrollwood include screen enclosures, described on the Pool Pros screen enclosures page. After a storm, the order for any cage is the same: frame first, screen second.