Miami
Herald, The (FL)
2007-05-30
Edition: F1ST
Page: HP22
ENCLOSURES:
Take steps to protect the screen around your pool
Make sure the structure is sturdy and all
cables are tight.
ROCHELLE KOFF, rkoff@MiamiHerald.com
The Shrefflers watched helplessly
as Hurricane Wilma demolished the screened-in pool enclosure
behind their 18-year-old Coral Springs home. "We saw bolts popping
off," Mike Shreffler said. "The ceiling of the cage collapsed in
the pool and half of the enclosure wrapped around our house."
In two previous storms, "we had
to replace the screens," added his wife, Toni. Like many
frustrated Floridians, the Shrefflers decided to live without an
enclosure. State law requires barriers for every residential pool,
so they now have a white picket fence instead -- and as it turns
out, more space for landscaping and lounging.
But giving up a pool enclosure is
not for everyone.
REMOVABLE
SCREENS
After Wilma, Juan Cohen, owner of
Alumcenter Inc. in South Kendall, began work on new
removable screens to relieve pressure within a pool enclosure
during high winds. "It's a frame within a frame that can be taken
out in a minute," Cohen said. "You don't have to do every
opening."
The cost: about $215 for an 8- by
5-foot panel. He has been making the screens about eight months so
they haven't yet weathered a hurricane season.
