Spraying out your enclosed lanai? How do you get rid of the water?
 

Although we haven’t yet talked to a contractor regarding enclosing our lanai, I am curious to hear from fellow Villagers about how they keep their lanai clean. We used to live in New Mexico and we had an open (no screen) lanai on the back of our home. Almost weekly, I sprayed off the tile and was able to easily squeegee off the dusty, dirty water on to the lawn. Here in Florida, all screened lanais have a bottom rail attached directly to the concrete. Obviously, dirty water can’t get underneath that bottom rail.

Has anyone heard of, or seen, weep holes through that bottom rail with some sort of removable gate that can be used to direct water through? Or is mopping the solution? Curious to hear all ideas. Thanx in advance.

you could keep the lanai screen door open and push the water out that way

we found that we didn't care for all the water in the lanai and had it enclosed after a few months...now we use
it year round no matter the weather

There is a Villager who caters to your problems. He sometimes advertises in the paper on Monday under services. He cuts a hole in the lanai floor brace about 4 inches in length. He then inserts a plug with some tiny holes to let out the water. When washing the lanai you can take out the plug and reinsert it when finished so as to prevent unfriendly visitors...not a cheap install but effective.

An enclosed lanai is a indoor room there is no need to hose the floor. Our floor is porcelain tile and we simply vacuum it when needed and sponge mop it if it get's too dirty for a vacuum which is only a couple times per year. There is a water dam that keeps any potential leaks from coming in so you cannot sweep water out the door. You won't get dirt and/or sand blowing in unless you leave your doors open for an extended period of time and even then just vacuum it.

Our lanai has a painted floor around the pool so there are drains. We occasionally hose this floor. More often we vacuum the area with our cordless Dyson. We purchased a second floor attachment for the Dyson and vacuum the outdoor space and also use it in the garage on the epoxy floor.

I used an electric pressure washer to wash the dirt off. The dirty water collected along the outer frame. I use my wet-dry vac to suck up the dirty water and then dumped it outside. We got tired of cleaning it, so we enclosed it recently.

I had a couple of them installed in my screened lanai. My opinion and actual experience with them is that they don't work very well unless you open them up (in come the geckos) a PUSH the water into them (yes they were installed at the low grade part of the lanai). It is just as easy (or difficult) to push the water out of the screen door. They really don't just drain with them closed (they are supposed to) since the drain holes are so tiny and too high up on the lid. That plus the hinged cover broke off both of them (but does still nap on and close) and they have only been opened one time. Had them installed about a year ago. Just my experience, YMMV.

I just drilled some holes on slop sides even with floor through both sides of the rail.

Mine not that big and the floor sloped so water runs out naturally.

I agree with you. We have them as well. Didn’t need to waste the money. We enclosed our lanai so no longer have an issue as the old frame with the drains was removed. Our birdcage still has them, the water doesn’t really drain that much and there are plenty of geckos out there.

The water slowly drains under the rails. It will only stay clean and dry if enclosed. Well worth the money.

weep holes works.or old vacum

We bought a plastic weep hole From the guy mentioned above and husband Installed. Only open flap when cleaning and works well though last amount of water needs to be swept through as mentioned.

I have hot tub in my enclosed lanai, I discovered it leaked 200+ gals of water just before going to bed. When I got up ready to tackle the job it had all drained out. Water will leak out through the expansion grooves in the concrete.

I had severe pooling of water in one corner after the rain storms after enclosing mine. Had the drain holes put in $75 each and it immediately eliminated the problem. I open them up and it drain right out . Then I close them again . Works the same after washing the floor - use the squeezy and push it towards the drains . He put in 2 at the lowest level . Good luck