Pool Screen Enclosures Near a Chesterfield Roof Edge

A screen enclosure over a Chesterfield backyard pool usually fastens to the house at the fascia, the same board where the roof edge finishes. The frame is bolted or screwed into the rim board, the rafter tails, or the wall just under the eave, and the screen panels run from the house out to posts on the pool deck. When the roofer strips the old shingles and sets the new drip edge, the frame is in the way. The time to decide who moves it is before the tear-off, not on the morning the crew arrives with the dumpster.

Find where the frame is tied to the house

Most subdivision lots in Chesterfield put the pool behind the house, with the enclosure running along the rear wall or off a side corner. Walk the back of the house with the roofer and point to each place the enclosure touches the building. Count the fasteners that go into the fascia, the soffit, the wall sheathing, and the roof itself. A frame tied only to the wall is one kind of job. A frame tied up under the eave is another, because the crew has to work around it while setting the starter course and the drip edge.

Check the clearance too. The roofer needs room along the ladder side, room to set a hand on the fascia, and room for the material bundles at the eave. If the top track of the enclosure sits within reach of that work, expect it to come down for the day or for the whole job. If it sits a few feet clear of the eave, the crew may be able to work around it, but that should be confirmed on the ground and not guessed from a plan.

Three ways the frame usually gets handled

There are three arrangements that show up often. In the first, the roofer removes the frame, keeps the screws and brackets in labeled bags, and reinstalls it after the new roof is finished. In the second, the pool enclosure company removes and reinstalls the frame on its own schedule, and the roofer works around the gap in the meantime. In the third, the frame stays in place and the roofer works beneath it, which only works when the frame is clear of the eave and the fascia behind it is sound.

Each arrangement moves the risk to a different place. If the enclosure company controls the reinstall date, the pool room may sit open to rain for longer than the roof itself takes. If the roofer controls it, the reinstall depends on the roofer's crew returning, and that visit may need to be priced separately. The proposal should name who does each step, who pays for a second trip if there is one, and the date the screens go back up.

What the fascia is holding

Where the enclosure is fastened into fascia, that board has carried a load for years, and in many cases the fastener holes have been there since the enclosure went in. Once the shingles and the old drip edge come off, the board is exposed in a way it has not been before. Look for soft wood, nail holes that have widened into oval shapes, and paint that has lifted in a straight line along the board. Those are signs the fascia may need replacement before the new metal goes on.

A roofer who finds rot at this point will usually stop and show you the board before cutting it out. That is the right order. The replacement should appear on the proposal as a separate line with a stated unit price, so the decision stays with you and is not left to a change order after the crew is on the roof.

Winter, and why open screens do not keep well

Chesterfield's freeze and thaw cycle works on aluminum framing as well as on shingles. If the frame is off the house during an October or November job, the panels may stand in the yard for days, and a stack of screen panels left outside can bend at the corners or hold water in its channels. Ask where the removed parts will be kept, and whether they will be covered and kept off wet ground.

The posts are the other concern. Enclosure posts set into the pool deck or patio are normally fine on their footings, but a post that has been loosened to remove a frame may need its footing checked before it is stood up again. That is not a roofing task, and a roofer should not promise it. It belongs to whoever installed the enclosure, and the homeowner should ask that company to look at it when the frame comes down.

Town roofing: the city, the permit, and the pool

Keep the roof permit and the enclosure paperwork separate in your file. A roof replacement in Chesterfield is handled through the city's building division, and that permit covers the roof work. A pool enclosure built under its own approval may have a record at the same address, and any change to how it attaches to the house is a question to put to the city before the crew removes anything. A short call to the building division asking whether the enclosure is on file for your address answers a question that is easy to get wrong later.

Pool-related approvals are kept apart from the roof permit, so the roof permit does not settle them. If the enclosure was part of a pool approval, ask the city what that approval says about attachment and removal. Do not assume the roof work clears it.

What it costs

The cost of this work is mostly labor and handling, not materials. The frame has to come off in pieces, be stored without damage, and go back up in the same position. A proposal that lists the enclosure as one lump sum does not tell you what you are paying for. Ask for removal, storage, reinstall, and any replacement panels or brackets as separate lines, each with its own price. If a replacement panel is needed, ask whether the figure is a stated price or an allowance that will be adjusted after the crew measures.

Compare how each bid handles the second visit. One bid may include the reinstall in the roof price, another may leave it to the enclosure company, and a third may charge a return trip. None of these is wrong on its face. The problem is a bid that leaves the reinstall unpriced and unnamed, because then the homeowner learns the cost after the screens have sat in the yard for three weeks.

What to ask

• Show me on the back of the house where the enclosure is fastened, and which of those fasteners go into fascia, soffit, or the roof.
• Will the enclosure be removed, kept clear, or worked around, and which of the three is in my proposal?
• Who removes the frame, who stores the parts, and where will they sit while the roof is open?
• Who reinstalls it, on what day, and is that visit in the price or billed separately?
• If the fascia behind a fastener is soft, where is that line on the proposal and what is the unit price?
• Will the posts stay in place, and does the enclosure company need to check the footings before the screens go back up?
• Has anyone confirmed that the enclosure's city approval allows its attachment to be changed?

Call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333 and ask the crew to walk the back of the house with you before the proposal is written. Ask them to mark each enclosure attachment point on the drawing and to write the removal, storage and reinstall steps into the proposal. If the enclosure belongs to another company, the question of who moves it still belongs in the proposal, and it should be answered before the first shingle comes off.