Aluminum Pool Cage Is Fading. Is re-anodizing practical?

A. Hi Michael. Wet a section with a hose or sponge and see what you think of the look while it is wet. If you think it's "good enough" when wet, you may be able to salvage it most cheaply with a simple one-part clear coating like Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser], from one of this site's supporting advertisers. It restores luster by smoothing the finish the way the wetness does. If that doesn't work you would need to have the parts replaced or re-anodized (or painted). Re-anodizing would not be less expensive than replacement, and probably impractical. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Pool cage aluminum is not anodized but rather painted. With proper preparation it can be repainted with oil based enamel paint like rustoleum. A small roller works best and you can prep the area with bleach ⇦ bleach/sodium hypochlorite in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . The color is not black but architectural bronze, also called quaker bronze. Because of the mess, painting is usually done at the same time as re-screening. When getting ready to paint, cut the screen out close to the spline but keep the spline in place or paint will fill the groove! Be sure to replace all the screws with the next size larger at the same time.

Good Luck

Thanks for the very informative posting, John. While I accept your experience that most pool cages are bronze colored paint, and agree that black anodized aluminum would fade too quickly and be too subject to acid and chlorine attack for it to be a good finish, I don't think I'm ready to insist, sight unseen, that what Michael feels is a black anodized finish is actually bronze colored paint :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 2014

A. I have been painting pool cages for 20 years. We remove all screen and paint with acrylic latex as oil base paint in Florida fades in 1 to 2 years.

A. IF YOU WANT YOUR CAGE REHABBED CORRECTLY, CALL [deleted by editor]. THE INFO ON THIS THREAD SO FAR IS NOT CORRECT.

Hi cousin J. Unfortunately we cannot print brands and sources in this forum for a bunch of reasons (why?). Although we can't expect people who are trying to earn a living to share everything they have learned, simply claiming that everything here is wrong with no alternative answers is neither constructive nor very convincing :-)

Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
February 2021

! I tried a couple of different items that were supposed to bring back the sheen and color of dark aluminum. So far, Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] works the best. Be sure to put it on when it's cloudy outside or there will be a lot of streaks that you will need to touch up later on. Good luck!

Readers: Sorry, but we can't print testimonials to different brands or sources in this forum (why?). However, we'll just consider this an advertisement for Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] :-)

Luck & Regards,