Dock & Piling Cleaning in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Las Olas Isles and Seven Isles were dredged in the 1920s, and some docks there stand on pilings that have seen a lot of oysters. The Middle River behind the Sunrise Boulevard bridge and the New River through Rio Vista are slow-speed water where growth builds undisturbed; Harbor Beach docks near the Port Everglades cut take strong tidal current instead.

Seven Isles is 315 households on finger islands dredged in the 1920s; Rio Vista is about 1,000 homes between the New River and SE 12th Street; Coral Ridge is about 1,350 single-family homes from Sunrise Boulevard to Oakland Park Boulevard; Harbor Beach takes in Laguna, Lucille, Del Lago and Harborage Isles between the Intracoastal and the ocean. That is thousands of private docks within a few miles of our Seabreeze Boulevard office, on water that ranges from the slow-speed Middle River behind the Sunrise bridge to the 2-to-4-knot current at the Port Everglades cut. The dock work differs with the water; the oysters are the same.

Fort Lauderdale docks span every kind of water in the county, and the visit is planned around it. A Seven Isles or Las Olas Isles dock sits in slow-speed water on 1920s fill and its pilings are cleaned and inspected from a boat tied alongside; a Rio Vista dock on the New River is the same in a tidal estuary; a Harbor Beach dock near the Port Everglades cut is worked around the 2-to-4-knot current; a Coral Ridge dock on the Middle River is behind the fixed Sunrise Boulevard bridge, which limits the boat but not the diver. Wooden pilings found hollow are wrapped or sleeved in place, and floating-dock wheels, lifts and hydro-hoist lines are cleared in the same visit.

Fort Lauderdale docks stand on the New River, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Middle River and the Stranahan River, most of them behind homes in Las Olas Isles, Rio Vista, Harbor Beach and Coral Ridge. ZIP codes 33301, 33304, 33305, 33308, 33315 and 33316: no pickaxes, no chisels, inspection included.

Growth hides damage, so the inspection follows the cleaning, while the diver can see the structure.

• Shipworm holes in wood and concrete pilings: enough of them and a piling snaps.
• Oyster damage on wooden pilings, which eats the wood while hiding it.
• Floating-dock wheels and hydro-hoist hydraulic lines, where barnacles cut and jam.
• Whether a wrap or a Snap Jacket sleeve would extend the piling's life.

How often docks and pilings need it. Seawalls and concrete pilings: cleaned annually. In our experience, unwrapped wooden pilings on South Florida canals often need help after 10 to 15 years; a wrap from the mud to 2 ft above high tide adds at least 20 years.

Full dock and piling cleaning guide