Dock & Piling Cleaning in Lighthouse Point, FL

Lighthouse Point's subdivisions came in between 1957 and 1970, so a wooden piling here can be decades old, with oysters eating it while hiding the deterioration and shipworms boring into it from inside.

Wooler Heights and Lighthouse Manor came into the city between 1957 and 1969, Coral Key and Pompano Waterway Estates in 1970, and Lighthouse Point Yacht Club on NE 42nd Street runs its own private marina in the middle of it all. The city shares ZIP 33064 with Pompano Beach, so tell us the subdivision when you book. A dock in any of these neighborhoods stands on pilings that may be original to the canal, and the inspection after the cleaning is where we find out whether the wood is still wood.

Lighthouse Point docks are as old as their canals, and the 1957-to-1970 subdivisions mean a wooden piling here can be original. The diver cleans it, inspects it bare, and gives a straight answer: sound, wrap it, or sleeve it with a Snap Jacket. Lifts on canal lots get their hardware cleared, floating docks get their wheels done Lighthouse Point Marina's pilings are the marina's and the yacht club's are the club's, so our work at both is on the boats; the private docks in Venetian Isles, Coral Key and Lighthouse Manor are the owners'.

Because the canals are calm, the visit can be scheduled at most hours. Lighthouse Point Marina's and the yacht club's pilings are theirs; a boat in either gets cleaned while the structures stay put. Cap's Place's dock is the restaurant's shuttle landing and not on our list.

Lighthouse Point docks stand on the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Placid, most of them behind homes in Venetian Isles, Lighthouse Manor, Coral Key and Pompano Waterway Estates. ZIP code 33064: 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