Window track cleaning on Marco Island.

Marco Island sits south of Naples surrounded by water, with canal homes, Gulf-front houses and beach condos all taking intense salt. The island's beaches also mean fine sand travels everywhere, and between the salt and the sand the slider tracks here fill from two directions at once — the bottom channel cakes, and a slider onto the lanai or the canal dock starts to grind on its rollers.

We clear the channels out by hand, lifting the salt crust, sand and dead bugs from the track and clearing the weep holes so it drains. On an island home it pairs with exterior window cleaning on the same visit, since the salt loading the tracks is the same film the crew is working off the glass and screens.

Many owners here are seasonal, and an empty island home is when a track quietly fills with nobody working the doors. Keeping it on a recurring Marco Island plan means the sliders glide when you land instead of dragging — get your instant quote to set the rhythm.