Power Washing in Casco Township, Michigan

Septic Fields, Woodlots and I-⁠94 Brine

No sanitary sewer reaches Casco Township, so most homes run on a septic tank and drain field, and most draw from a private well. A soft wash puts diluted solution on the siding and a long rinse after it. EPA septic guidance warns that excess water slows or stops wastewater treatment, so rinse should not pool on the field, and its private-well guidance says to mix degreasers and other cleaners away from a well. Mark the tank lid, the field and the wellhead before wash day, and expect the rinse to be kept away from all three.

Woodlands here often sit around wetlands and waterways, and across the farmed western half the trees grow in woodlots, tree rows and drain corridors. In the northeast corner, home to Adair near St. Clair Hwy and Palms Rd, the Belle River passes under I-⁠94, and Belle River Park on Fred W. Moore Hwy keeps wetland along 1,397 feet of its bank. A wall facing a tree line dries last after dew and rain, and algae spreads while it stays wet. A soft wash kills that growth, and on a shaded Casco wall the result holds two to three years, and longer where open field lets the sun in.

I-⁠94 crosses the township with about 17,000 trips a day each way, and its one Casco interchange is exit 257 at Fred W. Moore Hwy. County Line Rd carries the heaviest local traffic, about 8,700 trips a day between Marine City Hwy and Springborn Rd in 2014. Tires on both throw winter brine into a mist that dries to a gray film on the walls facing them, thickest low on the siding. Oily tire grime binds that salt to the surface, so plain hose water leaves most of it and a surfactant pre-treatment loosens it before the rinse.

On a Casco lot, book a house wash after the last salting on I-⁠94 and County Line Rd, so the winter film comes off once, and after the spring thaw has drained from the lawn over the septic field, when rinse water is easiest to keep away from it. Late spring meets both, and early fall before the freeze is the second window. Clear gutters under woodlots once the leaves are down in late fall. Our seasonal guide lays out the Michigan calendar.

Homes From Before 1940 Through the 1990s

Some 216 homes, about 14 percent, were built in 1939 or earlier. A house that old may have been re-sided or added onto, and an original wing beside a later addition can carry two sidings, each needing its own mix. Send a photo of each side with the estimate request so the written quote prices both. Old painted wood gets the mildest mix and a gentle rinse, since a strong jet can push water behind loose boards.

The 573 homes built from 1950 through 1979 and the 400 from the 1990s, the busiest decade, make up most of the rest. A 1990s house on its first shingles is about 30 years into them, and shingles beside a woodlot often carry black streaks, usually traced to the algae Gloeocapsa magma. Check for curling and bare granule patches first: treatment clears streaks but adds no life to worn shingles. A sound roof is treated without pressure, then again in three to five years, as our roof streak guide explains.

Census estimates count about 229 mobile or manufactured homes, roughly one in seven, and they are concentrated in the manufactured home community on the east side of County Line Rd north of I-⁠94. Manufactured housing covers about 92 acres against 628 acres of single-family land, so those homes stand far closer together. The ones on the freeway side sit nearest the spray covered in our road film guide. On a close-set site, expect the rinse to be aimed so one home's film does not land on the next home's windows or car.