Power Washing in Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan

Lake Wind, Wet Ground and a Busy Trunkline

Fort Gratiot Township had 11,242 residents at the 2020 census, and SEMCOG counts 345 more housing units in 2024 than in 2020. Water and sewer lines from Port Huron later turned farms south of Keewahdin Rd into subdivisions, many beside large woodlands that the master plan places mostly in the southwest and east. A wall beside a woodlot dries hours later than one in open sun, and algae and mildew grow for as long as the siding stays wet.

The ground adds moisture of its own. Most of it drains slowly, the National Wetlands Inventory maps about 743 acres of wetland, and the federal flood map draws 100-year floodplain along the Black River south of North River Rd and along three county drains: the Brandymore-Howe Drain, the Brace Drain and the Galbraith Drain. On a lot near that low ground, dew stays on the north wall and on any wall facing the trees well into the day. Green film starts on the bottom courses of siding there, then shows on the shaded slope of the roof.

The lakeshore is a different exposure. Lakeshore Rd follows the Lake Huron shore past Fort Gratiot County Park and Keewahdin Road Beach, and on a lot open to the water, onshore wind reaches the east wall directly. Where the eastern woodlands stand between house and lake, the master plan notes that leaves and branches moderate wind and dust, so that house trades wind for shade. Within about a mile of the lake the soil is old beach ridge, and onshore wind carries sand and pollen into siding laps. Inland, the issue is traffic. The 24th Ave strip around Birchwood Mall is, in the township's words, the largest commercial corridor in St. Clair County, and its salt spray and exhaust film settle on the homes and storefronts that face M-⁠25.

Our shop is at 21366 Hall Rd in Clinton Township, about 50 minutes away by M-⁠59 and I-⁠94. I-⁠94 ends in Port Huron a couple of miles south of the township, and because few bridges cross the Black River, the last stretch runs north through Port Huron on Pine Grove Ave or Gratiot Ave. The drive carries no travel fee, and each itemized quote reaches you in writing within 24 hours. The company carries $2M general liability and holds 4.9 stars across 177 Google reviews.

Shore Homes, Farm-Era Houses and the 1990s Wave

Houses built before 1950 are about 13 percent of the stock, from the years when the township was farms with a line of homes along the Lake Huron shore. Behind them came the big middle layer: roughly 40 percent of homes went up between 1950 and 1979, and the median year built is 1978. A house of that age that still has painted wood trim, porch posts or soffits raises the lead paint question answered below, and its original driveway has been through close to fifty winters of salt and frost.

The 1990s were the biggest building decade, with 996 homes, about one in five, built between 1990 and 1999. A house from that decade still on its first roof has shingles about 27 to 36 years old, the age when a shingle roof shows black streaks on its shaded slope and starts shedding granules faster. Roof, gutters and siding are priced separately on the quote, so the owner of a 1990s house can choose what to do first.

Multiple-family housing covers only 61 acres. Golf Harbor Apartments sits on North River Rd, Heritage Grove on 24th Ave north of Krafft Rd and Westmore near 24th Ave and Keewahdin Rd, while Fairway Terrace, Krafft Terrace, Lakeshore North and Windermere are condominiums run by co-owner associations. Two manufactured housing communities, Birchwood Estates and Brandymore Pines, cover about 137 acres near Krafft Rd, and our house washing page explains how factory siding there is handled.