Power Washing in Ira Township, Michigan

Shoreline, Canals and Section-Line Roads

Ira Township sits on Anchor Bay at the north end of Lake St. Clair. New Baltimore and Chesterfield Township lie to the west, Casco Township sits across Marine City Hwy to the north, Cottrellville Township runs along Mayer Rd to the east, and Clay Township borders it to the south and southeast. The 2020 census counted 4,967 residents. About 4.6 of the 21.6 square miles inside the township line are water. M-⁠29 follows the shore as Dixie Hwy through Anchorville and Fair Haven, then takes the name Dyke Rd near Copeland Corner on its way to Perch Point.

Water sits behind a large share of the shoreline homes. The shore is often sandy or seawalled, with shallow water near land, and on Long Island Court in Fair Haven the houses back onto a seawalled canal with boat wells. A canal lot puts a seawall cap, a boat lift and a neighbor's wall within a few feet of the siding, which changes where rinse water can go. Our guide to canal home exterior care covers that setting. Each June the Lake St. Clair fish fly hatch, drawn to porch lights, leaves insects on screens and sills near the water, and a window cleaning visit clears both.

Traffic adds a second layer. SEMCOG counted about 16,300 vehicles a day on M-⁠29 between Green St in New Baltimore and Church Rd in 2020, and Marine City Hwy carried about 14,000 between County Line Rd and Church Rd in 2015. Exhaust and brake dust settle on the street side of homes close to those roads, and winter plow spray carries salt onto siding and concrete. Inland, the township pays the county road commission for limestone on gravel stretches of Meldrum Rd and Broadbridge Rd, and passing cars lift that dust onto lower siding and windows in a dry summer.

St. Clair County is new ground for MPWS. The shop is at 21366 Hall Rd in Clinton Township, and the off-peak drive out M-⁠59, down Jefferson Ave and up M-⁠29 through New Baltimore to Township Hall on Meldrum Rd runs about 25 minutes. The trip adds nothing to the price. A written, line-item quote reaches you within 24 hours. The company is insured for $2M in general liability, with workers' compensation for its crew, and holds a 4.9-star average across 177 Google reviews.

What Ira Township Houses Need

The housing runs from lake cottages to new construction. The Census Bureau estimates that 316 homes, about 14%, were built in 1939 or earlier, and the master plan notes that many of the township's early homes began as seasonal cottages. On an older exterior, trim has shifted, caulk has opened and paint may be thin, so the rinse stays near garden-hose pressure. The median home dates to 1986, so half the houses here are about 40 years old or older.

Lot size sets up the job. Along the shoreline, the master plan says many platted lots are under 50 feet wide with small side yards, which leaves a few feet between houses. Lots of an acre or more are more common in the interior, where homes front section-line roads such as Palms Rd and Church Rd among farm fields, and a long driveway can be quoted with the house.

About one home in five is a manufactured home by the Census Bureau's estimate, and the master plan places the largest share of manufactured-home land in the two communities at M-⁠29 and Bethuy Rd, including The Shores of Anchor Bay, built in phases in 1969 and 1985. Waterfront and canal lots add seawalls, docks, boathouses and boat hoists, which the township zoning ordinance regulates as structures of their own. Each one moves the setup: rinse water is kept out of the canal and off the seawall cap, and a nearby boathouse is wetted and protected like the beds.