Power Washing in Mount Clemens, Michigan

The County Seat's Oldest Exteriors, Washed by Material

Macomb Power Washing Solutions runs out of 21366 Hall Rd in Clinton Township, about twelve minutes from the Macomb County government complex downtown. Hall Rd is M-59, and it reaches Gratiot Ave at the city's north side, so a job here is a short run for a crew that is already loaded. We have been washing these streets since the company started in June 2022. Travel fees are zero in every community we serve, and the written estimate, itemized surface by surface, is back inside 24 hours of the walkaround.

The housing is what changes the work. The old streets near downtown and the Clinton River hold Bath City era homes, built while the mineral-bath industry ran from 1873 to 1974, and the original city grid filled in around them with early-1900s through 1920s houses. Those exteriors carry original brick, wood siding under ornate painted trim, slate-and-tin roofing details, and poured-concrete porches, steps and walks that were finished by hand. Out toward the Clinton Township line, the postwar homes on the outer streets bring later siding and a driveway wide enough for two cars.

Then there is the water. The Clinton River cuts through the middle of town on its way to Lake St. Clair, with MacArthur Park on both banks downtown and Shadyside Park and its boat ramp downstream. Blocks nearest the bank hold humidity, east winds carry lake moisture in over Crocker Blvd, and the lake-plain clay under all of it drains slowly. Add the big trees on the older residential streets and a north wall can stay damp until mid-morning. That is the recipe for the green film that fills our spring calendar.

Salt is the other half of the year. Gratiot Ave is M-3 and a salt route, Groesbeck Hwy carries M-97 traffic, and I-94 runs the east side, so concrete and brick near those corridors pick up a gray winter film that a garden hose only wets. The six pages below cover the services we run most in the city, each written for these materials rather than for a subdivision. Prices are published, estimates are free, and we work Monday through Saturday, 8am to 10pm.

Brick, Painted Wood and Original Concrete

Masonry from the 1870s through the 1920s is the first thing a crew reads. Mortar of that age is softer than anything mixed today, and a tight spray pattern opens the joints before the operator notices. Those walls get a mild solution and rinse pressure, with the north elevation worked hardest because that is where algae holds. Lots on the pre-1900 grid sit close together, so the neighbor's siding is often a few steps away and overspray gets controlled rather than chased.

Painted wood siding and ornate trim take the same restraint for a different reason. Water driven behind a lap or under a cornice bracket stays there, and paint that is still bonded will lift if it is hit at close range. Solution goes on wet, dwells while the mildew dies, and rinses from above at an angle. Slate and tin details on the older roofs are treated from the ground or left alone, because nothing about them survives a walked-on roof.

The original poured concrete is the surface owners ask about most. Porches, steps and front walks troweled a century ago have gone gray under road-salt film and organic staining, and the low blocks near the river stay damp long enough to grow a layer of their own. Most of it cleans up. Toward the Clinton Township line, the postwar driveways in the Mount Clemens Community School District are younger, sounder and worth sealing once they are clean.