Power Washing in Richmond, Michigan

Well Water, Old Paint and a Main St Downtown

Richmond grew up along Main St. Erastus Beebe settled Beebe's Corners here in 1835, the village of Richmond incorporated in 1879, and the blocks around the downtown storefronts still hold houses from the 1880s through the 1920s in painted wood siding and brick. The postwar ranches arrived as the village became a city in 1966, most of them brick with aluminum on the gables and additions. Newer construction fills in the edges in vinyl, and where the grid stops, the farm country of Richmond and Lenox Townships begins: acreage, long private drives and gravel roads.

Water shapes more Richmond jobs than anything else. Seven city-owned wells pumping over 1,800 gallons per minute supply the city, and the acreage properties beyond the city mains run on private wells. Well water carries iron, so a rust-orange stain grows below the hose bib, down the siding under a dripping spigot, and across the driveway wherever a sprinkler head throws. Ordinary washing does not move it and bleach can darken it, so every crew we send here carries a rust-specific treatment.

The rest of the grime follows the map. The mature canopy over the older blocks around Main St and Beebe St keeps north walls and roof slopes damp into the afternoon, so siding algae and black shingle streaks return there every year. At the edges the lots are open, but the gravel roads and long drives of the townships lay a tan film of road dust on siding, porches and flatwork. Along the M-19 and Gratiot Ave frontages, winter salt spray and traffic film settle on the walls and walks nearest the pavement.

The six pages below cover the services Richmond books most, each written for this housing: what changes between a painted wood house and a chalked aluminum ranch, how the rust treatment works, and when to book so the house is clean before the Good Old Days weekend at Beebe Street Memorial Park. Prices are published, there is no travel fee, and an itemized quote is back within 24 hours.

Three Vintages of Siding, Three Ways to Wash Them

The village-era houses around Main St are the most rewarding and the least forgiving. Painted wood from the 1880s to the 1920s carries many coats, the lowest barely bonded, and real pressure lifts it in chips and drives water into the boards behind. We wash these houses at garden-hose pressure with a solution that kills the growth, and when a wall needs a painter more than a wash, we say so before quoting. The brick ones want a mild mix and care at the mortar lines. On both, the shade over Beebe St and the downtown blocks means the north wall greens up first.

The postwar ranches carry brick fronts and aluminum siding that has chalked to a soft gray over fifty summers. Aluminum needs an oxidation pre-treatment so the powder lifts evenly instead of streaking, and brick needs rinse-level pressure so the mortar stays put. Their poured driveways and walks have gone unsealed through decades of winters, and the hose bib on the side of the house has usually left a rust stripe down the wall and a stain across the walk below.

The newer homes at the edges are vinyl over brick fronts, with long driveways and irrigation. Vinyl starts to green on the shade side about ten years after the build, sprinklers fed by well water leave rust arcs on the drive and the lower siding, and the open lots collect road dust from the township gravel roads every dry week. The concrete is young enough that a cleaning followed by a penetrating sealer will keep it sound, and with few homeowners associations in Richmond, the maintenance calendar is the owner's to set.