House Washing in Washington Township

The newer homes on the former orchard ground along Van Dyke and 26 Mile Rd are mostly brick-front two-stories with vinyl on the upper floors, and the two materials fail differently. The vinyl uppers pick up a green algae film on the north and east sides about ten years after the build, earlier on the wooded lots toward Stony Creek Metropark where the canopy keeps them damp past noon. The brick fronts stay clear of algae but catch whatever the sprinklers throw, and on a private well that means iron. Each pass of the heads dries into a faint orange arc, and a summer of watering turns the arc into a streak that a garden hose will not move.

In the Washington and Mount Vernon hamlets and along the Romeo village edge, the houses are 1800s farmhouses with original wood siding and trim, the same material the Octagon House has carried since 1860. Wood that old is washed with a mild solution and a rinse no stronger than a hard rain. Anything more lifts paint that was holding and pushes water into boards that have stayed dry for a century and a half. Trim gets worked by hand where a sprayer would drive solution into open joints.

We match the mix to each wall on the walkaround. Vinyl gets standard soft-wash chemistry that kills algae at the root, so the shade side stays clean two to three years and the sunny side longer. Brick with sprinkler staining gets an iron-specific treatment before the wash, because the general solution leaves the orange behind. The farmhouse wood gets the mildest mix and the longest dwell, and if a wall is past washing, faded to bare wood or chalked to nothing, we say so before the number goes on paper. House washing starts at $349, the quote itemizes every elevation, and Washington Township is about 22 minutes from our Clinton Township shop with no travel fee.

What Goes Wrong on Orchard-Ground Houses

Rented pressure washers cause most of the damage we see. At close range they crack vinyl at the impact point and drive water up behind the laps, where it sits against the sheathing. On the hamlet farmhouses they strip paint in ragged patches and raise the grain of boards that then hold water. The quieter failure is chemistry: a general wash on sprinkler-stained brick leaves the orange arcs exactly where they were, and a rinse-only wash on shaded vinyl looks clean until the algae regrows from its roots by September.

Timing It Right

April through June is the busiest stretch, once the pollen drop from the maples and the orchard rows has ended, because a wash done mid-drop wears a yellow film within days. The wooded lots near Stony Creek Metropark are best washed on a two-year cycle, the open parcels along Van Dyke and toward Romeo on a three-year one. Fall is quieter and just as good for the work, as long as the overnight temperatures stay above freezing.