Merrill's Older Homes, Washed the Gentle Way

Merrill, the Lincoln County seat, sits where the Prairie River meets the Wisconsin River, with Council Grounds State Park just to the west. It is about 45 miles northeast of our Marshfield shop.

One of the oldest housing stocks we serve

Merrill and Antigo have the oldest homes of any towns on our list, and by the numbers they are nearly tied. In Merrill, about a third of the homes went up in 1939 or earlier, more than half before 1960, and half before about 1955.

Older houses deserve care when they are cleaned. Our house washing is low pressure. Strong pressure can damage siding and wood, and on a house this age we would rather let the cleaning solution do the work.

Roofs in a long winter

Here is what Merrill's roofs live with:

• About 54 inches of snow a year.
• An inch or more of snow on the ground about 114 days a year, close to a third of the year.
• About 182 nights below freezing, and about 36 nights below zero.

Three things grow on roofs here, and they are not the same. Moss and lichen can dig roots into the shingles and cause a roof to leak before its time. The black streaks are a third thing, an algae known as Gloeocapsa magma, and it creates a fertile area for moss to grow.

Our roof cleaning is a soft wash too. Before we start, we protect your plants and outdoor furniture, then remove the streaks, moss and lichen using low pressure. Roofs start higher than our other residential services because pitch and size drive the work.

The rest of the house

Gutters on an older roofline get a full flush and a downspout check. Windows can be done on the same visit, with screens and tracks if you ask. Our blog has a post on each of these services in Merrill, listed under From our blog.