Seasonal Home Exterior Cleaning in Tomahawk

Tomahawk is a Lincoln County city about 63 miles north of our Marshfield shop. The city sits where the Wisconsin River bends sharply and is dammed into Lake Mohawksin. The lake's name joins the last syllables of the three rivers that flow into it: the Somo, the Tomahawk and the Wisconsin.

A river town of single-family homes

Water covers about 17 percent of Tomahawk's area. Nearly four in five homes here are single-family houses, about three in four are lived in by their owners, about one in ten is kept for seasonal or occasional use, and more than four in ten were built before 1960.

Opening up a seasonal place: an exterior checklist

If your Tomahawk home sits empty part of the year, here is what is worth checking when you come back, and what each one involves.

• Gutters and downspouts. A winter of debris can leave them clogged, and then rain and meltwater can back up into the shingles or behind the siding. We flush the whole system.
• The roof. Black streaks are an algae, Gloeocapsa magma. Moss and lichen can root into shingles and shorten a roof's life. Roof cleaning is a low-pressure soft wash.
• Siding. Mildew is most common on walls behind trees and shrubs, and our house washing removes it gently.
• The deck. Wood or composite, cleaned with gentle soft washing, with a sealant if you want one.
• Windows. Dirt, grime and water spots come off the glass, and screens, tracks and hard water stain removal can be added.

Tomahawk winters

The weather station about 4 miles north of town records about 177 nights below freezing and about 40 nights below zero a year, with an average winter temperature of about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The closest weather station that publishes a snow average, about 13 miles west of town, puts it at about 62 inches a year.

Businesses in town are welcome too.