Exterior contractor in Clarkston, MI
Clarkston has the most demanding conditions of anywhere we work, and it is because three things arrive together. The land rolls steeply, there are lakes scattered through it, and the tree cover is heavy. Individually each of those is manageable. On one property they compound.
A house here can have a walkout rear elevation on a slope, a lake-facing wall that stays damp, and a north side that never sees the sun, all at once. A specification that works on a flat open lot is simply not the same specification.
Four elevations, four different conditions
We assess each side of a Clarkston house separately, because they genuinely are not the same wall or the same roof slope. The slope side is taller than it looks from the street and is where surface water arrives at the building. The shaded side stays wet. The water side carries humidity and wind. The high side takes uplift.
Specifying for the worst elevation across the whole house is expensive. Specifying for the easiest is a false economy. Doing it properly means looking at all four and saying which is which.
What we do in Clarkston
- Roofing — roofing in Clarkston · residential roofing · repairs · storm damage
- Siding, soffit and fascia — siding in Clarkston · vinyl · fiber cement
- Seamless gutters — gutters in Clarkston · seamless gutters · leaf protection · copper
- Everything else on the outside — drainage, windows, painting, masonry, decks, additions and commercial roofing
The low corner, and why the repair keeps coming back
On a sloped lot there is always one corner where everything ends up: roof water, surface water off the hill, and meltwater in spring. That corner is where we find soft trim, staining, damaged siding and, in the worst cases, water inside.
Replacing what is damaged there without changing where the water goes is the definition of treating a symptom. What fixes it is taking the roof water well away from that corner and getting surface water to run past the house rather than into it. We will say this at the estimate whether or not you buy anything else from us, because it is the most useful thing we can tell most Clarkston homeowners.
Access is half the job
The driveways here are the hardest we deal with: long, steep, often curved, with mature trees over the approach and houses sited well off the road on ground that softens after rain.
Whether a loaded truck can reach the house, where staging can be founded on a slope, and where material can be stored dry all get settled before anything is ordered. Access that is fine in September is not always fine in March, and scheduling here follows the ground rather than the calendar.
What compounded exposure means for the specification
Where several difficult conditions land on the same building, the margin for a cheap specification disappears:
- There is no elevation where nothing is happening, so there is no side where thin material and minimum fastening go unnoticed.
- Ventilation matters more, because a shaded, damp assembly has fewer opportunities to dry than an exposed sunny one.
- Drainage capacity matters more, because a roof on a slope under trees delivers both volume and debris.
- Impact resistance matters more, because heavy canopy over a roofline means limbs come down on the building eventually.
- A mixed specification is legitimate here, and we write it often: the tougher material on the slope, the water side and the low courses, and a sensible standard where conditions are ordinary.
Questions from Clarkston homeowners
Why would one side of my house need something different from another?
Because the sides are not experiencing the same thing. Shaded, sloped and water-facing elevations have a harder life than sheltered ones, and pricing the whole house for the worst wall costs more than it needs to.
The bottom corner of my house keeps getting damaged. Why does it come back?
Because what you are replacing is the symptom. On a sloped lot that corner collects roof water and surface water together. Until that changes, the same damage returns.
My driveway is long and steep. Does that add to the cost?
It can, mainly in delivery and material handling, and we would rather look at it than guess. On some properties it makes no difference; on others it is a day of extra labour.
Can you work here in winter?
Often, though the limit here is usually ground conditions and access on a steep drive rather than temperature. We will tell you honestly if a job is better left until the ground firms up.
Nearby
- Exterior contractor in Lake Orion, MI
- Exterior contractor in Oakland Township, MI
- Exterior contractor in Bloomfield, MI
The full coverage list is on our service area page.
Free estimate in Clarkston
On difficult ground the inspection is where the money is saved. It costs nothing, and neither does the written scope.
Request a free estimate or call (586) 533-8343.
