Serving Boyne City & Lake Charlevoix
Boyne City sits at the far end of Lake Charlevoix, where the Boyne River runs in. It's an old lumber town with a lot of older homes and a lot of open water. Here's how we look after both.
Wow! What a great experience with Cherry Town Roofing. They recently replaced our roof and were on time, on budget and their attention to detail was incredible. The workers kept us informed as to their progress and kept the work site clean and orderly. When the project was completed they met with us to answer any questions and to be sure we were satisfied with the results. Couldn’t be happier!
Our office is at 104 S Union Street Suite 208 in downtown Traverse City. From there, Boyne City is about 64 miles, usually an hour and twenty minutes by road.
That's a real drive, so we plan Boyne City jobs as full days. We bring everything the job needs on the first trip and schedule around the forecast, so the work gets done in as few visits as possible and your roof isn't left open overnight.
Boyne City sits at the eastern end of Lake Charlevoix, Michigan's third-largest inland lake, at the mouth of the Boyne River, which was named after the River Boyne in Ireland. Its first settlers, John and Harriet Miller, arrived on November 14, 1856. It became a village in 1885 and a city in 1907.
Lumber made it. W.H. White arrived in 1883 and founded a mill, and in the first decade of the 1900s the town grew from around 900 people to over 5,000. At its peak, three sawmills ran along the lakefront alongside a tannery and other industry. When the mills closed in the late 1910s and early 1920s, the population fell back below 3,000.
Today it's the largest city in Charlevoix County, with 3,816 people in the 2020 census, and its downtown is a listed historic district. The houses reflect all of that history: older homes from the boom years near downtown, cottages and year-round homes along the lake, and newer houses on the hills around it.
The lake comes first. Homes along Lake Charlevoix take wind across a long stretch of open water, and that wind lifts shingle edges and drives rain sideways into siding seams, under trim and behind flashing. Damp air off the water keeps wood trim, soffit and fascia wet longer than they would be inland.
Age comes next. A house from the lumber-boom years has usually been re-roofed more than once, sometimes with a new layer laid over the old, hiding soft decking underneath. Its attic was rarely vented for modern heating, and that is where ice dams start: warm air melts snow from underneath, the water refreezes at the cold eaves, and the ice backs up under the shingles.
Northern Michigan winters do the rest, with lake-effect snow and a freeze-thaw cycle that works water into any gap it can find.
So we treat the outside of the house as one system: strip to the deck on a replacement, fix the ventilation, flash every wall and chimney properly, and replace rotted trim before anything new goes over it.
Repair and replacement for lakefront and older roofs: stripped to the deck, edges fastened for wind off the lake, and ice and water shield where ice dams start.
More about roofing →Thicker and more rigid than vinyl, with more of a wood look, which suits Boyne City's older homes. It stands up well to moisture off the lake.
More about composite siding →Vented soffit is half of how an attic breathes, and on an older house it is often missing or rotted. Replacing it is usually part of fixing ice dams for good.
More about soffit →Fewer seams to leak and sized for the roof they drain, hung on fascia that is solid enough to carry a winter of snow and ice.
More about seamless gutters →Everything we do on the outside of a house:
We come out to Boyne City, walk the outside of the house and get into the attic where we can, because that is where ice dams and soft decking start.
You get the scope, the materials and the price in writing before anything starts. If a repair will do, we tell you.
Our own crew, working to the manufacturer spec, scheduled around the weather rather than ahead of a storm.
We magnet-sweep for nails, haul the debris away and go over the finished job with you before we leave.
If you live here year round, we'll walk the house with you. If it's a summer place, we'll send photos and a written plan so you can decide from wherever you are. Either way, if a repair will do, we'll tell you instead of selling you a replacement you don't need.
Tell us what your roof, siding or gutters are doing and we'll come out and take a look.
Get A Free Estimateor call (231) 377-3620