Serving Ludington & the Lake Michigan Shore
Ludington sits right on Lake Michigan, where the Pere Marquette River meets the big lake. That means wind, moisture and lake-effect snow on every house in town. Here's how we keep them out.
Amazing contractors and you cannot go wrong hiring them!! Now for why- After a long winter and wet spring we arrived at our house in April to find our sun porch flooded and moldy. We realized the roof which is called a SIP roof, had been compromised and needed attention. I started the search and had many people come and say they didn’t know what to do, or wanted to add particle board on top and take out the skylights (our favorite feature of the room). Others wanted to build a second roof over it, but it blends into the shingle roof and that would never work. Then we had Chris from Cherry Town out. He recognized the style of room - more often seen in Florida - and had an idea. 💡 He spoke with other friends and contractors and they agreed it would work in Michigan!!! We got to keep the skylights and had a coating applied to the top to seal everything. Much more complicated than that, including power washing a very dirty roof and taping the seams, but what matters most is we had a solution that would work!!! His team came over the 4th of July weekend and were able to complete the work that had to be done when hot. It is wonderful to sit out on the porch and enjoy the rain knowing it won’t leak!!! My dad is 94 and this is his house -he couldn’t be happier to have his porch back in working order!!!Thank you Cherry Town for such amazing attention to detail and doing a fantastic job. Clean up was incredible and so appreciated as not everyone does that well.
Our office is at 104 S Union Street Suite 208 in downtown Traverse City. From there, Ludington is about 94 miles south, usually close to an hour and fifty minutes down M-37 and west on US-10.
We'll be honest: that's a long way, and it means we're not the crew to call for a same-day emergency tarp. What it does mean is that every Ludington job is planned as a full day. We bring everything the job needs on the first trip, schedule around the forecast, and get the work done in as few visits as possible.
The Caswell family became Ludington's first permanent settlers of European descent in July 1847. The town was first called Pere Marquette, after the river, and was renamed for the industrialist James Ludington. It was incorporated as a city in 1873, the same year it became the seat of Mason County.
Sawmills and salt drove its early growth, and then the car ferries made it a major port. By the mid-1950s Ludington was the largest car ferry port in the world. The SS Badger, which entered service on March 21, 1953, still crosses Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin every summer, one of only two lake-crossing car ferries left on the lake, and it is now a National Historic Landmark.
Today Ludington has 7,655 people (2020 census), Ludington State Park and the Big Sable Point Light to its north, and a mix of older homes in town, cottages and houses along the lakeshore, and newer homes on the edges of town.
Wind comes first. A house near the shore takes wind across the whole width of Lake Michigan, and that wind lifts shingle edges, works under ridge caps and flashing, and drives rain sideways into siding seams and under trim. Most roof wind damage starts at the edges, which is why we pay so much attention to starter strip, nailing and flashing.
Moisture comes next. Damp air off the lake keeps wood trim, soffit and fascia wet longer than they would be inland, and boards that stay wet rot from the back. Ludington's winters are cold and snowy, with lake-effect snow and a freeze-thaw cycle that works water into small gaps.
Then there are ice dams. Where heat leaks into a cold attic, it melts snow from underneath, the water refreezes at the eaves, and the ice backs up under the shingles. On a summer cottage closed for the winter, that can go on for months with nobody there to see it.
So we treat the outside of the house as one system: edges and ridge fastened for wind off the lake, ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys, ventilation that keeps the deck cold, and siding with proper wrap and flashing behind it.
Repair and replacement for lakeshore roofs: edges and ridge fastened for wind off Lake Michigan, flashing done properly at every wall and chimney, and ice and water shield where winter needs it.
More about roofing →Low upkeep and well suited to a damp shoreline, as long as the wrap, window flashing and trim behind it are done right.
More about vinyl siding →Thicker and more rigid than vinyl, with more of a wood look. It stands up well to wind and moisture off the big lake.
More about composite siding →Fewer seams to leak and sized for the roof they drain, so water ends up away from the foundation instead of against the fascia.
More about seamless gutters →Everything we do on the outside of a house:
We come out to Ludington, 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.
We know Ludington has contractors of its own, and for an emergency they're closer. What we offer for a planned roof, siding or gutter job is a crew trained and certified on what it installs, a written plan before any work starts, and a straight answer about whether something needs replacing or just repairing.
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