Serving Old Mission & the Old Mission Peninsula
The Old Mission Peninsula is a narrow ridge of orchards and vineyards with a bay on each side. The views are why people build here, and the wind is the price. Here's how we look after the houses.
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. Old Mission, near the north end of the peninsula, is about 18 miles away, usually under half an hour up Center Road (M-37). The homes at the south end of the peninsula are closer still.
That makes the whole peninsula an easy drive for an estimate, and close enough that if a storm comes across either bay and lifts shingles, we can get out to look at it quickly.
Old Mission is where European settlement in the Grand Traverse Bay region started. In May 1839, Presbyterian ministers Peter Dougherty and John Fleming founded a mission at what is now Old Mission, the first such settlement anywhere around the bay. The peninsula and the community both still carry its name.
The peninsula itself runs about 17 miles north from Traverse City and is only about 3.25 miles across at its widest, splitting Grand Traverse Bay into its East and West Arms. Center Road, M-37, runs 17.25 miles up its spine and was named a Pure Michigan Byway in 2007. At the northern tip, Mission Point Lighthouse was first lit on September 10, 1870, just south of the 45th parallel.
That latitude, with water on both sides, is why the peninsula is known for cherries and wine: there are eleven wineries here. Peninsula Township has grown from 5,433 people in 2010 to 6,068 in 2020, and its homes range from old farmhouses among the orchards to larger homes built along the shore and up on the ridge for the view.
Wind is the big one. On a peninsula barely three miles wide, wind can come across open water from either side, and a house up on the ridge or right on the shore takes it full on. That wind lifts shingle edges, works under ridge caps and flashing, and drives rain sideways into siding seams and under trim.
Then there are the roofs themselves. Homes built for a view often have big, complicated rooflines, with valleys, dormers, walls and skylights. Every one of those is a place that has to be flashed properly, and that is where most leaks start. Older farmhouses have the opposite problem: simple roofs with years of layers on them and attics never vented for modern heating.
Winter finishes the job. Lake-effect snow and the freeze-thaw cycle work water into any gap, and where heat escapes into a cold attic it melts snow from underneath and builds ice dams at the eaves.
So we treat the outside of the house as one system: flashing planned before the job starts, ice and water shield in every valley and along the eaves, edges and ridge fastened to spec, and seamless gutters sized for a big roof.
Repair and replacement for exposed roofs with complicated lines: flashing detailed at every valley, wall and skylight, edges and ridge fastened for wind from either bay, and ice and water shield where winter needs it.
More about roofing →Thicker and more rigid than vinyl, with more of a wood look, which suits the peninsula's farmhouses and custom homes. It stands up well to wind and moisture off the water.
More about composite siding →Big roofs move a lot of water in a summer storm. Seamless runs have no joints to leak, and we size the gutters and downspouts for the roof they drain.
More about seamless gutters →When an older farmhouse is being updated, the outside usually has to catch up: roof, siding, gutters and trim planned together as one job instead of patched one at a time.
More about exterior remodeling →Everything we do on the outside of a house:
We come out to Old Mission, 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.
A house with a view is a big investment, and you deserve a straight answer about what it needs. If a repair will do, we'll tell you instead of selling you a replacement you don't need, and you'll have the scope and the price in writing before any work starts.
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