Serving Petoskey, Bay View & Little Traverse Bay
Petoskey looks out over Little Traverse Bay, gets around 124 inches of snow a year, and has hundreds of historic cottages that sit empty all winter. Here's how we look after the houses that live with all three.
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, Petoskey is about 67 miles north, usually an hour and twenty-five minutes up US-31 through Elk Rapids and Charlevoix.
That's a real drive, so we plan Petoskey 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.
Petoskey is named for Ignatius Petosega, an Odawa chief who lived from 1787 to 1885. It was incorporated as a village in 1879 and as a city in 1895, and today it is the seat and largest city of Emmet County, with 5,877 people in the 2020 census. It sits on Little Traverse Bay where the Bear River runs in, and the fossil coral that washes up along the shore, the Petoskey stone, is Michigan's state stone.
Just east of downtown is Bay View, founded in 1875 by Michigan Methodists as a summer camp meeting and later a Chautauqua. Its tents gave way to cottages, and today there are more than 400 of them, many Victorian, on the hillside above the bay. Bay View was named a National Historic Landmark in 1987, and it closes from November through April, when the cottages must be empty.
Ernest Hemingway spent his boyhood summers nearby on Walloon Lake, and the area turns up in his Nick Adams stories. Between the historic downtown Gaslight District, Bay View and the homes along the bay, Petoskey has a lot of old houses.
Snow comes first. Petoskey averages around 124 inches a year, so roofs carry months of weight and months of melt and refreeze. Where heat leaks into the attic, it melts snow from underneath, the water refreezes at the cold eaves, and the ice dam that forms backs up under the shingles.
The off-season comes next. A cottage that is empty from November to April hides every problem it has. A small flashing leak or an ice dam can drip all winter with nobody there to see it, and the first anyone knows is a stained ceiling or a soft floor in May. Older cottages built for summer use rarely have attics vented for anything else.
The bay does the rest. Homes facing Little Traverse Bay take wind across open water, and that wind lifts shingle edges and drives rain sideways into siding seams and under trim, while damp air keeps wood trim, soffit and fascia wet.
So we treat the outside of the house as one system, take care with the trim details that make an old cottage what it is, and for seasonal homes we suggest a look before you close up for the winter.
Repair and replacement for snowbelt and bayfront roofs: stripped to the deck, ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys, flashing done properly at every dormer and chimney.
More about roofing →Thicker and more rigid than vinyl, with more of a wood look, which suits Petoskey's older homes and cottages. It stands up well to moisture off the bay.
More about composite siding →Many summer cottages were never vented for winter. New vented soffit is usually part of stopping ice dams for good.
More about soffit →Sized for the roof and fastened securely enough to carry snow and ice, on fascia that is solid enough to hold them through a 124-inch winter.
More about seamless gutters →Everything we do on the outside of a house:
We come out to Petoskey, 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