Serving Suttons Bay & the Leelanau Peninsula
Suttons Bay homes face the water, and many of them sit empty through the winter. That combination is hard on a roof, a gutter and a wall of siding. Here's how we look after them.
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, Suttons Bay is about 16 miles north, usually a 20 minute drive up M-22 along the shore of West Grand Traverse Bay.
That short drive means an estimate is easy to schedule, and if you're not here for part of the year, we're close enough to check on the house and send you photos of what we find.
Suttons Bay sits on the shore of its own namesake bay, an inlet of Grand Traverse Bay and of Lake Michigan beyond it. The village takes its name from Harry C. Sutton, who is said to have arrived in 1854 with woodsmen cutting fuel for the wood-burning steamboats that passed along the shore. It was incorporated as a village in 1898, and in 1903 the Traverse City, Leelanau and Manistique Railroad began stopping here.
Some of what grew up then is still in business. Bahle's started as a dry-goods store in 1876 under Lars Bahle, a Norwegian immigrant, and has stayed in the same family for four generations. The Bay Theatre has shown movies since 1946. Just north of town, a marker shows where the 45th parallel crosses the peninsula, halfway between the equator and the North Pole.
The village itself is small, with 613 people in the 2020 census, but the countryside around it is orchard country, with the cherry harvest running from mid-July into August. Homes range from older houses in the village to cottages and newer homes along the bay and second homes back on the hills.
The water comes first. Homes facing the bay take wind across open water, and that wind lifts shingle edges and drives rain sideways into siding seams, under trim and behind flashing. Spray and humidity off the bay keep wood trim, soffit and fascia damp longer than they would be inland.
The off-season comes next. Many homes here are used in summer and closed up for winter, and an empty house hides problems. A small flashing leak or an ice dam at the eaves can drip all winter with nobody there to see it, and the first anyone knows is a stained ceiling or a wet floor in April. That is exactly the story our featured review tells.
Winter itself does the rest. Lake-effect snow and the freeze-thaw cycle work water into any gap, and where heat leaks 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, and for seasonal homes we suggest a look before winter: flashing checked, gutters clear and secure, and the attic ventilation sound, so spring doesn't start with a repair.
Repair and replacement for roofs that face the bay: fastened to spec at the edges, flashing done properly at every wall, chimney and skylight, and ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys.
More about roofing →A low-upkeep choice for a house you are not at every week. What decides how it holds up by the water is behind the panels: house wrap, window flashing and trim that sheds water.
More about vinyl siding →Thicker and more rigid than vinyl, with more of a wood look, which suits older village homes and cottages. It stands up well to the moisture coming off the bay.
More about composite siding →Fewer joints means fewer seams to leak and fewer places for leaves to catch. We size them for the roof and make sure they are secure before a winter of snow and ice.
More about seamless gutters →Everything we do on the outside of a house:
We come out to Suttons Bay, 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 you don't, 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