Green Lake Roofing & Painting

Cottage roofs here are often small, steep and awkward to access, with additions that were built at different times and tie together at odd angles. Those tie-ins are the leak risk, and they need flashing properly rather than sealing over.

A leak in a seasonal property can run for months before anyone finds it. If you are closing up for the winter, have the roof looked at first. A leak running from November to April costs far more to put right than the repair would have.

Wind across open water arrives at a lakefront roof with nothing to slow it, and boathouses and covered slips take it worst because they are the most exposed structure on the property and usually the least substantial.

Second homes and seasonal properties sometimes carry different coverage terms from a primary residence, and boathouses and docks may be scheduled separately or not at all. Worth checking your declarations page before a storm makes it urgent.

Constant humidity off the lake keeps fascia and soffit damp for long stretches, and on older cottages those boards were frequently never primed on the back face. Replacing them and priming all six sides is what stops the same rot returning.

This is the work we know best on this lake. The elevation facing the water takes reflected UV as well as direct sun, so it chalks and fails years ahead of the rest. It gets the same wash, scrape, prime and two finish coats as the side you see from the road.

Cottages that sit closed and unheated through the winter move more than a year-round house does, which opens up trim joints and cracks corners. Caulking and patching properly before painting is what stops those reappearing by spring.

Lakeside decks, railings, boathouse trim and cedar all take stain better than paint. A peeling film on a lakefront deck is a miserable thing to own. Cleaned, brightened, dried properly, then stained at an opacity matched to how weathered the wood already is.