The Columbia neighborhood is Bellingham at its most classic: tree-lined blocks north of downtown, craftsman bungalows and foursquares from the early 1900s, and Elizabeth Park, the city's oldest, anchoring it all. The roofs here are part of the architecture, steep, visible from the street, and often broken up by dormers, brick chimneys, and porch roofs. Re-roofing a Columbia home well means respecting that geometry while quietly bringing a century-old assembly up to modern water-management standards.
Old Roofs, Old Details, Familiar Failures
Under the current shingles of a typical Columbia house you will often find skip sheathing from the original cedar shingle roof, sometimes with old layers never torn off. Those decks need evaluation board by board, and frequently need an overlay of new sheathing before modern shingles can be nailed properly. The neighborhood's mature maples and chestnuts, glorious in October, load gutters and shade slopes the rest of the year, so moss and clogged drainage do steady damage. And nearly every home has at least one original brick chimney whose flashing was last done right during a different generation, which is why chimneys are the single most common leak source we trace in this part of town.