Cordata is one of Bellingham's youngest neighborhoods, master-planned in the 1990s and built out through the 2000s around Cordata Parkway and Whatcom Community College. That timeline matters if you own a home here, because the original builder-grade composition roofs installed during that wave are now 20 to 30 years old, which is exactly the age when three-tab and early architectural shingles in the Pacific Northwest begin shedding granules, cupping, and leaking at the penetrations.
The Cordata Roof Life Cycle
Roofs in north Bellingham age in a specific way. The neighborhood's greenbelts and fir stands drop needles into valleys and gutters, holding moisture against the shingles long after the rain stops. North-facing slopes rarely dry out between October and April, so moss takes hold early and pries up shingle edges as it thickens. Add the wind that funnels across the open ground near the Guide Meridian, and a roof that looks fine from the driveway can already be letting water past lifted tabs on the weather side.
We inspect from the roof itself, not the curb. On a free on-site estimate we check the flashing at chimneys and skylights, the condition of the underlayment at the eaves, and the ventilation in the attic, because a poorly vented attic in our wet climate can rot sheathing from the inside even under sound shingles.