South Bellingham roofs live under trees. From the slopes of South Hill down through Happy Valley and the streets around Fairhaven, mature firs and cedars shade a huge share of the housing stock — and in a city that gets nearly three feet of rain a year, a shaded roof is a moss farm. Add the marine air drifting in off Bellingham Bay and the older, steeper rooflines of the south side's early-1900s homes, and you have a part of town where roofing is a genuinely local craft.
Moss, Shade, and the South Side Roof
Moss is not just cosmetic. It lifts shingle edges, holds water against the roof surface, and shortens the life of a composition roof by years. On north-facing planes near the Sehome Arboretum greenbelt or under the big trees of Happy Valley, we see roofs that are green on one slope and clean on the other — a map of the shade, drawn in moss. When we replace a roof in these neighborhoods, we specify shingles with algae-resistant granules and install zinc or copper strips at the ridges, so the roof fights back chemically every time it rains.
The south side's older homes bring their own details: steep pitches, original skip sheathing under multiple roof layers, brick chimneys with flashing that predates modern standards, and dormers that concentrate water into short, busy valleys. We tear off to the deck, replace what a century of weather has compromised, and rebuild the flashing at every chimney, wall, and valley — because on an old roof, the flashing fails long before the field does.