Buncombe County
Trim Carpentry in Montreat, NC
Montreat sits in a narrow mountain cove just east of Black Mountain, hemmed in by peaks on three sides with essentially one road in and out — about as enclosed a setting as anywhere I work in this region.
The town grew up around a Presbyterian conference center founded in 1897, and a lot of its cottages and college buildings date to that early era, which means trim and siding work here is usually about matching a century-old profile, not installing new-construction material.
The cove setting adds its own wrinkle — steep, shaded lots hold moisture longer than an open hillside does, and the elevation brings the same freeze-thaw cycling as the rest of the high country around Black Mountain.
Around town
Montreat Conference Center
A stone-and-timber campus in an enclosed mountain cove.
Its cottages set the local idiom — and the cove stays shaded and damp, which is hard on exterior wood.
Montreat College
A small college on the same cove floor.
Century-old cottage stock nearby, most of it still on original trim profiles.
What this ground asks for
FAQ
Local questions
- Do Montreat's older cottages need special trim or siding work?
- A lot of them, yes. Many date to the early 20th century, built up around the conference center and the college, so matching their trim usually means working from a profile that predates a standard lumberyard stock.
- Does the cove setting affect how exterior wood holds up?
- It can. Steep, shaded lots in a cove like Montreat's hold moisture longer than an open hillside, on top of the same freeze-thaw cycling the rest of the high country around Black Mountain sees.