What are cedar shakes and shingles?
In the Pacific Northwest, old-growth cedar was hand split to create evenly patterned, vertical-grain shakes. Many of these roofs lasted 30 years or more, establishing cedar’s reputation as a fine-quality roofing product. Such roofs are still possible today but require extremely careful selection of material and high quality workmanship. One of the drawbacks of cedar, flammability, can be overcome with chemical treatment. Quality cedar can also be factory treated for wood rot. In order to get the maximum amount of use out of an untreated cedar shake roof, it is important to have the roof treated with a wood preservative (performed by a specialty contractor). Most cedar roofs can be cleaned and treated without pressure washing which can damage cedar roofing.
