Cedar Roofing Materials
The two general classifications of cedar roofing material include cedar shakes and cedar shingles. Cedar roofing materials are produced from western red cedar, predominately native to the great Pacific Northwest. Cedar roofing materials, known for their natural beauty, are proven to be extremely resilient to weathering.
Cedar Shakes
Cedar shakes are normally manufactured in both 18" and 24" lengths with a butt thickness of 3/8",1/2" or 3/4". Shakes can be "custom-cut" to provide greater butt thickness upon request. Generally speaking, the greater the thickness of a shake, the longer the roof will last. Cedar shakes have a hand split face that creates a distinguished rustic appearance. It is the hand split face that basically differentiates cedar shakes from cedar shingles.
Cedar Shingles
Cedar shingles are normally manufactured in 16", 18" and 24" lengths with .4", .45", and .5" thickness respectively. Contrary to the hand split face of cedar shakes, cedar shingles have a machine-cut face that provides for a uniform, smooth, more tailored appearance.
Cedar shakes and shingles may be pressure treated with chemicals to provide protection from fire or to protect from mildew and fungal decay. Fire retardant shakes and shingles by Chemco offer a patented fire retardant formula that binds to the innermost cells of the wood during a vacuum-impregnation process. The result is protection for your family that has been proven to permanently retard fire.
Cedar shakes and shingles can be commercially pressure treated to effectively provide secure, long-term protection against fungal decay and termite attack. Osmose CCA preservative fixes inside the wood cells and actually reduces surface weathering. In fact, cedar shakes and shingles pressure treated with Osmose CCA preservative provide permanent treatment for approximately the same cost as one topical treatment which is only effective for a few years.