Cedar shingles are a cost effective roofing choice as their durability is so great in comparison to other roofing products. While steel roofing is a wise choice in its own right, the colour tends to fade as the steel ages. Additionally, due to expansion and contraction as a result of temperature changes, steel can fail at the screws, and other stress risers, due to metal fatigue. Asphalt shingles do not even come close to the durability of cedar shingles. I have rarely seen an asphalt shingle roof even approach the life of its warranty. A properly installed cedar shingle roof can last from 60 to 80 years.

Cedar shingles have been used for centuries. I have seen some indication that they have been used since the 1600's. I have seen patent registrations in the United States Patent Database for shingle equipment patents as early as 1800.

The most recent patent date on my first shingle mill is 1883. It was manufactured by the Hamilton Machine Company in Peterborough, Ontario. I would suspect, looking at the frequency of the patents on that machine, it was manufactured close to that date.

Within the last 60 to 70 years, asphalt shingles came onto the market. I can understand the success of this product. Being that the upfront cost of the asphalt shingles is inexpensive and install time was greatly reduced in comparison to cedar shingles. Unfortunately, the inexpensive upfront cost of asphalt comes at the price of durability of the product and potentially the integrity of the structure when they fail.

Steel roofing products have been available for a great many years in various profiles including; panels, standing seam, and sheets. Within recent years, the finishes of these products seems to have improved. To the credit of the manufacturers, they have invested in material handling equipment that allows customers to order materials cut to length, thereby reducing the labour required during installation.

Cedar shingles are still used for their traditional purposes of roofing and siding. Their use is not as common due to products that require less labour and are ultimately less expensive upfront. The loss of installation knowledge over the last several decades has also contributed to a shorter life expectancy and therefore contributed to an erroneous poor reputation for the product.

Cedar shingles are still used for their traditional purposes of roofing and siding. Their use is not as common as in the past due to products that require less labour to install and are ultimately less expensive upfront. The loss of installation knowledge over the last several decades has also contributed to a shorter life expectancy of cedar shingles and therefore contributed to an erroneously poor reputation for the product.

I have seen several old buildings with cedar shingles that have functioned without leaks for 8 decades. My father has a barn that has performed that well. My father's barn roof is definitely in need of replacement now. Who has a right to complain after so many years of service?

In marketing my shingles, I have found several arguments against them. A search of the Internet will find some awful experiences some people have had: Roofs failing after 20 years; shingles cupping and curling; shingles rotting prematurely; shingles cracking and breaking prematurely; I have found accusations on the Internet where it is the fault of the second growth cedar. Direct experience in marketing the shingles has yielded some of the same stories.

I look at that barn roof and see the length of time it had lasted and question why the shingles aren't working the way they should. Why are there stories such as these? As cedar trees go, they quite probably haven't changed much in the last 10,000 odd years, much less in the last hundred. The fungi that breakdown the wood have changed far less than the wood itself. What has changed?

Only the installation practices have changed in the last 30 or 40 years. It is the current practice to nail the shingles directly to the deck with inter-woven tar paper in successive courses. It is my opinion that this practice is deficient.

When rain falls on asphalt or steel roofing, the water immediately runs off. The reason for this is that the saturation point of asphalt and steel is so low, or non-existent. With cedar shingles, the material is natural and therefore has different properties. When rain falls on a cedar shingle, the wood absorbs enough water to reach its saturation point before running off.

At first hand this, characteristic of cedar shingles, may raise an eyebrow and the question; ‘Is this a good thing?'. However, due to this absorption, small defects and holes, particularly around the nails swell shut as the wood expands. This characteristic is the same as in wooden barrels and to a lesser degree in wooden boats. This property of expansion in relation to water saturation must be accounted for in the installation of the shingle as well. Each shingle must be gapped from its neighbour by roughly 3/16".

While the expansion due to water of the wood is a good thing in the roofing when it is raining, maintaining the high moisture content of the wood on a long term is not. Care must be taken during installation to allow this moisture to escape from the cedar shingles to prevent fungus growth.