Felt underlayment/
While cedar is one of the most versatile and durable materials you can use to build your roof, no roofing job is complete without a proper underlayment for protection. Underlayment is placed right over the roof deck beneath everything else, including insulation.
Thorough caulking of all joints is recommended including butt joints and where siding contacts openings or trim. Use only non-hardening caulks such as polyurethane, polysulfide or latex-silicone. Pure silicon caulks do not work well on cedar and are not recommended.
Under the Cedar Shakes are furring strips. Furring strips are 4” wide boards that are spaced apart several inches, to hold up cedar shakes while allowing them to breathe. This does not work well with asphalt shingles because asphalt shingles are designed to go onto a solid wood surface.
Shakes should never have underlayment installed except where an ice barrier is required over solid sheathing. Instead, interlayment is required. Interlayment consists of an 18-inch-wide strip of 30-pound black felt installed between courses of shakes.
Wood shingles and shakes should be installed over solid or spaced plank sheathing.
Cedar shakes are split off while shingles are sawn smooth on both sides and cut tapered. Lastly, shakes are thicker than shingles. Durability – Generally speaking, cedar shakes are more durable and last longer than shingles because they are thicker and made from premium grade wood.
This first row of shingles should overhang the edge eaves and fascia by about 1 1/2” and about 1/2” over the edge of the roof to allow for proper drainage.
Roof decking (or roof sheathing) is the wooden boards that make up the foundation of your entire roof system. I like to say foundation because it's what your shingles and the rest of your roofing components are installed on. Roof decking is one of the most important pieces of your roof system.
Plywood is the most common type of wood used underneath the siding. Plywood is layers of wood cut on a large machine, pressed together under pressure and glued together to form a sheet of wood. Plywood is made from maple, pine, oak, cedar and poplar.
Housewrap, a common type of weather-resistive barrier (WRB), is installed between the cladding layer and the sheathing, while roofing underlayments go directly under shingles or other roofing material, forming a second line of defense against the elements.
Correct Nails for Cedar Shingles
The ideal nail types for cedar shingle roofing projects include corrosion-resistant varieties like stainless steel and hot-dipped galvanized. At Cedar Roof Coatings, we advise against the use of plain steel nails to keep the cedar roofing stain-free over time.
It's essentially the foundation of the roof. This is typically made with OSB or oriented strand board or plywood that's attached with nails onto the rafters. Since it's made of wood, it will require general roof repair if there's a leak or water intrusion coming from the shingles.
Are cedar shingles one sided, and if so, which side faces out? Cedar shingles have 2 (faces) sides and the best looking face is installed exposed to the weather. The face you like best is the one that should be installed exposed to the weather.
Cedar shingles should lap at least 18 cm (7 in.) over each side of valley flashing.
A vertical drip edge lip extends down roughly 1 5/8" and as Steve points out, should not be set tight against the fascia board or water may run behind the gutter and down the fascia, inviting leaks and rot.
Does Drip Edge Go Over or Under Felt? According to most building codes and manufacturer recommendations, the drip edge should be installed beneath the underlayment along the eaves of the roof. But over the underlayment along the rake edges of the roof.
Without a drip edge, water may end up beneath the shingles and may cause damage to various parts of the home. Though your home may not have originally had a drip edge installed, drip edges are now required by most building codes across North America to protect homes from damage.
As long as it's properly installed and with proper maintenance, you can expect to get 30 years of life out of your cedar shake roof. If you invest in quality materials and live in an area with the right conditions, you could possibly get up to 50 years out of it.
Cedar shingles and shake siding costs, on average, between $10.50 and $17.50 per sq. ft. installed. Quality of wood, size of boards, styling options and regional considerations all weigh in for why the range is what is noted.
Asphalt roof cost vs.
A cedar shake roof is a premium roof system, so it comes at a premium price. Because of its premium price, a cedar shake roof is going to cost more than a dimensional asphalt roof. You can actually expect to pay more than 3 to 4 times more for a cedar shake roof than the cost of an asphalt roof.
The basic idea is that the shingles should be installed with 1/4- to 3/8-in spacing between neighbors; this gap is called a “key.” We're doing a 5-in exposure, which means the bottom 5 in of the the shingle will be visible, while the top 13 in will be under higher courses.
So can you walk on a cedar shake roof? The short answer: yes.
The Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau prefers the use of nails, however if you choose to use staples they must be stainless steel Type 316 in locations within fifteen (15) miles of salt water. For locations outside of the salt water zone stainless steel Type 304 or Type 316 must be used.