Shake or shingle?
They're not the same product. Shakes are split, so they have a rough, irregular face and a heavy shadow line — that deep textured look people picture when they say cedar. Cedar shingles are sawn on both faces: thinner, flatter, more uniform, and a tidier fit on a Victorian or a heritage building where the original roof would have been sawn rather than split.
How they're laid, and why it matters
Beyond looks, the practical difference is thickness and how they're laid. Shakes need an interlayment — a strip of felt woven between the courses — because their irregular backs leave channels that water can track along. Shingles lay tighter and don't. Getting that detail wrong is one of the more common ways a cedar roof fails early on a house where someone treated the two as interchangeable.
Cedar has to breathe
This is the thing that decides whether a cedar roof gives you decades or a decade. Cedar is a natural material that absorbs moisture and dries out again, over and over. If it can't dry from both faces it stays damp underneath, and damp cedar rots from the back where you can't see it happening.
Ventilation under the courses, not just in the attic
So a cedar roof wants ventilation under the courses, not just in the attic. Depending on the roof that means battens or a purpose-made breathable mat creating an air gap between the deck and the cedar. Laying cedar flat onto solid sheathing and a non-breathable underlayment is quicker, cheaper, and the reason plenty of cedar roofs in this county failed years before they should have. We build the gap in.
Overhanging trees and north faces
Cedar's other enemy is shade and debris. A north-facing slope under mature maples stays damp, collects leaves in the valleys and grows moss, and it will age visibly faster than the south face of the same roof. That's very common on the older properties around Erin, Hillsburgh and the Elora area, where the house is usually older than the trees are tall.
What we do about it
It doesn't rule cedar out. It does mean trimming back what you can, keeping the valleys and eavestrough clear, and expecting to give the shaded elevation more attention over the roof's life. We'll flag it at the quote rather than after.
Fixings, flashing and the details
Cedar is acidic and it will chew through the wrong metal. Fasteners and flashing have to be stainless or an appropriate non-corroding metal — plain galvanised nails will stain the roof with rust streaks and eventually let go. Hips and ridges are capped by hand, and valleys want a generous open metal valley rather than a woven one, so debris washes through instead of sitting in the joint.
None of this is exotic. It's just detail work that takes time, and it's the first thing dropped by anyone pricing a cedar roof to win on number alone.
Repair, or replace?
Cedar can often be repaired in sections, which is one of its advantages — individual shakes can be pulled and replaced without disturbing the courses around them. If you've got a handful of split or missing shakes and the rest of the roof is sound and dry underneath, that's a repair. If the shakes have gone thin and curled across a whole elevation, or the sheathing underneath is soft, patching is throwing money at it. We'll get up there and tell you which one you've got.
Booking cedar work
Cedar takes longer than asphalt and the crew doing it needs to know the material, so it books further out — particularly through the summer. Call early if you're planning for this season. Quotes are free and written, given after we've been on the roof: (519) 400-3840.
Common questions
What is the difference between cedar shakes and cedar shingles?
Shakes are split, so they have a rough, irregular face and a heavy shadow line — the deep textured look people picture when they say cedar. Cedar shingles are sawn on both faces: thinner, flatter, more uniform, and a tidier fit on a Victorian or heritage building where the original roof would have been sawn rather than split. Shakes also need an interlayment woven between the courses; shingles lay tighter and don't.
Why does a cedar roof need to be ventilated underneath?
Cedar absorbs moisture and dries out again, over and over. If it can't dry from both faces it stays damp underneath, and damp cedar rots from the back where you can't see it happening. Depending on the roof, that means battens or a purpose-made breathable mat creating an air gap between the deck and the cedar. Laying cedar flat onto solid sheathing and a non-breathable underlayment is the reason plenty of cedar roofs in this county failed years before they should have.
Can cedar be repaired in sections, or does the whole roof come off?
Cedar can often be repaired in sections, which is one of its advantages — individual shakes can be pulled and replaced without disturbing the courses around them. If the shakes have gone thin and curled across a whole elevation, or the sheathing underneath is soft, patching is throwing money at it. We'll get up there and tell you which one you've got.
Do overhanging trees rule out a cedar roof?
No, but they change how it ages. A north-facing slope under mature maples stays damp, collects leaves in the valleys and grows moss, and it will age visibly faster than the south face of the same roof. It means trimming back what you can, keeping the valleys and eavestrough clear, and giving the shaded elevation more attention over the roof's life. We'll flag it at the quote rather than after.
