CEDAR SHAKE SIDING

[Jimmy Joe]

Wow thanks for all the responses seems like reviews are very mixed as to stain or not and weather cedar is good or bad. We live in Wisconsin so both cold and warm weather we do have the woodpeckers not sure insects would be a problem mostly have trouble with wasps building nests on the eaves. There are only 2 walls getting the siding one faces West the other North I talked to a place 4 hours away that makes white cedar shakes in 1/2 inch he says that is best for no curling he sells a and b grade b grade has knots up to the size of a quarter the a grade has no knots he recommends mixing them when using as siding.

The price on the a grade if I remember right was something over $300 per square the b grade is $280 per square thinking I will need 3 to 4 square not sure with windows and such plus we may use some on a interior wall. I have never installed cedar shakes did watch some you tube videos on it and think I could do it only thing is I have 7 windows on those 2 walls so may be a challenge for me. My wife likes the new look when first put on and thinks we should seal them but also does like the silver color of the weathered ones. I don't like the thought of refinishing them in the future so would like to put them on unfinished if we do put them on. A little concerned moss may grow on the north side. We are putting on rain gutters and the roof has a 2 foot overhang which should help I would think the West wall would dry out and not be much of a problem.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

I put cedar shingles on my house and garage with disappointing results. Wrong location, wrong pitch, wrong installation.

But I did choose to use them again on this project.

View attachment 623680

Well Ventilated, on strapping, special nails hand installed (not air nailed) and they will see no traffic.

Always liked the looks of those buildings wish I had a shop that looked like that. The cedar shingles on the front are a great touch.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I got those on the drive shed, by converting VISA points into Home Hardware Dollars at Parr.



I had my house and garage done by Mennonites, that I thought would do the job right. They didn't strap them and leave an air space. BUT, how could you walk on them with an air space? You need to be able to walk on a roof? And, I think it's possible that the woodpeckers might have become interested if their was a void with insects. They have never touched my cedar roofs, but sure laid waste to board and baton if there was an air space behind with cluster flies.

Looking at that picture, I guess strapped that closely would allow you to walk on it, but it doesn't seem like there is much space for circulation.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Always use stainless nails, Cedar will degrade galvy nails. Penny wise dollar foolish

 

[Industrial Toys]

I love all things Stainless and imagine, maybe they could make a stainless nail for an air gun, easier than galvanized.

But, are you sure, you aren't confusing cedar with pressure treated?

 

[fruitcakesa]

Well, my pro carpenter friends have always said to use stainless on cedar, on PT I have been using "Primeguard" specialty coated screws.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I love all things Stainless and imagine, maybe they could make a stainless nail for an air gun, easier than galvanized.

But, are you sure, you aren't confusing cedar with pressure treated?

Stainless siding nails are code around here and commonly available in wire rolls. They're just really expensive.

 

[/pine]

Have done several projects where the architect specified bronze ring shank nails for cedar siding and shakes...

Also shake roofs last about 40-50 years if properly installed (without any stain etc...)

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Wow thanks for all the responses seems like reviews are very mixed as to stain or not and weather cedar is good or bad. We live in Wisconsin so both cold and warm weather we do have the woodpeckers not sure insects would be a problem mostly have trouble with wasps building nests on the eaves. There are only 2 walls getting the siding one faces West the other North I talked to a place 4 hours away that makes white cedar shakes in 1/2 inch he says that is best for no curling he sells a and b grade b grade has knots up to the size of a quarter the a grade has no knots he recommends mixing them when using as siding.

The price on the a grade if I remember right was something over $300 per square the b grade is $280 per square thinking I will need 3 to 4 square not sure with windows and such plus we may use some on a interior wall. I have never installed cedar shakes did watch some you tube videos on it and think I could do it only thing is I have 7 windows on those 2 walls so may be a challenge for me. My wife likes the new look when first put on and thinks we should seal them but also does like the silver color of the weathered ones. I don't like the thought of refinishing them in the future so would like to put them on unfinished if we do put them on. A little concerned moss may grow on the north side. We are putting on rain gutters and the roof has a 2 foot overhang which should help I would think the West wall would dry out and not be much of a problem.

I would go with the grade A if you're only talking a few squares and a few dollars per square.

I think that the bleaching oil I mentioned helps with moss.

Here's the key to doing a pro looking job: the rows on aligning walls have to line up. The traditional way is to weave the corners together, but it's a lot easier to put corner boards on instead. The other key is you want as much as possible for the rows to line up with the tops of doors and windows and the bottoms of windows. You don't want to have little 3" pieces of shingle above or below a window. For any other obstacle, say an outlet box, the best look is to put in a trim board behind it that lines up top and bottom with the shingle rows. The way that you get the shingle rows to line up is that you can vary the height of the rows by up to a half inch and if you do it gradually it isn't noticeable.

The way you do this is you make what's called a "story pole," which is a piece of 1x3 as long as the height of the wall. You go around the walls and hold the bottom of the story pole against the bottom of the sheathing, and you mark the height of everything on the wall on the pole. Then you figure out where the rows of shingles have to go, and then divide them up evenly. So let's say your windows are all 42" off the ground and 48" high. You're shooting for an exposure on the shingles of a third of the single, which on a 16" shingle is around 5-5/16". So for the 42" below the window you'd divide that into eight even rows of 5-1/4" and for the 48" height of the window you'd make nine rows of 5-5/16". If it was 24" from there to the top of the door you'd do five rows of 4-13/16". You'd mark all of those rows on the story pole. Go around the house again and make sure all of the rows line up with all the obstructions. Once you're happy with the story pole, put corner boards on, then use the story pole to mark the height of every row on the corner board.

To shingle a row, hold a shingle up against the corner board even with the mark, and nail it in place. Do the same at the other end. Hold a straight 1x3 even with the bottom of those two shingles and tack it in place. Place your shingles on that board. When you are happy with the spacing and alignment nail them in place. If the wall is too wide to use a single board, hold one end against the shingle and use the story pole to set the other end.

If you have two windows (or other obstruction) that are slightly off from each other you won't be line up the row with both. When this happens, line up with the lower one. At the top you'll just have a shorter row on the taller one, that's OK. At the bottom, rather than having a short row of cut shingles, rip a piece of cedar 3/8" thick to fit the space and nail it in horizontally.

There are lots of tricks to make it go faster but you're not looking at that much.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Always use stainless nails, Cedar will degrade galvy nails. Penny wise dollar foolish

I've pulled off shingles that were so old the nails were square. Not even galvanized. They were still holding the shingles on. As long as they are completely covered by the course above they shouldn't see weather. Face nailed is a completely different story. If the nail is exposed, galvanized will bleed and stain the wood, and rust in a few years. For face nailing I always use stainless.