Cedar wood shakes care

[geicko]

Hello all !

We just bought a house in Nova Scotia - very humid region. The outside is made of wood cedar shakes. Since we don't know much about wood, we asked for more info before buying and got the following answer from the previous owner "We opted for the New England saltbox style of naturally weathered cedar shakes. These will last 50-60 years (oftentimes more!) without preservation. They will not rot; they will wear out after this time".

Looking around the web, I found many web sited talking about 3-5 years maintenance for cedar shakes, articles talking about some oil protection. I want to take good care of my new house... anyone has comments on proper care of cedar shakes?

Below is a link to a photo of the house. The shakes were said to have been installed about 5 years ago, when they built a 2-stories addition to the house.

It looks great at this moment, but of course has started to blacken (but we like the greyish look :) We also had to fix a few smaller shakes, mainly around the doors/windows. Some appear to have a tendency to "curve" at the edge... which really makes me wonder if a protection would be required !

Many thanks for your thoughts !

Geicko

[Michael Nickolas]

Hi,

I've spent the summer putting new cedar shakes on my Mansard style roof here in New England. Check out this link, it was very helpful for me. There is a cedar care and maintenance brochure you can download there.

[m Ransley]

There are many ways to take care of cedar, it eventaly goes near black in color. You can try to clean it and keep it natural but once its black a solid color stain is it. I just sprayed mine in solid oil stain. Easiest may be pick a color and go soild color, or be prepared for alot of work every few years. You can seal it and latex solid stain should get you 15 yrs, oil one coat solid color coat oil apx 7. Transparent oil apx 3-5 yrs. You have many options, but it will last longer stained as the oils will wash out.