Medium Or Heavy Shake

[Bill Smith]

My home is in California and when it rains, it rains heavily. I'm planning on getting a new roof with Cedar Shake (Class B Fire Rated) and I'm wondering whether to get Medium or Heavy Shakes. Is there a difference between them other than the weight? Also last year my house was tented for termites. Is there a treatment for the roof to protect it against termites? National Courtesy Council

[Rich256]

I put on a Gerard metal roof to replace my heavy shake. I live in a heavy hail area and got a 27% reduction in my homeowners insurace too. If you are in a fire area you probably would get a similar reduction. I decided to go with the tile.

[twfsa]

What was the cost difference of steel v/s Asphalt? Were the roof rafters strong enough to suport the weight of the steel shingles?

Thanks

Tom

[Rich256]

I think closer to the cost of shake. My insurance company paid for mine. Hail took out a heavy shake roof..

The Gerard roof is relatively light weight and can be applied directly over asphalt. It is certinally ligher than wet shake. The company says they are lighter than asphalt:

To test it I took a very large rock and threw it at a panel as hard as I could. I could only detect a little "ding" looking at the back side of the panel. Only problem is that a little care must be used when walking on it (the tile version anyway). You have to walk on the supported section of each panel. They have something (foam?) that they can put under panels where you might do a lot of walking.

After six years my roof still looks like new.

[Bill Smith]

Thank you for your suggestions. I'm sure that there are alternative roofing materials that are good, but I wonder if someone has an answer to my question. National Courtesy Council

[Duane Bozarth]

Which was????

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