Cedar shake roof treatments?

Question

I was talking to a roofer about what to do with our ~25 year old cedar shake roof and one option he offered was a "restoration" consisting of pressure washing the existing shakes, replacing all damaged shakes and felt, and spray-on treatment with a derivative of guanidine phosphate, which is supposed to be UV protective, and decay and fire retardant. They offer a 12 year warranty on the treatment.

Are these chemical treatments effective for older roofs? The quoted price seemed potentially attractive compared to a new shake roof, but not exactly cheap ($6K for 2700 sq ft). Maybe most of the value of the "restoration" comes from the repair work?

-- Dave

Caesar Romano · Accepted Answer

On 11 Sep 2007 07:11:47 GMT,      wrote Re Cedar shakeroof treatments?:A neighbor down the road had something like this done several yearsago. I don't know if it's the same treatment as you are considering.The neighbor said the treatment lasted about two years. When he triedto contact the roofer, the roofer had gone out of business.I would replace the shake with something else.

tom · Answer

Is the roof leaking? Tom

dpb · Answer

dhinds · Answer

Not as far as I can tell. But there's quite a bit of visible damage (split/decayed shakes, etc). I'm not really clear on how one tells when a shake roof is at the end of its useful life. When we bought the house a year ago, the roof inspection report indicated that the roof had 1-2 years left. Another inspector maybe 6 months ago said the same thing. We had minor repairs done at that time.

-- Dave

Cedar shake roof treatments?

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