Specialty Roofing • Bucks County, PA
Cedar Shake Roofing & Repair
Cedar gives a home warmth nothing else matches. It also needs the right underlayment and the right hands.
- Hand-split and taper-sawn cedar options
- Breathable underlayment so the shakes dry out
- Repair of split, curled and missing shakes
- Treatment and maintenance guidance
New Hope • Solebury • Buckingham • Upper Makefield • Washington Crossing • Doylestown • Newtown
What this work looks like
Cedar is wood, so it lives and dies by whether it can dry out. A cedar roof built without air underneath fails early no matter how good the wood was.
What this material does well
- A look nothing else copies
- Naturally resists insects when it stays dry
- Individual shakes can be replaced
- Handles freeze and thaw well when installed right
Where it actually fails
- No breathing space underneath, so the wood stays wet and rots
- Shade and moss holding moisture on the surface
- Splitting and curling as the wood ages
- Flashing and valley metal failing before the wood does
- Debris packed in the gaps between shakes
How the roof gets checked
1. Check whether it can dry
The roofer looks at how the roof was built underneath. Breathable underlayment or a batten space is the difference between a long life and a short one.
2. Look for moss and shade
The north side and anywhere under trees goes first. That is normal and it tells you where the roof will need attention.
3. Test the wood
Split, curled and soft shakes get counted. Soft means rot, and rot means replacement, not treatment.
4. Check the metal
Valleys and flashing on a cedar roof often need work while the wood is still fine.
What changes the price
We do not post prices, because a roof nobody has looked at cannot be priced. These are the things that make the job bigger or smaller.
- • How many shakes need replacing and where
- • Grade of cedar: hand-split or taper-sawn
- • Whether the underlayment has to be redone for air flow
- • Tree trimming or moss removal needed first
- • Roof pitch, height and access
Questions homeowners ask
- How long does a cedar roof last?
- It depends almost entirely on how it was installed and how much sun and air it gets. A shaded roof with no air underneath fails much sooner than the same wood on an open, sunny roof.
- Should I have it treated?
- Treatments can help wood that is still sound. They do nothing for wood that is already rotted, and no treatment fixes an airflow problem.
- Can moss be pressure washed off?
- Pressure washing cedar usually does damage. It tears up the wood surface and drives water under the shakes.
- Can I replace just part of it?
- Yes, individual shakes get replaced regularly. New cedar next to old cedar will not match in color until it weathers.
Straight talk: Cedar needs upkeep. Anyone who tells you a cedar roof is install-and-forget is selling, not explaining.