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Cedar roof weathering is the process by which cedar roof shingles, shakes and ridge caps suffer surface degradation due to weather conditions, including sun exposure, wind, rain, snow, ice and other factors.
Cedar weathering is the process by which cedar roof shingles, shakes and ridge caps suffer surface degradation due to weather conditions, including sun exposure, wind, rain, snow, ice and other factors.
Weathering is a natural occurrence which affects all building components that are exposed to the elements, and cedar wood is a particularly affected material that exhibits different types of degradation.
Some of this degradation takes the shape of color change, splitting, curling, chipping and cupping, among others.
“The average shake or shingle will weather to gray color within 6-9 months. A certain amount of splitting and curling is normal for cedar shake and shingle products as they age.” (source: Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau)
Let’s take a look at some examples of weathering damage on cedar roofs.
Split due to hail impact or temperature: shingles and shakes tend to split along the direction of the grain when exposed to varying temperatures (very cold to very hot), dryness and hail impact (small to medium size ice cubes raining down on roof.)
Curled shingles due to dryness: shingles and shakes can curl along the horizontal direction (perpendicular to the slope direction) due to temperature changes or very dry conditions.
Chipping due to hail impact: shingles and shapes can have their surface chipped due to hail or falling natural elements (i.e. pine cones or fruits)
In all cases, cedar roof shingles and shakes should be inspected once a year and weathering damage usually is not a cause for alarm unless there are holes, missing pieces or extensive damage caused (after a storm for example.)
“Cedar shake roof systems are 3-ply systems with 2 layers of shakes and 1 layer of interlaid felt. Cedar shingle roofs are 3-ply systems with 3 layers of shingles.” (source: Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau) So cedar roofs are designed to withstand more or less normal “wear and tear” due to weather conditions.
Thank you for reading this article and we sincerely hope it was useful and informative.
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