Cedar Shingles And Cedar Shakes
Wooden shingles, as well as the thatch roofing do not belong to the most popular roofing products, anyway these materials are still used in regions where this type of roofing has tradition and my opinion is that wood is still just about to reach itīs popularity as the natural roofing material of the future (to have the balance with more and more popular
plastic roofing materials).
The
wood shingle roof consists of overlapping small surface plain wooden parts. The water is drained down/away off the roof as the wood shingles are being installed under certain slope. If there was just the hydrostatic pressure (no pitch), the wood shingles would let the water through (wooden shingles are not suitable for low slope or
flat roofs as they would very probably sink).
The wood shingles are made usually from the wood of soft coniferous trees (cedar, spruce or fir). Cedar wood - because of its properties and features is one of the most popular natural materials for shingles and shakes.
The usual width of the cedar shingles ranges from 8 to 20 cm. The shingle thickness, as well, ranges from piece to piece and also the thickness of one piece is not the same on its upper and lower part (usually the upper part is thicker, 1 cm in the upper part compared to 0,5 cm in the low part).
The cedar shingle can be manufactured by cutting or slating the cedar wood. As the cedar wood is quite inconsistent material (each wood is very specific) the cut shingles only can be made of very quality wood. As the natural structure of the cedar wood is spoiled in this case it is necessary to treat these shingles with chemical impregnation.
The slated shingles (commonly called the cedar roofing shakes) are manufactured by slating the wood piece. The cedar shakes dimensions are not stable but the surface of cedar shake is plain and much more resistant against weather tha the surface of the cedar shingle.
In both cases the minimum cedar shingle/shake roof slope has to be 20 degrees and more, cedar roof with lower pitch will sooner or later leak.
