Bruce wrote:Allstate wanted
a 30% additional premium for it. Others wouldn't even insure it at all.

And Chris wrote:I'm not surprised.

Asphalt over cedar shingles is like carpeting over gravel. It'll look okay
for a little while, and then it'll look awful. If you ever walked on it,
you'd puncture it.

Not to mention making the cedar even drier.

Sounds like California, where they often use the cedar shingles as the
only roof sheathing. You can see through these roofs from the bottom.
--
Chris Lewis
I think the poster's intent regarding
the insurance prob may have been "fire concern" related. I've torn off a lot of
"asphalt over cedar" roofs, as not too long ago, cedar was relatively
inexpensive.The puncture problem will most likely depend on whether the
original roof is shakes (very rough)or machine-cut shingles(quite smooth). The
cedar was/is applied to scabboards of varying widths, roughly 10 inches on
center for handsplit shakes, and 5 inches for machine cut cedar shingles,
depending on the pitch. They allowed for excellent ventilation, and when done
correctly, the roof would last about twice that (or more) of today's
composition shingles. I miss cedar roofs! Tom
Someday, it'll all be over....