wrote:

I am building an 8 x 20 porch onto my house which has a
4 in 12 slope roof...Is this a good idea, or should I go to asphalt or metal?

I think it is a good idea. I just spent a lot of time researching
cedar for replacing plastic siding someone put up on the Mansard roof
section of my house before I bought it. I decided on a shake, not a
shingle. Specifically 18" Western Red Cedar Tapersawn shakes. A
Tapersawn shake is like a shingle in that the faces and sides are
sawn, not split. But it is thicker than a shingle with the butt being
5/8ths.

This is from a website selling shakes and shingles:

RECOMMENDED USE - for walls and roofs with 4:12 pitch or steeper where
a high quality and durable product with uniform appearance is desired.
The standard recommended exposure for 18" Tapersawn shake roof
applications is 7-1/2" (190mm).

Note that shakes and shingles are applied differently as far as
underlayment is concerned. If you do use shingles and ice/water
shield, you will want to include a "cedar breather" product also. I've
seen ice/water shield recommended for shingles (along with the
breather) but I'm not sure it is recommended for the thicker shakes.
All the installation methods for shakes show 36" of number 30 felt at
the eves (along with a double starter course of shakes) and 18" widths
of # 30 felt interleaved between shake courses.

A must visit website for you http://www.cedarbureau.org/ Download the
roofing manual.

Right now I'm shopping for the best price and trying to decide if I
should stain the shakes or leave them natural so they weather to the
silver/grey color. As near as I can tell neither is recommended. It's
like a 50/50 split, some homeowners stain for added protection, some
trust the natural weather resistance of red cedar and leave them
natural. I'd like any opinions of readers on this!




Michael Nickolas
www.studionineproductions.com