Hello all !

We just bought a house in Nova Scotia - very humid region. The outside
is made of wood cedar shakes. Since we don't know much about wood, we
asked for more info before buying and got the following answer from the
previous owner "We opted for the New England saltbox style of naturally
weathered cedar shakes. These will last 50-60 years (oftentimes more!)
without preservation. They will not rot; they will wear out after this
time".

Looking around the web, I found many web sited talking about 3-5 years
maintenance for cedar shakes, articles talking about some oil
protection. I want to take good care of my new house... anyone has
comments on proper care of cedar shakes?

Below is a link to a photo of the house. The shakes were said to have
been installed about 5 years ago, when they built a 2-stories addition
to the house.

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8...rshakes5ua.jpg

It looks great at this moment, but of course has started to blacken
(but we like the greyish look We also had to fix a few smaller
shakes, mainly around the doors/windows. Some appear to have a tendency
to "curve" at the edge... which really makes me wonder if a protection
would be required !

Many thanks for your thoughts !

Geicko

Hi,

I've spent the summer putting new cedar shakes on my Mansard style
roof here in New England. Check out this link, it was very helpful for
me. There is a cedar care and maintenance brochure you can download
there.

http://www.cedarbureau.org/

There are many ways to take care of cedar, it eventaly goes near black
in color. You can try to clean it and keep it natural but once its black
a solid color stain is it. I just sprayed mine in solid oil stain.
Easiest may be pick a color and go soild color, or be prepared for alot
of work every few years. You can seal it and latex solid stain should
get you 15 yrs, oil one coat solid color coat oil apx 7. Transparent oil
apx 3-5 yrs. You have many options, but it will last longer stained as
the oils will wash out.