Routine and timely cedar shake roof maintenance, including inspection, cleaning, treatments, and repair, will protect your investment for 30 years or more. Neglecting the roof will significantly decrease its longevity and aesthetic value. Due to the dangers of working on a roof and the complexity of cedar roof maintenance, you should hire a professional roof contractor.
The Cost of Cedar Shake Roof Maintenance
The cost of cedar shake roof maintenance varies depending on the location, roof style, extent of damage, and the shake's quality. Typically a contractor will charge $750 to repair a wood shake roof, and between $0.21 and $0.34 per square foot to clean a cedar shake roof. It may seem expensive, but replacing a cedar shake roof can cost $600 to $670 per square or between $18,000 and $20,000 for a 3,000-square foot shake roof. Here are nine things you need to know about shake roof maintenance:
1. Protective Treatments
Cedar shingle maintenance must include protective treatments every one to three years. Without treatments, cedar shakes can degrade, buckle, rot, and even burn. To protect and preserve your roof, every few years, professionally apply water and fire repellents, fungicides, and algaecides to the shingles.
2. Remove Overhanging Branches
Wood shingle roof maintenance requires you to remove all overhanging branches. Removing the hanging branches allows the roof to dry faster, reducing the chance of harmful mold. Removing branches also significantly decreases the likelihood of a tree falling on the roof and either damaging it or setting it on fire.
3. Removing Debris
You must remove all the leaves, pine needles, and sticks from your cedar wood roof as part of your regular shake roof maintenance. Debris retains moisture that breeds wood-destroying fungus that weakens the shingles, leading to expensive repairs and a shorter lifespan for your roof.
4. Power Washing
Proper wood shake roof maintenance must include a professorial power wash cleaning every few years. Power washing will remove moss, debris, lichens, and weaker wood. Power washing not only improves your roof's appearance but also helps to maintain the strength and integrity of the roof.
5. Gutter Maintenance
Gutters on a roof move water away from your house so that the moisture won't harm the roof or foundation. If you don't clean the gutters, water will build up and ultimately degrade your wood cedar roof. Your roof's integrity depends on cleaning your gutters as part of your regular cedar roof maintenance.
6. Cleaning and Inspection
A cedar roof can last 30 or more years with regular inspection and maintenance.. If you neglect regular maintenance, your roof will probably need replacement after 15 years. You should inspect your roof for damage, debris, and mold twice a year (Spring and Fall) and after a hailstorm, severe wind event, or snowstorm. To ensure longevity and restore your cedar roofing's warm color, a professional should clean the roof every five to seven years. Cleaning and inspecting your roof on time will protect your investment for years to come. Likewise, cedar shake siding maintenance is just as important.
7. Pest Control
Pests, like squirrels and rats, will invade your home through missing and broken cedar shingles. Once inside your attic or walls, these noisy pests can cause extensive damage. They can chew on wood (leading to expensive repairs), electric wires (causing potential fire hazards), and eave troughs (resulting in water damage). They also carry disease and odor. Therefore, to limit problems to your home’s structure and protect your family’s health from pests, you must immediately hire a professional to repair or replace damaged or missing cedar shakes.
8. Rotting Shingles
Cedar shingles have natural water-resistant qualities. However, they may still develop wood rot if the wood's moisture level rises above 20 percent, when damaging fungi can form. Regular maintenance can protect against rotting shingles through treatments and regular inspections for fungus and algae. If you discover fungus on your roof, you must promptly hire a professional to repair or replace the affected area.
9. Cracks
It is vital to carefully inspect for cracks as a part of cedar shingle roof maintenance. Cracks can occur in a cedar roof because wood naturally expands and contracts from moisture exposure and temperature fluctuations which can lead to small cracks on the surface. If you begin to notice the cracks or splits growing, you need to call a professional to repair or replace the damaged shingle(s).
Choose Brava Roof Tile for a More Reliable Shake Roof
Brava's beautiful and natural-looking cedar shakes last decades with little need for repairs and maintenance.
Our 50-year warranty guarantees that our cedar shakes won't split, dent, or crack during wind events, hail, or snowstorms — protecting your home and roof from water and pest damage.
Brava cedar roof tiles also resist damage from mold because they do not absorb water. Brava roofing tiles maintain their integrity during extreme heat and freeze/thaw cycles.
Brava's synthetic-cedar shakes are a more reliable and lower maintenance alternative to a natural shake roof.
The tedious shake roof maintenance required to ensure your natural wood roof lasts 30 years can cost nearly $1000 every few years, plus repair expenses. Synthetic-cedar shakes resist denting, moisture heat, and will maintain their integrity during temperature swings, saving you time and money on maintenance and repairs. Brava's synthetic-cedar shakes provide a more reliable alternative to high-maintenance cedar shake roofing.
For more reasons why you should choose Brava's low-maintenance synthetic-cedar shakes instead of natural cedar, please contact the professionals at Brava Roof Tile.
