The Shingle Bureau Puts Shake Myths To Rest

[hausdok]

Hi All,

Being in the Puget Sound area where cedar shake roofs and cedar shingled walls are as common as grains of sand on a beach, I'm continually frustrated with the misinformation I see disseminated to new inspectors, on the various online home inspection forums, and even here at TIJ.

I'm always amazed when an inspector who admits to seeing less than a dozen shake roofs a year, or who's never in his/her life shingled a wall, holds forth as an expert on this topic while basing his/her information on knowledge gained from one of the popular home inspection texts - most of which are written by folks who've hardly ever seen more than a few of these roofs themselves.

There are a lot of totally inaccurate ideas and myths being spread about this venerated roofing method amongst home inspectors, and I think it fair to say that there is no roofing material that is less understood than Cedar.

With that in mind, I thought it appropriate to direct everyone's attention to the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau's website for some "from the horse's mouth" information.

I've dealt with these guys for years and have always gotten excellent support from their technical staff. What I've found interesting is that all of their technical personnel are trained equally well, regardless of what region of the country they're in. I live in Washington State, not even 100 miles from their headquarters. Yet, when I call their tech support line I'm just as liable to reach a tech rep in Texas or New York than I am one from the Pacific Northwest. Regardless of where they are, these guys are always helful and have the right answers.

Check it out. When you do, you might gain a new appreciation for cedar roofs and wall shingle applications. If not, at least re-write some of the inaccurate boilerplate commentary you're writing your reports with.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike