Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 27, 1999 09:53pm | #1

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   I don't have much to offer in reply, but I'm also thinking of covering my house with Eastern White cedar shingles. I don't like the uneven weathered look, and would like to keep that fresh new white cedar look as long as possible, but I don't think it can be done. I was thinking of dipping every shingle before application, time consuming but then again it's my house so it's free! Anyhow, after all the time it's going to take to put them on, I want them to last a lifetime and keep looking good, so I second the question: anyone with good ideas out there?

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 27, 1999 10:45pm | #2

   *Leave them bare, let them weather, and in a few years you should be pleased with the natural gray. White cedar is very durable, I don't believe it needs any coating or oil to keep it durable, and its weathered color has been a New England standard for a couple hundred years or more. Shades will vary, depending on whether the surface gets sun or shade, gets wet or stays dry, but to some of us, this is just what we're after.

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   Guest_ | Nov 28, 1999 01:18am | #3

   *Damn, I already said most of this.......Anyhow, the WC shingle look is from Cape Cod, with a peculiar weather system, long dry summers, Cape Cod style house with almost no overhangs, a latitude such that the sun actually shines on all four sides of the house.When you apply a WC to a different style in a different climate you get the splotchy look most of us are familiar with. Same thing happens to WRC.If you want a certain look, you have to get it artificially, unless you duplicate the conditions of para.1.one: Use a factory dipped shingle, like MAIBEC, but get EXTRA grade, because the CLEAR grade will curl and move a lot more than the EXTRA. That dull grey, salt washed look is best acheived with a 50/50 mix of Cabot's wetahering stain and Silver Grey. But it won't protect your shingles for more than 3 years or so.Good base though, so on the next repaint, switch over to 100% acrylic, solid color stain, and get ready to recoat every 5 years or so. Your shingles will last forver.Trim gets oil primer and 100% acrylic.If you do NOTHING to the shingles, they will need replacing in about twenty years, which will fly by faster than you think. On the protected areas, they'll be OK for thirty years, but in the areas subject to sun , wind, and rain, they will ERODE until they are paper thin. They will also split and curl. So much for a long life.I still like Cement clapboards by Hardie, or ABTco, with cement trim, vinyl soffits, and 100% acrylic finish.b sign me , been reshingling them since 1962.

2. 
   jeff_burstein | Jan 04, 2000 11:44pm | #4

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   We've just built a new home and clad it in Northern white cedar shingles. We're looking for inoframtion about whether to let it weather raw, or to treat it in some fashion. If we treat it, what should we treat it with?