My wife talked me into moving a “free” gazebo onto our property, I had to remove the old cedar roof to dismantle the thing and must now buy new cedar shingles. My supplier says to use “perfection” shingles at $400/sq, but I can buy a square of R&R side wall shingles from Homies for $170. Can I use sidewall shingles on the roof? Are prefection shingles treated or in some other way special for only roofing?
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Replies
Sure you CAN. You can use newspapers too, they just won't last very long. Sidewall shakes are made for sidewalls and won't stand up to the kind of exposure they get on a roof. Roof shakes are split, at least on one face and the split face stands up to water much better than a sawn or milled face--which is what sidewall shakes have.
The roofs I've done with perfections are still going strong 25-30 years after installation.
They're both basically the same, but the R&Rs have been trimmed so the sides are parallel, and the bottom edge is square to the sides.
The perfections aren't quite so perfect. The sides aren't necessarily parallel, and will require a lot more fitting to make them work. But they'll work fine for a roof if you don't mind the extra labor.
Whichever you use, remember to gap them so when they get wet and expand, they won't buckle. And they should be installed over skip sheathing, or CedarBreather, so they can dry out from the hidden side as well as the exposed one.
I've done several cedar roofs. When you get some practise, all you need is a sharp carpenter's hatchet and a chalk line. But don't be afraid to use a block plane, or even a cordless saw, as well.
When marketed as sidewall shingles, the butts might be thinner and they may have some knots or bad grain in the upper half of each, so they repel water less well. But for a simple gazeebo, they should be OK.
Shep, Perfetions are the best choice. They are the more expensive ones he is looking at.
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Around here, R&R cedar are more expensive than perfections.
perfections on this one
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!