Homeowners today have numerous options for how they side their homes. While the majority often opt for some form of horizontal or Dutch lap siding, others are looking for a different appearance for their home’s façade.
If you have a more rustic home, or a home in a more rural setting such as a chateau, lodge, or Tudor style home, you may want to forgo the lap siding and invest in shakes for your siding instead. Staggered cedar shake siding has a distinctively rustic appearance that fits in well with natural settings, giving your home the look and interest you’re after.
Traditional Staggered Cedar Shake Siding
Cedar shake siding came about because people needed a fast and fairly inexpensive way to side their homes. Using long, milled boards in a lap style may have been the goal of many, but for some this was a look out of reach. In rural areas, long boards may have been difficult to procure or to deliver to the site of the home or building. So homeowners needed to use whatever they had on hand.
Cedar shakes could be hand split from whatever wood or planks were available. By installing them with a staggered width and edge, it meant that the person doing the work didn’t need to concern themselves with finding pieces of wood that were all the same size. This sped up the installation process and kept costs down at the same time.
The resulting siding has a lot of character, as well as a lot of texture and a distinctive look that has endured for generations. And while newer, more accessible milling techniques have meant that it’s now easier and faster to have lap siding than it is to hand split a lot of wood planks, the look of staggered cedar shake siding is still something that appeals to many homeowners.
The Problem with Actual Cedar Shakes
The look of cedar shakes is something that many homeowners want for their homes. Unfortunately, it has some drawbacks that means that it’s not as practical or as popular as it may be under different circumstances.
While the look has endured, cedar shakes themselves often do not. The shakes often rot or disintegrate around the bottom few rows, meaning that replacement is required every few years. To help prevent this the shakes need to be either stained or painted on a regular basis to protect them from moisture. Unfortunately, paint and stain both have a tendency to peel or chip off of wood, particularly the textured shingles that are the most popular. So the maintenance for a cedar shingle home is often high.
The look of staggered cedar shingles can also be difficult and expensive to achieve – ironic given the way that the look and material started out. This is because each shake has to be cut and installed separately, which makes the process time consuming as well as costly.
A Better Alternative
It’s not the cost, difficult installation, or the ongoing maintenance that makes staggered cedar shake shingles so popular; it’s the look, appearance, and suggestion of a different era that appeals to so many. That’s why many homeowners that want the look, but without the expensive installation or the ongoing maintenance turn to fiber cement staggered cedar look shingles instead.
Cedar look shingles have the same texture, shape, and appearance as real wood shingles. Available in 28 different solid colors and stains, you can get the look that you want without the maintenance as well.
Cedar look staggered shake siding is available in boards 48-inches long and 16-inches high. The boards install similarly to lap siding, with an overlap of 9-inches, giving you a 7-inch reveal in a staggered siding of varying sizes, just like the real thing. Because you’re installing the shakes 48-inches in a go, however, the installation is much less time consuming and expensive, putting the look in the reach of more homeowners than ever before.
And for those that truly want the look of actual shakes, rather than shingles, you can also get individual fiber cement shakes as well. Available in a range of different sizes, you can install them singularly to get the look and authenticity that you’re after for your home, without any of the maintenance or worry.
Get the Staggered Cedar Shake Look
Staggered cedar shake siding has a long history and a well-rooted popularity across the country. If you have a home or setting that lends itself to this look, consider investing in fiber cement cedar look shingles, instead of wood to get the best of both worlds.
