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Natural split cedar
Cedar Shake Roofing in Nashville
Split wood, with a depth and shadow line no composite reproduces. On the right house it is the roof the architecture was drawn for — and it is the one material here that asks something of you in return.
- Material
- Natural split cedar, taper-sawn or hand-split
- Service life
- 30–40 years, maintained
- Insulation
- Roughly twice the R-value of asphalt shingle
- Asks of you
- Cleaning and inspection; treatment on a cycle
Choose cedar shake roofing when
- The roof is visible architecture — a steep pitch, a prominent gable, a house designed around it.
- You are restoring or matching a period house where a shingle would read as wrong immediately.
- You want the insulation. Cedar genuinely outperforms asphalt on the attic side.
When it is the wrong answer
- You want a roof you never think about. Cedar is a maintained material, and pretending otherwise is how people end up disappointed at year twelve.
- The roof sits under heavy tree cover with poor airflow. Shade plus moisture is what shortens cedar, not sun.
- You want the look without the upkeep — that is exactly what Brava synthetic shake is for, and we install that too.
How the job runs
Installing cedar shake roofing, step by step.
- 01
We look at the airflow before the wood
Cedar fails from underneath, from trapped moisture, far more often than it fails from above. Ventilation and a breathable underlayment get decided before anything is ordered.
- 02
Coursed by hand
Split shake is not uniform, and that is the point. Course spacing and keyway alignment are laid out on the roof rather than assumed from a bundle count.
- 03
You leave with a maintenance interval
Not a brochure — an actual interval for cleaning and inspection, in writing, because the service life above assumes it.
Questions
What people ask us first.
- How much maintenance are we really talking about?
- Keeping it clear of debris and moss, and an inspection on a regular cycle. It is closer to gutter cleaning than to painting a house — but it is not zero, and any roofer who tells you it is has not maintained one.
- Is cedar a fire risk?
- Untreated cedar is combustible. Pressure-treated fire-retardant shake carries a Class A or B rating depending on the assembly, and we will tell you which one your build needs before you choose the material.
- Can I get the cedar look without the maintenance?
- Yes — Brava synthetic shake is molded from real shake and carries a Class 4 impact rating with none of the upkeep. We are an authorized Brava representative, so this is a real recommendation rather than a redirect.
Talk to us about cedar shake roofing.
A leak, a missing shingle, a roof that has simply reached the end of its life — describe it and we will come look. If it is urgent, calling is faster.
(615) 418-6087 · 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Other systems we install
Request an inspection
Tell us what the roof is doing. If it is urgent, calling is faster.