Hand-split and sawn cedar shakes bring texture no flat siding can match. We’ll tell you honestly where real wood belongs on your home, and where an engineered or fibre-cement alternative gets you the same look without the upkeep. Installed by the same in-house Red Seal crews that build your roof.
A cedar shingle is machine-sawn on both faces for a clean, uniform look. A cedar shake is split, either by hand or by a resawing process that mimics a hand split, which leaves a rougher face and a deeper, more irregular shadow line. Both are genuine western red cedar, and both are graded from premium clear heartwood down through boards that carry knots and sapwood. The grade you buy determines how it weathers, and it is the single biggest factor people skip when pricing a shake job.
Real wood absorbs and releases moisture with every chinook swing. Shakes near grade, under downspouts, or on shaded north walls hold moisture longest and rot first.
A large hailstone can split or crack a shake face in a way it will not do to fibre-cement. On a big storm, real shakes are often the first material on the wall to show damage.
Untreated or unsealed shakes can attract wood-boring insects over time, and every few years the stain has to be renewed or the wood starts absorbing water it should be shedding.
Real cedar tells you when it is due, but you have to look closely, not just from the sidewalk. Check your shake walls once a season, especially after a hail storm or a hard winter, and look for these.
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Real cedar shakes cost more to buy and more to maintain than almost any other cladding, so the honest job is telling you where they earn their keep and where an engineered or fibre-cement alternative serves you better. Because our in-house Red Seal crews build both roofs and exteriors, we see how shake walls actually age in this climate, not just how they look installed. Backed by COR safety certification and $10M liability coverage.
From real hand-split cedar to an engineered look-alike, every option is installed and finished in-house by our certified team.
Genuine western red cedar in both formats. Hand-split shakes are riven for a rough, heavy-shadow face with real texture, while sawn shingles are machine-cut for a tighter, more uniform reveal. Grade matters more than most homeowners realize, and we’ll walk you through it before you buy.
This is where most Calgary homes actually use real cedar shakes: a gable end, a dormer, a feature wall by the entry. Concentrated on one elevation, the upkeep stays manageable and the character shows exactly where you want eyes to land.
If you want the staggered shadow-line look across a whole gable without owning a staining schedule, engineered composite shake panels and fibre-cement shingle panels replicate the profile in a product that does not rot, split or feed insects. We’ll tell you honestly when this beats real wood for your project.
Real cedar is a maintained finish, not a set-and-forget one. We restain and reseal existing shake accents on the cycle they actually need, and address end-grain, flashing and butt-end exposure before rot gets a foothold.
In most other climates, a full cedar-shake exterior is a reasonable choice. In Calgary, it usually is not the right default. The same freeze-thaw swings, hail frequency and dry-then-wet cycling that make our winters hard on roofs are hard on wood cladding too. That is why the large majority of shake work we do is deliberate: a gable end, a dormer, an entry feature, sitting on top of a lower-maintenance base like fibre-cement or vinyl rather than wrapping every wall.
A gable high off the ground sheds water and dries fast. A full wall at grade level, under a downspout or in constant shade, is a different exposure entirely, and it ages faster.
Real wood is combustible where fibre-cement is not. Treated fire-retardant shakes exist, but they add cost, and some municipalities and insurers weigh cladding material when covering larger wall areas.
Restaining is priced by area. Keep real cedar to an accent and the restaining cycle stays affordable. Cover the whole house in it and that same cycle becomes a real recurring cost.
None of this means real cedar is a bad choice, it means it is a deliberate one. If a client wants a full-wood exterior and is prepared to maintain it on schedule, we will build it right and tell you exactly what upkeep it needs.
Three ways to get the shake look on a Calgary home, each with a different tradeoff between authenticity, upkeep and cost of ownership. We will give you a straight recommendation for where the material is going, not a push to whatever is priciest.
Authentic character
Nothing matches the depth and texture of real hand-split or sawn cedar. It ages beautifully when maintained on schedule, but it is genuinely wood: it needs restaining every few years, it can rot or attract insects if neglected, and it is the reason most Calgary homes use it as an accent rather than covering every wall in it.
Low upkeep
Built to hold the staggered shadow-line profile of real shake without the staining schedule. It resists rot and insects and holds up to freeze-thaw better than solid wood, making it a reasonable way to run the shake look across a larger area than you would trust to real cedar alone.
Hail & fire tough
Non-combustible, holds paint far longer than wood, and takes a hail hit that would split a real shake. It pairs naturally with a fibre-cement field siding job (see our Hardie siding page), so gables and feature walls match the rest of the envelope in both look and maintenance.
Lifespans assume proper flashing, sealed house wrap and, for real cedar, staying current on the stain cycle. Skip any of those and every material on this list ages faster than the numbers above. Relative material cost compares these materials to each other, not a quote for your project. Your price depends on size, access and what we find underneath.
Whether it is a full elevation or one gable end, here is exactly what to expect.
We inspect existing shakes or the wall you want accented, checking flashing, sheathing and moisture exposure, and photograph what we find.
Real cedar grade, engineered composite or fibre-cement shingle panel, chosen against where the wall sits and how much upkeep you actually want.
A clear scope and price covering the accent area or full elevation.
We strip old material, inspect the sheathing behind it, and correct house wrap and flashing before anything new goes up.
In-house Red Seal crews install and stain or seal as needed, then walk every elevation with you.
Both are genuine western red cedar. Hand-split shakes are riven, either by hand or by a resawing process that copies a hand split, giving a rough face and a deep, irregular shadow line. Sawn shingles are machine-cut on both faces for a tighter, more uniform reveal. Which looks better is a matter of taste, but the split face reads as more rustic and the sawn face as more refined.
Expect roughly 20 to 30 years from real cedar shakes, provided you stay current on restaining and the flashing and sheathing behind them stay sound. Skip the stain cycle and that number drops fast, especially on walls exposed to moisture near grade or in constant shade.
Usually not in this climate. Most Calgary homes that use real cedar shakes place them on a gable, dormer or feature wall over a lower-maintenance base like fibre-cement. That keeps the restaining cost bounded and puts the wood where exposure is easiest to manage, while still giving you the texture where it shows.
Engineered and composite shake products are manufactured to hold the staggered shadow-line profile of real shake without being solid wood. They resist rot and insects and do not need a staining schedule, which makes them a practical way to run the shake look across a larger wall area than most homeowners would want to maintain in real cedar.
Typically every three to five years, depending on sun exposure, the stain system used and how the wall sheds water. South and west-facing walls generally need it sooner than shaded north walls. Skipping a cycle lets the wood start absorbing water it should be shedding, which is when rot and splitting begin.
Often, yes. Most Alberta home policies cover sudden hail and wind damage to siding, and real cedar shakes are genuinely more prone to hail splitting than fibre-cement. We inspect and document the damage in detail and can restore the roof and shake siding together as one coordinated project.
For most whole-elevation applications, yes. Fibre-cement shingle panels replicate the shake profile, do not burn, resist hail far better than real wood, and hold paint for decades without a staining cycle. Real cedar still wins on authentic texture in a small accent area, but fibre-cement is usually the better answer once you are covering a full gable or wall.
Tell us about the wall you have in mind. You’ll get a clear written quote.
Serving: Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks, Chestermere. Flexible financing available.