Transform your coastal home with cedar shake shingle siding. Learn how to restore and maintain these classic and long-lasting wood shingles.
Traditional Cedar Shake Siding
Cedar siding is exterior cladding made from wooden shingles or shakes cut from cedar trees, unlike the popular yet low-maintenance vinyl cedar shakes. It is a popular choice for homeowners due to its natural beauty, durability, and ability to withstand various weather conditions. The look of cedar shake siding is both classic and long-lasting, so it is often seen on coastal homes.
One of the main advantages of cedar shake siding is its aesthetic appeal. The natural grain and texture of cedar wood give it a warm and inviting look that can enhance a home’s overall appearance. Cedar shakes also come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, allowing homeowners to choose the style that best suits their architectural preferences.
However, there are some considerations to consider when choosing real wood siding. Firstly, cedar shakes require regular maintenance, including cleaning, staining, and sealing, to prevent moisture penetration and maintain their appearance. They can be considered more of a high-maintenance option. Without proper care, common problems like the cedar shakes warping, splitting, or becoming discolored over time.
Consider vinyl shakes if you’re looking for a more low-maintenance alternative.
New England Aged Home Cedar Shake Siding
Which is what happened at our home here in Coastal Maine. Below is how the cedar shake siding looked when we inherited the house in the fall of 2019 after almost 30 years of harsh weather conditions and extreme weather. Looking back today, I can’t truly get over the transformation!
Read more about our Coastal Maine Family Heritage | Embracing My Roots here.
Weathered Cedar Shake Siding Repair
Our goal was to restore the rustic charm of the cedar shake siding back to its authentic look, more golden color with hints of the weathered gray, and remove all the mold and mildew that had gathered over the years on the home’s exterior.
How to Clean Cedar Shake Siding
We tried several solutions and settled on Redihan’s Cedar Wash Wood Cleaner, a natural product. It’s eco-safe and organic. Each house and shake shingle weathers differently; therefore, it is important to test out what works best on your own cedar shake siding.
This post may contain affiliate links, which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
One 3-pound Cedar Wash Wood Cleaner container covers about 1200 square feet at about $24 a container. We used about four containers for our two-story Cape.
Mix the powder with water in a large spray container per the directions on the bottle and spray it onto the house. Wait 15 – 20 minutes, and use a handled brush to scrub the cedar shingle siding gently, as you don’t want to crack or break the shakes.
Next, you’ll want to hose down the shakes, washing everything off. The gray, dirt, and mildew just poured off our house. It was not a complex process, and the outcome was so well worth the effort it took!
Here, you may see how we brushed down our cedar shake siding after spraying the home with the Cedar Wash Wood Cleaner.
And hosing down the cedar shake siding after spraying the siding to remove the dirt, mildew, and gray
Here is how the wood siding appeared just after cleaning the shakes. What a difference!
Unfortunately, the home’s bottom individual shingles were rotted and will need to be replaced.
Water Sealing & Staining Cedar Shake Siding
We were not finished just yet, though. Water sealing the siding was something we definitely wanted to do and highly recommend for finish products.
So, next, we applied the Super Deck’s Cedar Transparent Stain to the wood shake siding. It took about 13 gallons to cover the entire home. The stain was sprayed onto the house with a plastic spray container, and then we used a paintbrush to brush over it to ensure there was no running.
Our cedar shakes were very dry, so the cedar shake siding absorbed the solution very quickly. It will definitely vary depending on your own shake’s weathering. We also chose to apply only one coat. You may want to consider two coats.
Cedar Shake Siding Cleaned & Restored
The golden color now shines prominently and looks classic on this home’s curb appeal.
Check out our Beautiful Essex Green Coastal House Trim.
You may also enjoy the beginning of this Old Family Home Restoration.
The cedar shakes look different in all kinds of light. To get the real thing, I captured these photos for this post as best I could in the late afternoon on a fairly overcast August day.
Here, you may see how this cedar shake siding restoration looks two years later during the winter months for that perfect look in cedar shake siding.
You may also enjoy this year’s Coastal Grandma Decor: Summer in Maine.
Let’s now head to the back of the home to see the new siding there. You may see here how the cedar shakes don’t all look the same, but that is ok. It remains a rustic, weathered look, but now with a beautiful golden hew.
Sun Shade Sail
We also added this dark green and white striped Sun Shade Sail after pricing out numerous awnings to suppress the sun in the sunroom. Awnings are just so expensive and would take weeks, if not months until one arrived and was installed. That’s when we decided on the Sun Shade Sail. Such a simple solution to this problem and less than $100. It’s super easy to install, too. The sunroom in the back of the house would reach temperatures well into the 100s with the afternoon sun hitting it. This has cooled down not only the sunroom but the entire house because of this shade.
Read more about this shady solution here!
You may also enjoy White & Green Rustic Summer Flower Planters Sure To Charm You post, where you will see more of how this cedar shake siding looks three years later.
And How We Designed & Built A Pea Stone Patio in 2 Days post.
We will tackle the landscaping next summer. We did manage to plant a few small boxwoods and a couple of white snowball hydrangeas in front of the house. I love boxwoods; they stay green all year round and look beautiful next to a blanket of snow in the winter.
Visit the blog series In My Mother’s Maine Home to see more of the restoration and decor in our Coastal Maine Home.
An evening at home in the backyard 3 years after refinishing the cedar shakes siding.
Join me for a Cozy Snow Day at Home in Maine here.
Your Guide to an Eclectic Style~
If you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. Please share in the comments below. And be sure to share this blog post link with your friends who are also vintage enthusiasts.
Do you have a flair for all things vintage, too? I would love to see and feature you in our Reader’s Showcase Series. A place for you to share and be recognized for your talents and passion for all things thrifting, vintage, and antique decor-related inspired by your time here with Dabbling & Decorating. Email me at annck@dabblinganddecorating.com
You mentioned the lower shakes needed to be replaced. How did you do that and did the new ones look weird against the old shingles?
I have the similar problem (the lower cedar trim and ~2 layers of shingles are rotting or too far gone and need replacing) and I am considering replacing these lower layers with stone instead….just not sure how it will work. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I have yet to replace them Gena and I understand it’s not easy. It hasn’t been a huge priority for us just yet, but we will need to tackle this soon, maybe this summer. I’ll keep it updated here on the blog as we go, I hope you’ll keep joining me and let me know what you decide to do as well. Happy New Year!
You have a great article about your awesome cedar shake restoration project. I’m in the same boat and wanted to test out some different solutions for my own house. We tried several solutions and settled on Redihan’s Cedar Wash Wood Cleaner. It’s eco-safe and organic.
Thank you kindly and I’m glad you liked it as much as we did!
Thank you for giving us a direct and straight to the point answer! It greatly helped in clearing our confusion.
We live in Maine and are going to try to use this technique on our camp. I love the green color on your trim. I have tried 2 different colors and they are not what wanted. Do you know the name and brand of your green trim?
I’m so glad you like it Colleen. Yes it’s an Essex Green a historical green color. It’s beautiful in person. I have a post about it here https://www.dabblinganddecorating.com/beautiful-essex-green-coastal-house-trim/
Beautiful! What a difference blood, sweat and tears together with a big dollop of elbow grease and a whole lot of love has gone into this amazing transformation. Can I please come and live with you
Thank you so much, Jenny! My husband will love hearing this. It was definitely all well worth it, a labor of Love.
I had never known that these roofs can be restored, so I’ll keep them in mind. Thank you for all your helpful information about caring for cedar shingles and applying them properly.
It wasn’t the roof that we restored, but the cedar siding as an FYI. I’m so glad you liked it though! Thanks for stopping by!
What manufacturer/color roof do you have? I need to replace my roof and am struggling with choosing a manufacturer and color! We have the same exterior as yours, which looks beautiful, BTW! Great job!
We used to have cedar shakes on the roof, but my dad replaced it about 10 years ago with asphalt shingles. I don’t know the exact color but they are like a gray to light black. I hope this helps… I have no idea about the manufacturer, unfortunately.
Thank you. Love the home. Looking for information as we have a cedar shake home and it requires some attention. We are in Ontario,Canada,and the cedar shakes have been stained twice since the build in 1971. We would like to stain dark this time around. Any information, knowledge or useful tips would be greatly appreciated. Again thank you for the blog and info.
Thanks for stopping by Alison. Everything I know I put into this blog post. We didn’t have any stain on our shakes to strip, just the weather from over the years. Best of luck to you my friend!