Why cedar still makes sense here
A lot of the character homes around Lower Lonsdale, Edgemont, and the older streets closer to the mountain were built with cedar shake or cedar shingle roofs, and many owners want to keep that look rather than switch to asphalt when it is time for work. Cedar can genuinely hold up well in this climate when it is properly ventilated and kept clear of standing moss, but it needs more attentive care than an asphalt roof does, and that care is the difference between a cedar roof that lasts and one that rots from underneath.
We work on cedar roofs regularly, both maintaining existing ones and rebuilding sections or full roofs where the material has reached the end of its life.
What actually shortens a cedar roof's life here
Shade and poor airflow are the two biggest factors, more than age on its own. A cedar roof on an open, sun exposed lot dries out between storms and can go decades with only routine cleaning. The same roof tucked under fir and cedar canopy on a north facing slope, which describes a lot of lots in Lynn Valley and up toward Edgemont, stays damp far longer after every rain, and that moisture is exactly what shortens the shingle's life and feeds moss growth.
We also see cedar roofs that were installed with inadequate spacing between courses for proper drainage, which traps water at the butt of each shingle and accelerates rot from the point of installation rather than from age.
Maintenance that actually extends the life of cedar
Regular cleaning to remove moss and debris before it holds moisture against the shingle surface is the single most effective thing an owner can do. Beyond that, we check for curled, split, or missing shakes and replace them individually rather than waiting for a full section to fail, since a handful of failed shingles left in place lets water track under the surrounding courses.
Treatment products exist that claim to extend cedar life, and some genuinely help slow moss regrowth for a season or two, but none of them substitute for keeping the roof clear of organic buildup and ensuring the attic underneath is properly ventilated so moisture is not being driven up into the deck from below.
Rebuilding a cedar roof or switching materials
When a cedar roof has genuinely reached the end of its useful life, we lay out the honest choice: rebuild in cedar to preserve the character of the home, or move to architectural asphalt or a cedar look composite shingle that requires less ongoing maintenance. Neither is the automatically right answer. A heritage streetscape near Lower Lonsdale often calls for staying in cedar, while a heavily shaded lot that has already gone through two premature cedar roofs might be better served by a lower maintenance material.
Where we do rebuild in cedar, we pay particular attention to spacing, underlayment, and ventilation, since a new cedar roof built with the same mistakes as the one it replaced will fail on the same timeline.
Cedar on flat or low slope sections
Cedar shingle is not the right material for a low slope addition or a flat tie in, even on a home where the main roof is cedar. We handle that transition by keeping the cedar on the pitched sections that suit it and running a proper membrane roof on anything under about a two in twelve slope, rather than forcing cedar onto a roofline it was never designed for.