Cedar shake roof replacement in New Brunswick

Why cedar roofs wear out in the Maritimes

Cedar takes on water. Fog, wind-driven rain and long, damp shoulder seasons keep a Maritimes cedar roof wet for days at a time, and moss, mildew and rot follow, especially on the shaded side of the house. Freeze-thaw through the winter then cups, curls and splits shakes that are already weathered. Keeping a cedar roof going means cleaning, re-treating and replacing pieces. Aluminum absorbs nothing, cannot rot and has nothing for freeze-thaw to work on.

A cedar roof always comes off before an Interlock® roof goes on. That tear-off is in the written price from the start.

Keep the look: Shake and Cedar Shingle profiles

Interlock's Shake profile has deep, hand-split shadow lines; the Cedar Shingle profile has the flatter look of a sawn cedar roof, the look of many shingled Maritimes cottages and older homes. Both are aluminum, lock on all four sides with the fasteners concealed, and weigh roughly 2 to 3.5 kg per square metre depending on profile.

At least 13 of the completed roofs in our Maritimes job book are Shake or Cedar Shingle profiles.

Salt air and storms

On the coast, salt air is the other half of the story. Aluminum forms a thin, tough oxide layer that seals the metal and cannot rust, so salt spray has no steel core to attack. The panels lock to each other on all four sides with no exposed fastener heads, and wind resistance is warranted to 193 km/h (120 mph) installed to manufacturer specification. Damage from hurricane-force winds is a matter for your home insurance and is excluded from our labour warranty. For impact, Interlock® aluminum panels carry a UL 2218 Class 4 rating, per the Intertek / Delta Building Products listing.

Fire, cedar and homes near the forest

FireSmart Canada's roof fact sheet is blunt: avoid wood shakes or shingles. It recommends Class A roofing, and lists metal among the Class A materials. Embers from a wildfire can travel long distances and ignite a combustible roof. Nova Scotia saw that in 2023: the Tantallon wildfire near Halifax destroyed 151 homes between May 28 and June 4, and caused over $165 million in insured damage, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

Class A Fire Rated Available, as a complete assembly: two layers of GAF VersaShield® over 12 mm (15/32-inch) plywood, per ASTM E108 (CAN/ULC-S107 is the Canadian counterpart). The rating belongs to the assembly, not to the panel alone, and aluminum itself does not ignite. No roof is fireproof; gutters, vents and the roof edge need attention too. That matters most for a house on a wooded lot, a rural property or a cottage among the trees.