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Wood Shingle & Wood Shake Roof Protective & Fire Resistant Coating Guide InspectAPedia®  -     Fire resistant treatment for wood shingle & wood shake roofs Wood preservative treatment for wood shingle/shake roofs Wood shingle roof inspection, failures, repair, product defects Key design details & references for wood shingle roofs

Here we discuss fire resistant treatments and preservative treatments for wood shingle or wood shake roofing in historic and contemporary use. More details useful for determining the condition of a wood roof are at Wood Roof Inspection Guide.

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Protective Coatings & Treatments for Fire Rating for Wood Shingle & Wood Shake Roofs - Getting from No-Rating to B-Rating to Class A Fire Rating

As we mention in our outline of roofing materials and their properties found at ROOFING INSPECTION & REPAIR, wood shingle roofs, if treated with a fire retardant, are fire rated B. Un-treated wood roof shingles have no fire rating and are not permitted by code in some areas. A class A fire rated wood shingle roof can be installed using special procedures and materials that include plywood and gypsum board.

David Flickinger explained in 1999 in Professional Roofing, treatments are available for wood shingles and wood shakes on building roofs to preserve the wood from rot and to increase its fire resistance. For new wood shingles, a pressure treatment impregnates the shingles with a wood preservative or a fire retardant. When shingles are treated with a fire retardant they are then heated to complete that treatment procedure. Both of these processes for wood shingles are considered "permanent", that is, the treatment should last for the life of the wood shingle.

For existing wood shingle roofs, treatment might be applied using a topical spray or brush-on of preservatives. These treatments are not permanent and need to be performed periodically depending on the geographic locale of the roof.

A bit earlier in 1995 in his article on Choosing Roofing, Jefferson Kolle questioned the durability of wood shingle fire retardant treatments. Kolle suggested that rain tends to draw the fire retardant to the shingle surface where it is washed away over time. The same article however, quoted Don Meucci from the Cedar Single & Shake Bureau who said that tests performed on fire-retardant-treated wood shingles from a 16-year old roof passed the current fire resistance tests of that time. Nonetheless, some communities where fire risk is particularly high (Los Angeles California, Newcastle, New Hampshire) have banned the use of wood roofs regardless of their treatment.

For added details about proper wood shingle or wood shake roof installation, perhaps the most authoritative source of wood shingle and wood shake information is from the Western Red Cedar Shingle & Shake Bureau (now the Cedar and Shake Shingle Bureau, since not only western red cedar is used for roof shingles).

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ROOFING INSPECTION & REPAIR
ASBESTOS CEMENT ROOFING
ASPHALT ROOF SHINGLES
BUILT UP ROOFS
CERTIFICATIONS for ROOFING CONTRACTORS
CHIMNEY INSPECTION & REPAIRS
CHOOSING A ROOFING CONTRACTOR
CLAY TILE ROOFING
FIRE RETARDANT PLYWOOD
HEAT TAPES & CABLES on Roofs for Ice Dams
LOW SLOPE ROOFING MATERIALS
MASONITE WOODRUF FIBERBOARD ROOFING
MEMBRANE & SINGLE PLY ROOFS
METAL ROOFING TYPES
MODIFIED BITUMEN ROOFING
ROOF INSPECTION SAFETY & LIMITS
ROOF VENTILATION SPECIFICATIONS
ROOF VENTING ENERGY SAVING DETAILS
SLATE ROOF INSPECTION & REPAIR
SOD ROOFING
SIDING WOOD
STAIN DIAGNOSIS on Building Exteriors
STAIN DIAGNOSIS on Roofs
STANDARDS for ROOFING
STONE ROOFING
THATCH ROOFING
THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS
THERMAL MASS in BUILDINGS
THERMAL MASS in UPSTAIRS
TILE ROOFING
WARRANTIES for ROOF SHINGLES
WOOD SHAKE & SHINGLE ROOFING
  Wood Roof Shingle Quality & Types
  Wood Shingle Specifications
  Wood Roof Wear or Installation Problems
  Wood Roof Inspection Guide
  Wood Roof Trouble Signs
  Wood Shakes & Application Details
  Wood Roof Protective Coatings & Fire Rating
WORKMANSHIP & WIND DAMAGE

• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• "Choosing Roofing," Jefferson Kolle, January 1995, No. 92, Fine Homebuilding, Taunton Press, 63 S. Main St., PO Box 5506, Newton CT 06470 - 800-888-8286 - see http://www.taunton.com/FineHomebuilding/ for the magazine's website and for subscription information.
• The Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau in the U.S.: Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau, P.O. Box 1178
  Sumas, WA 98295-1178, or in Canada: Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau, #2 - 7101 Horne Street
  Mission, BC V2V 7A2, 604-820-7700 E-mail: info@cedarbureau.com. The association can also be contacted by their website, cedarbureau.org where the association offers wood shingle installation instructions in the form of a manual - cedarbureau.org/installation/wall_manual/introduction.htm
• "Treatment of Cedar Shakes and Shingles," David Flickinger, RRO, Professional Roofing, October 1999, Rosemont IL.
  

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