Q&A - Cedar Shingles on Walls?

Can cedar shingles be used as an exterior wall covering?

Cedar sidewall is what we called the application of cedar shingles as an exterior wall covering. The shingles can be used as an accent with fancy butts or straight cut as shown here to cover the entire wall. For many years I have installed these shingles, giving me a break from the roof. We used the exposure of 6.5 inches on the sidewalls versus a 5 inch on the roof. Cedar left natural will turn a grey color that has a great rustic look and very popular with ranch style homes, cabins and coastal houses.

The walls are covered here in a with #15 pound felt, then using a story pole for gauging each course, a 1×4 inch board is tacked on the last course to stack the next course of shingles in a straight line. The weaved corners are time-consuming to install but look better than 2×4 trim. One trick to installing the corners is a two degree pre-cut on the corner side, as this helps remove wood for the taper corner. A hand block plane or small rasp to clean the corner up and offsetting each corner will finish this off nicely.

Many shinglers will trim over the last course with wood but it is my choice to make precise top cuts and use #3 galvanized nails placed one inch down from the top and one inch from the side to give a nice clean look. The corners should also be face nailed about two inches from the butt and one inch from the corners. This type of wall covering should last 40 years with little maintenance.

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