My roofer has offered to replace my rotting pine shakes with either 24 inch cedar or 18 inch cedar. The 24 inch shakes installed at 10 1/2 inches to weather and the 18 inch shakes installed at 7 1/2 inches to weather. There is a savings associated with the 18 inch option. My pitch is steep. Each option provides overlap on the third shake of 3 inches. Are there any down sides to the 18 inch shakes that you can think of? My math tells me that at any given piont on the roof the 18 inch shakes will provide a thicker roof as both 24" & 18" shakes are the same leading edge thickness.
Answer:
aboaur the only thing I can think of is that the 24" product will be easier to maintaine. Wooden shakes need monitoring and each year, the deteriorated ones get repalced. I think the 18" product would be harder to replace but that's only my feeling on it.
