Cedar Shakes vs Asphalt Shingles in Victoria

Cedar is woven into the look of Greater Victoria's older streets. Oak Bay's Tudor-revival houses, the 1912 Olmsted-planned Uplands and the 1900s to 1930s homes of Fairfield were built with shakes, and a large share of them are now on laminate shingles cut to mimic a shake profile. Owners of designated heritage homes or homes in a heritage conservation area should ask the District of Oak Bay or the City of Victoria whether a change of roofing material needs sign-off before they take quotes; the answer is not published online and varies by property.

The case against cedar here is not rain volume, it is shade. On the north slope of a Broadmead or Prospect Lake roof under Douglas fir, shakes stay damp for months, moss lifts the butts and the wood softens years early. Fewer crews install cedar well, insurers sometimes ask questions about untreated shakes, and properties in the wildland interface of the Highlands and Metchosin may face fire-related conditions. A sunny Gonzales or Ten Mile Point roof with open sky above it is a different proposition, and cedar can still give a long, handsome life there.

If the shakes on your house went on in the 1980s or 1990s, the market you are buying into now is different. Paragon Roofing BC's cedar guide reports that cedar material prices rose 40 to 60% after the 2019 restrictions on old-growth logging, and that a Grade 1 shake roof now installs at $14 to $26 per sq ft in the Lower Mainland; Green Building Canada's 2024 BC guide gives $14 to $30. Our model uses $14 to $28 for Greater Victoria, where labour runs 15 to 20% above the rest of the province.

Meanwhile the alternative got better. Laminate (architectural) shingles now come in thick, shadow-lined profiles designed to read as shake from the street, at a third of the price. Most crews that once installed shakes weekly now install these instead, which is why the pool of skilled cedar installers has shrunk.

Cedar lasts when it dries out between rains. In Victoria's October to April wet season a shaded shake roof never fully dries, so moss and lichen take hold in the butt lines and hold water against the wood. The Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau's wet-climate guidance stresses ventilation under the shakes, breathable underlay and keeping the surface clear of debris; none of that happens on its own.

Budget for cleaning. Victoria realtors describe roof cleaning at $300 to $600 once or twice a year, and Shoreline Roofing's 2026 moss guide puts professional treatment at $500 to $1,200. Over 25 years that is thousands of dollars on top of the roof itself, and cleaning has to be gentle: pressure washing strips wood fibre the same way it strips shingle granules.

Cedar is a considered choice, not a mistake, when most of these are true.

• The roof gets sun and air for most of the day, with no conifers overhanging it
• The house is a designated heritage property or sits on a street where shake is the expected look
• You plan to stay long enough to value a 25 to 40 year roof and will pay for regular cleaning
• The attic or roof assembly can be ventilated so the shakes dry from below
• A crew with recent cedar work and references is available, ideally with an RCABC guarantee

The two quotes will not line up item for item. Make sure both state the roof area in squares and then check the cedar quote for the details that separate a 30-year roof from a 12-year one.

• Grade: No. 1 (blue label) shakes or shingles, not a mixed or lower grade
• Shakes (thicker, split face) or shingles (sawn, thinner), and the exposure per course
• Treated or untreated, and whether the treatment affects the warranty
• Breathable underlay or spaced sheathing detail, plus ridge and valley metal
• Disposal of the old shakes, which are heavy and mossy, and the decking allowance if skip sheathing must be replaced