Old Wood Shake Roof

Chances are your old wood shake shingle roof was installed over what s called an open spaced deck.

Old wood shake roof.

Historically shingles were split from straight grained knot free bolts of wood. This was possible because wood shakes are stiff planks of wood and would overlay these gaps without posing any sort of issue. Tom silva shows the apprentices how to properly install wood shingles. It produces a roof with a very textured appearance.

Wood shakes are also thicker than wood shingles. Typically it s composed of 1 6 deck boards spaced about 4 5 inches apart. This shake gives a naturally tailored look of a shingle accented by the sharper shadow line of a shake due to the thickness of the butt. Today shingles are mostly made by being cut which distinguishes them from shakes which are made by being split out of a bolt.

Low cost for installation is around 16 000 and high cost is about 27 000. It s the most popular type of wood roof. Available thicknesses are 1 2 and 5 8. Thisoldhouse asktoh subscribe to this old house.

Wood shingles are thin tapered pieces of wood primarily used to cover roofs and walls of buildings to protect them from the weather. Shakes or shake shingles have been used for roofing and siding for centuries. On both sides like a wood shingle only thicker.