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HOW TO STORE NATURAL ‘’GREEN’’ CEDAR SHINGLES?

sbc natural cedar shingles grade AB Sidewall Select

October 3rd 2022

Your project is well underway, you’ve already received your raw cedar shingles, but the installation is scheduled for spring. Great! You are very proactive! You thought that you could store them all winter long in a dry and heated space, like a garage maybe? Read this before the installation to make sure to get awesome results.

HEATED OR NOT?

First things first, to preserve their natural beauty, raw or green cedar shingles must be stored in a ventilated area, away from the elements. Make sure they are not in direct contact with the ground. In a perfect world, it would NOT be a heated area. If you store green cedar shingles in a heated space, their moisture content will get much lower. This could bring them to a level of humidity close to kiln-dried shingles and affect how you install them later.

MOISTURE CONTENT AND INSTALLATION

Wood is basically “alive”. Many factors can affect the moisture content of natural cedar shingles: logs used to manufacture them, the season of the year, and the way they are stored. That’s why it is very important to test them before starting installation. 

We generally consider a humidity level of 20% to be the balance point. Cedar shingles stored in a heated and dry space for a long period will tend to go below 20%. They are considered “dried” at this point, and the space gap between each shingle should be a minimum of 1/8’’. On the other hand, cedar shingles with a moisture content of over 20% are considered “green”, thus a space gap of 1/16’’ should be used.

cedar shingles installation storage

A WORD ABOUT FACTORY-FINISHED CEDAR SHINGLES

Pre-stained cedar shingles are kiln-dried before the application of the finish. Their humidity content varies between 10% and 14% for optimal stability and maximal finish adhesion.  To maintain this level of humidity before installation, it is important to store them in a dry and ventilated space.

 

Now that you better understand the storage impacts on your cedar shingles, we suggest the article Why is it important to leave enough space between cedar shingles? to learn more about this subject. Our installation guide is also available in the SBC library, and in doubt, our experts can help you.

Go to the SBC Library                               Contact an expert 



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We are currently in the process of putting together a document that will contain a lot of useful information. As it is not quite finished, you can ask your questions directly to a member of our team. – Contact us