Shingle Siding: Cedar, Vinyl Shake and Fiber Cement Compared

Shingle siding covers walls with overlapping rows of individual shingles, the way a roof is shingled, for a textured, layered look common on Cape Cod, Craftsman and coastal houses. You can do it with real cedar shingles, with vinyl (polypropylene) panels molded to look like shakes, or with fiber cement shingles. They look similar from the street and are very different to own.

The three main options

	Cedar shingles	Vinyl shake panels	Fiber cement shingles
What it is	Sawn western red or white cedar	Molded plastic panels with a shake texture	Cement, sand and cellulose fiber
Look up close	Real wood, varies piece to piece	Uniform; molded grain repeats	Close to painted wood
Upkeep	Stain or paint, or let weather gray	Wash occasionally	Repaint every 10 to 15 years
Fire	Combustible unless fire-treated	Melts and burns	Noncombustible
Impact and wind	Good	Can crack in cold; panels can blow off if badly installed	Good
Install	Slow, piece by piece	Fast, panel by panel	Medium; heavy, needs dust control when cut
Cost	Higher	Lower	Middle to higher

Cedar shingles

Cedar shingles are sawn smooth and tapered; shakes are thicker and split for a rougher face. Grades matter: top-grade shingles are clear heartwood with vertical grain, while lower grades have knots and sapwood and suit outbuildings.

• Single coursing: one layer at each course with a typical exposure of 5 to 7 1/2 inches.
• Double coursing: a cheaper undercourse shingle under each visible course, allowing longer exposures and deeper shadow lines.
• Nails: two stainless steel nails per shingle, placed so the next course covers them.
• Weathering: white cedar weathers to silver-gray, the classic New England look; red cedar darkens first.

Ask about fire-retardant-treated shingles if you're in a wildfire area; some local codes require them or ban untreated wood siding.

Vinyl shake

Molded vinyl or polypropylene shake panels snap together in strips several feet long. They're the low-maintenance choice and often used just on gables with lap siding below. Like other vinyl, they need room to expand: nail in the center of the slots and don't drive nails tight. See PVC siding for how vinyl products move.

Fiber cement shingles

Fiber cement comes as individual shingles and as panels with a staggered shingle edge. It's noncombustible, doesn't rot and holds paint well, which makes it popular in wildfire zones. It's heavy, and cutting it makes silica dust, so installers use fiber-cement shears or dust-collecting saws and respirators.

Which to choose

• Historic or high-end house, want real wood: cedar shingles, back-primed or stained, over a rainscreen gap.
• Lowest upkeep for the money: vinyl shake, on gables or the whole house.
• Wildfire region or want the look without wood upkeep: fiber cement shingles.

Whatever the material, shingle siding should go over a proper water-resistive barrier with flashing at windows, doors and the base of the wall. Shingles shed water well, but the barrier behind them is what keeps the wall dry. For horizontal wood siding instead, see cedar bevel siding.