Metal Roofing vs Cedar Shakes and Shingles
Cedar has a texture and a way of ageing that metal cannot fully copy. Metal asks far less of you afterwards. An honest look at what each material gives you on an Ontario house.
Cedar is one of the few roofing materials people choose for reasons that have nothing to do with performance. It is chosen because of how it looks and how it ages, and that is a legitimate reason. Metal is usually chosen for the opposite set of reasons. Comparing them properly means being clear about which of those things you actually care about on your house, rather than pretending one material is simply better than the other.
What cedar genuinely gives you
A hand-split cedar shake roof has depth. Each shake is a different thickness, the butt ends sit at slightly different heights, and the whole surface throws small irregular shadows that move through the day. Sawn cedar shingles are more uniform but still have grain, thickness and a soft edge. No stamped metal profile reproduces that, and the honest position is that it does not come close on a steep, highly visible slope viewed from twenty metres away.
Cedar also ages into something people like. Fresh cedar is warm and orange, and over a few years it weathers to a soft silver-grey that reads differently on the sunny and shaded slopes. On shingle-style, Cape Cod, cottage and certain Arts and Crafts houses, that ageing is part of the architecture rather than a flaw to be managed.
How cedar behaves in an Ontario climate
Cedar is a natural material that has to be able to dry. It absorbs moisture, swells, then shrinks again as it dries, and it does this constantly through our shoulder seasons. That is why a proper cedar roof is installed over spaced sheathing or a ventilated batten mat rather than tight to solid plywood, so air can move under the shakes and take moisture away from both faces. Cedar installed flat against a solid deck with the wrong underlayment stays damp underneath and fails early.
Our climate is harder on cedar than a dry climate is. Freeze-thaw cycling works on wood that is already saturated, and Southern Ontario gives a roof many of those cycles each year. North-facing slopes, slopes under mature trees, and anything shaded by a neighbouring building hold moisture longer and grow moss and lichen. Moss is not just cosmetic on cedar: it holds water against the wood and accelerates the decay it sits on.
Maintenance is the real dividing line
This is where the two materials genuinely diverge, and it is worth being blunt about it. A cedar roof is a maintained roof. Metal is not maintenance-free, but the tasks are different in kind.
- ✓Cedar: keep it clear of leaf and needle debris, especially in valleys and behind chimneys where litter holds moisture against the wood
- ✓Cedar: keep overhanging branches cut back so slopes get sun and air movement
- ✓Cedar: expect to remove moss and treat periodically, and expect the interval to be shorter on shaded slopes
- ✓Cedar: individual split or cupped shakes get replaced as they appear, which is straightforward but ongoing
- ✓Metal: an annual look at valleys, penetrations and gutters, clearing debris, and checking sealant at any exposed detail
- ✓Metal: touching up scratches from tree contact, and keeping branches off the panels for the same reason
Service life, and what actually changes it
Cedar service life in our climate varies enormously with exposure and care. A well-installed, ventilated cedar roof on a sunny, open site that is kept clear can commonly reach twenty to thirty years or more. The same roof on a shaded lot under maples, installed tight to a deck and left alone, can be visibly failing much sooner. Steel roofing has a narrower spread: the finish and the details determine most of it, and a well-installed steel roof is generally expected to give several decades of service, longer than a cedar roof in equivalent conditions.
Cost follows the same logic. Cedar is not a cheap roof. Good-quality shakes properly installed over a ventilated assembly typically cost considerably more than a basic roof and are comparable to a metal system in many cases, and then the maintenance is an ongoing cost on top. If you are comparing cedar against metal purely on money, the comparison rarely favours cedar. If you are comparing on how the house looks, that changes.
If cedar's look is the reason you want cedar, buy cedar. A stamped metal shake profile is a reasonable impression of it, not a substitute for it, and being told otherwise by a contractor is a reason to be careful.
Where cedar is the better choice
There are real cases where we would tell you to stay with cedar. A shingle-style or heritage house where the cedar is doing genuine architectural work and a change of material would visibly alter the building. A property in a neighbourhood where cedar is the established character and you want the house to belong to the street. An owner who enjoys maintaining a house and does not consider periodic cleaning and treatment a burden. A cottage where the silvering is part of the point. In all of those, cedar is what you want, and metal will read as a compromise no matter how well it is installed.
Where metal is the better choice
Metal makes more sense on a heavily shaded lot where cedar will never dry properly, on a house you do not want to think about, on complicated roofs where cedar valleys and dormers create many maintenance-sensitive details, and on any building where the owner is honest with themselves that no maintenance is going to happen. It also makes more sense where snow and ice management matters, because a metal surface sheds where a shake surface holds.
The middle ground: metal shake profiles
Stamped metal shingles and shake profiles exist for exactly this reason. They pick up some of the shadow and break the roof into a small-scale pattern rather than long vertical lines, and on a house that would look wrong under standing seam they can be a genuinely better fit. Be realistic about what they achieve: from the street they read as a textured roof, from close up they read as metal. Whether that is a fair trade depends on how the roof is actually seen. A steep front slope facing a sidewalk gets looked at closely. A rear slope over a garage does not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can metal be installed over an existing cedar roof?
Sometimes, over a furring or batten system that creates a flat plane, but old cedar is uneven and often partly deteriorated, and long metal panels show every irregularity underneath. It deserves a careful look rather than a quick yes. Your municipal building department will also have a view on installing over existing roofing.
Does a cedar roof affect home insurance?
Some insurers ask questions about wood roofing and some have their own requirements. We are not in a position to tell you what your insurer will do. Phone them before you commit either way and ask directly about the material you are considering.
Is treated cedar worth the extra cost?
Pressure-treated and fire-retardant-treated cedar exists and is worth discussing with a cedar specialist, particularly on shaded sites. It does not remove the need for maintenance, and treatments are not permanent, so treat it as a way to buy time rather than a way to avoid the upkeep.
Will a metal shake profile fool anyone?
At a distance and in flat light, often. Up close, no. If the roof is seen from a sidewalk or a driveway that runs right alongside it, assume people will read it as metal, and choose it because you are happy with how metal looks rather than because you hope it passes for wood.
Get a Free Metal Roofing Quote.
We measure your roof remotely by satellite and deliver a written, itemized quote — same day, no obligation.