Not many materials go from raw natural resources to finished products with fewer steps than cedar. Even the mud that covers adobe walls requires more handling. With cedar, a tree is felled, barked, cut, and dried; that’s it. And cedar has uses inside and outside the house, all of which provide livability upgrades while remaining environmentally responsible.
For one thing, few other materials can be created again. The ingredients used to make metals, concrete, plastics, and other building products depend on limited natural resources. All it takes to make more wood is land, seeds, and time. Unlike other extractive industries, timber growers are able to reinvest in future production. Forest-products companies large and small understand that their stewardship today will determine their success tomorrow. According to industry groups, North American forests have grown 20 percent since 1970.
Benefits of Using Cedar
To produce that much material, you might expect the wood products industry to consume nearly half the energy used in manufacturing. But in case you missed that detail, here it is again: production of wood products takes up roughly four percent of the energy used in making
building materials. Making steel consumes more than twice the energy, and making concrete consumes at least four times as much.
The principles underneath those criteria are reducing energy use, reducing resource use, minimizing pollution, and reducing environmental impact. Wood products perform exceptionally well in all four areas.
The Athena Sustainable Materials Incentive in Canada compared the environmental effects of wood with those of steel and concrete. Wood had the lowest impact on total energy use, greenhouse gases, air pollution, water pollution, solid waste, and what they termed ecological resource use. Wood is also less expensive to transport to or use at a building site.
One more unique property of wood products: during the entire time it takes for a tree to mature, it consumes carbon dioxide and produces oxygen. The environmental benefits of using cedar begin the moment each new tree is planted. The benefits continue from there.
Cedar as a Construction Material
Western Red Cedar is dimensionally stable; it seldom changes shape through shrinking, swelling, or warping in all climates. This stability is unique among softwoods. It holds nails, screws, and glue well, and is easy to work with. Without other treatment, cedar resists moisture, insects, and decay.
Roughly half the energy consumed in the average house goes to space conditioning—heating, cooling, and ventilating. This makes insulation a high priority for controlling energy expenses, especially in climates with extreme temperatures. Wood is an excellent insulator, making it ideal for framing. However, despite its natural resistance to decay and insects, cedar is not as well suited as other species, such as Douglas fir or southern yellow pine, for building.
Priced by the board foot, cedar is more expensive than pressuretreated lumber, in part because it is more pleasant on the eyes and the nose. Concealing it inside walls would only hide some of its most desirable features. Its aromatic properties and hearty appearance
make it ideal for lining closets, encasing exposed beams, framing windows, and so on. Even these are uncommon, though. Most of the cedar used for building stays outside.
You can use cedar for a variety of outdoor building projects, from decorative items to the very surface of your house. Other outdoor projects that make good use of cedar include fences, gates, arbors, trellises, and gazebos.
One thing that applies to all outdoor cedar projects held together by nails or screws: use only corrosion-resistant fasteners, such as aluminum, hot-dipped galvanized, or stainless steel. Stainless steel, while more expensive, is generally considered the best choice. All other metals are likely to corrode, leaving stains that diminish the look of the cedar.
Cedar Siding
The most popular styles of cedar siding are bevel, pattern, and boardand- batten. The style you choose will depend on your preferences and the design of your house.
Bevel siding, the cedar siding most often used, is tapered from one edge to the other. One face has a rough-sawn texture; the other can be rough or smooth. This style of siding is always installed horizontally. The cost of one variety over another depends on the clarity of the wood—that is, how many visible knots and other growth characteristics can be seen—and the length of each piece. Continuous lengths cost more than finger-jointed boards.
Pattern siding includes both tongue-and-groove and lap styles. Tongue-and-groove boards are milled on both edges; the top edge has a thin, narrow shape, which matches a channel cut out of the bottom edge. A few variations in shape are available, but this is one place style doesn’t matter; once assembled, both the tongue and the groove are hidden from view. These shapes interlock to create a continuous cedar surface, which means they can be installed in any direction the framing will support. The grade of wood used will depend on the desired effect, from formal to rustic.
Lap siding boards are similar in the way they fit together; the main difference is that each new board rests on top of the one before, rather than fitting into it. Like bevel siding, lap boards are rough on one side and rough or smooth on the other. And like tongue-andgroove siding, lap boards can be installed in any direction. The most common sizes range from 1 × 6 inches to 1 × 10.
The board-and-batten style uses a surface of wide boards fitted side by side, with narrower boards, called battens, covering the joints. While this pattern could be installed horizontally, it is most often vertical. The widths of both the boards and the battens will depend on the desired look, which in turn depends on the size and style of the house. One variation with a dramatic effect is installing the battens first, creating deep channels between the boards.
Finishing Cedar
Left unfinished, cedar ages to a distinguished silver gray. This look is well suited for fences, gates, trellises, gazebos, and other free-standing features. But applying a surface finish will help those and all other cedar projects look better and last longer.
Contrary to older notions about cedar, it should not be left to weather. Once it does, the cedar will not absorb protective finishes as easily or hold them as well. This can lead to premature peeling, blistering, or cracking in the finish. The longer you wait to finish new
cedar, the less effective the finish will be.
To preserve the freshly installed look of cedar, use a finish that includes protection against ultraviolet light—the chief cause of discoloration. Cedar used in wet climates will also benefit from mildew protection, which may be available in the same finishes.
If you want the weathered look but prefer to keep the wood protected, apply a bleaching stain that is formulated for use with cedar. It uses chemicals to create an appearance of weathered aging, but preserves the integrity of the wood at the same time. Like other finishes, bleaching stain should be reapplied at regular intervals. Remember that the point is to protect the wood—and your investment.
