Quick answer
A worn-out cedar roof gives you four replacement options, and the decking under the shakes decides most of the price. Here is how Calgary homeowners choose.
Estimates by phone: (587) 804-9266 · Good Roofing · Calgary-owned since 2014 · 10-year workmanship warranty.
When a cedar shake roof in Calgary reaches the end of its life, you can re-roof in new cedar or convert to a Class 4 impact-rated asphalt shingle, a synthetic shake, or stone-coated steel, and on most conversions the spaced board decking under the shakes has to be sheeted solid first. That decking step is the line item most cedar replacement quotes leave vague, and it is often the largest variable in the final price. Good Roofing has coordinated 2,800+ Calgary roof installations and repairs since 2014, holds 4.9★ from 237 verified reviews, and backs every replacement with a 10-year written workmanship warranty. We install all four options, so the recommendation follows your house, your budget and your insurance policy. Call (587) 804-9266 for a free drone inspection of your shake roof.
01 · Section
Quick answer — the 60-second version (citation-ready)
Replace a Calgary cedar roof when the shakes are failing across the whole roof: split and cupped shakes on every face, soft or rotted spots, moss holding water, and shakes worn thin enough to show gaps. Repair still makes sense when the damage is limited to one face, a valley or the ridge. For replacement there are four choices. New cedar keeps the original look and needs breathable underlayment, stainless fasteners and strong attic ventilation. Class 4 asphalt shingles are usually the lowest-cost conversion and carry the top UL 2218 impact rating for Calgary hail. Synthetic shake keeps the shake profile, and many lines are rated Class 4. Stone-coated steel such as DECRA is Class 4 and lasts the longest. Asphalt and most synthetic products need a solid plywood or OSB deck, so the old spaced boards get sheeted over during tear-off. Good Roofing prices that sheeting in a fixed written quote before work starts and backs the job with a 10-year workmanship warranty.
02 · Section
Replace or repair: reading a Calgary cedar roof
Cedar fails slowly and unevenly. The south and west faces take the most sun and Chinook wind, so they usually wear out years before the north face. Before quoting a full replacement, we check each roof face separately and photograph the worst areas with a drone so you can see what we see.
- 01Splits and cupping on every face. Shakes that have split through, curled at the butt or cupped into a dish no longer shed water cleanly. When this shows up on all faces, patching becomes a yearly bill.
- 02Thin, eroded shakes. Weathering wears cedar thinner over time. When you can see light or underlayment between courses from inside the attic, the roof has lost its water-shedding overlap.
- 03Moss, rot and soft spots. Moss holds moisture against the wood. Shakes that crumble under a thumb, or a deck that flexes when walked, point to rot below the surface.
- 04Rusted or popped fasteners. Older installs used galvanized nails that corrode in cedar’s natural acids. Loose shakes after a windstorm often trace back to failed nails, which repair cannot fix roof-wide.
- 05Hail impacts. Hail splits brittle, aged shakes along the grain. Fresh splits with bright, unweathered wood inside are storm damage and may be an insurance claim.
- 06When repair is the right call. Damage limited to a valley, the ridge cap, a chimney or one roof face can be fixed with matching shakes. We say so in writing when repair is enough.
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Your four replacement options, compared for Calgary
Every option below can be the right answer. The choice turns on the look you want to keep, how much hail risk you will accept, what your insurer charges, and whether you plan to stay in the house for the life of the roof. We bring full-size samples of each to the inspection.
- 01New cedar shake. Keeps the original character, which matters on heritage-style homes and in communities with design guidelines. It needs a breathable underlayment so the shakes dry from below, stainless steel fasteners, and more attic ventilation than an asphalt roof. Cedar also needs ongoing maintenance, and some insurers price wood roofs differently, so call your broker before you commit. See our cedar shake roofing page for installation details.
- 02Class 4 asphalt shingles. Usually the lowest-cost conversion, quickest to install and simplest to maintain. We don't install Class 1 or Class 3 shingles by default — Calgary’s hail belt requires Class 4 impact-rated. Architectural and designer lines give the roof more depth than a flat three-tab look, and some Alberta insurers offer a premium discount for impact-rated roofing.
- 03Synthetic shake. Moulded composite shakes keep the cedar profile without rot, splitting or moss. Many lines carry a Class 4 impact rating, but not all, so confirm the rating on the specific product before you sign. We compare an asphalt shake-look option in our IKO Armourshake review.
- 04Stone-coated steel. Steel panels pressed into a shake or shingle profile and coated in stone granules. DECRA is rated Class 4 and is the longest-lasting option on this list. It costs more up front and suits owners planning to stay. Details are on our DECRA stone-coated steel page.
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The decking under your shakes decides the price
Cedar shakes were traditionally installed over spaced boards, sometimes called skip sheathing, with gaps that let air reach the back of the shakes. Asphalt shingles and most synthetic shakes need a continuous nail base, and shingle manufacturers make a solid deck a condition of their warranty. So on a conversion, after the shakes come off, we inspect the boards, replace any that are rotted or broken, and sheet the whole roof with plywood or OSB. Re-roofing in new cedar can often reuse sound spaced boards. Many Calgary homes from the 1980s and 1990s also carry a hidden layer: asphalt shingles nailed straight over the original shakes during an earlier re-roof. That layer comes off too, because we don't roof over existing shingles. Every job is a full tear-off down to the deck. Our Brentwood roofing guide shows what spaced-board decks look like on older Calgary homes. Your written quote states the sheeting price per sheet before work begins, because we don't quote “starting at” prices. Every Calgary quote is fixed, written, and signed.
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Where we replace cedar roofs in Calgary, and what hail and Chinooks change
Most cedar roofs we replace sit on two kinds of houses. The first is character homes in older inner-city communities such as Mount Royal, Elbow Park, Britannia and Hounsfield Heights, where owners often want to keep a wood look. The second is the larger two-storey homes built across NW Calgary in the 1980s and 1990s, in Edgemont, the Hamptons, Hawkwood, Hidden Valley, Arbour Lake and Citadel, where many original shake roofs have now aged out. Both groups sit inside the stretch of southern Alberta that insurers call hail alley, and aged cedar becomes brittle enough to split along the grain in a summer storm. Winter Chinooks add westerly gusts that lift loose shakes along ridges and rakes, and the freeze-thaw swings that follow open small cracks wider. That combination is why most of our cedar clients choose a Class 4 product when they replace, and why the ones who stay with cedar ask us to upgrade ventilation at the same time. If a storm has already hit your roof, start with our hail damage roof repair process.
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How a cedar roof replacement runs, start to finish
The schedule depends on roof size, pitch and how much decking needs work, and your written quote states it. The sequence stays the same on every cedar job.
- 01Drone inspection and attic check. We photograph every roof face and look at the decking and ventilation from inside the attic. You get the photo report, usually within 24 hours.
- 02Option review with samples. We price the options that suit your house side by side, so you can compare new cedar against a conversion on the same page.
- 03Fixed written quote. It names the product, impact rating, colour, underlayment, ventilation plan and the per-sheet decking price.
- 04Full tear-off. Shakes, any asphalt layer, old felt and nails come off down to the boards. Cedar debris is heavy and bulky, so the bin size is set in the quote.
- 05Deck, underlayment and flashing. Solid sheathing where the product requires it, ice-and-water shield along eaves and in valleys, and new flashing at every wall, chimney and stack.
- 06Install, clean-up and handover. Magnetic sweep of the yard and driveway, a final photo set, and your 10-year workmanship warranty in writing with the manufacturer’s material warranty.
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Insurance and cedar roofs
If hail or wind has damaged your cedar roof, the claim can change which option makes sense. Some policies settle older roofs at actual cash value, which subtracts depreciation for age, and some carriers settle wood roofs differently from asphalt. Read the roof lines on your policy before you call, then let us document the damage with drone photos and meet your adjuster on the roof. We have worked claims with Intact Insurance / belairdirect, Aviva Canada, TD Insurance, Co-operators, Wawanesa Mutual and other carriers, and Good Roofing has recovered $14M+ in hail-claim settlements for Calgary homeowners. If you plan to convert from cedar during a claim, tell your adjuster early, because any cost above like-for-like replacement is usually yours to pay. Our Calgary hail claim guide covers the steps.