Our eyes have over 14 years experience when hand picking shingles and shakes for our customers. We demand that all our suppliers meet and exceed the minimum specifications for grade. Here are some of the things we look for. 

Absolutely, Positively - Proper Labeling
Only mills that adhere to independent, third party inspections make it past our first line of quality control. The brightest example of this are the mills belonging to the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau. These Bureau member mills are regularly inspected by audited "third party" grading agencies, ( i.e. Warnock Hersey Testing Laboratories). The grading agencies inspect the product according to the rules and regulations set out by the Cedar Bureau and various regional and national building codes such as ICBO, BOCA, CABO, SBCCI and CSA. A mill's compliance with such accredited inspection services and adherence to building codes is clearly marked on every label on every bundle Bureau stock bearing the "CERTI" Brand.

The alternative is product from mills that are inspected by grading services hired by the mills themselves - or worse yet, product from mills claiming to be self-inspected! 

Quality Raw Material
Only product using tight grain, old growth red cedar is good enough for WoodRoof.com customers. Don't believe the nay Sayers who claim that all the old growth is gone. There are mountains of it left and most mills still use it. What has changed in the past decade is that raw material prices have increased and some mills push the grade a little harder to get more out of their resources. Most of the wide grain we see in some shingles is a result of logs being cut further down the naturally flared butt of a cedar tree. Inside these flared areas, growth rings appear father apart.

Smooth Sawn Faces
When selecting sawn shingles, we always look for smooth sawn faces. This means the mill keeps their saws sharp and well maintained. This is a good indication that the mill owners take pride in their products and most other grade characteristics will also be top notch.

Uniform Butt Thickness
Like smooth sawn faces, shingles with uniform butt thickness means the machines are well maintained and that the sawyers keep their eye on things. Uniform thickness in hand-split and resawn shakes indicate good quality raw material and attention to detail.

Clean, Smooth Butt Ends
For all shingles and shakes, and smooth sawn butt end means the saw used to cut the logs to length, (blocks) is kept sharp. Not only does a clean butt look better, it will last longer. A rough, hairy butt will stay wet longer allowing agents of decay to set in easier. It also attracts and holds dirt and other particles, rather than allowing the water to flow freely off the roof.

Good Widths
We look to make sure that our customers get bundles will a good percentage of wide shingles. A higher percentage of wider shingles means less labor and less nails.

Good Lengths
We want to maintain that the product is one grade with respect to lengths. If the product is not long enough, there is a chance the roof will not perform as designed.

Bundle Content
We make sure a bundle is a bundle and your "roofing square" of shakes covers a "roofing square" on the roof. We count the lineal measure in a randomly selected number of bundles in your order to ensure the proper content is present - to make sure you get what you pay for.

Packaging and Presentation
Do you always chose the newspaper without wrinkles or the cereal box that hasn't been crushed? We do the same for our customers when it comes to cedar. We look for freshly cut, well packaged and well presented material. Not only does a well palletized product look better but it will arrive at the job site in better condition.