Fibre cement siding
Fibre cement
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Siding in Frederick & Central MD
Cedar shake and shingle siding
Cedar shake is the best-looking cladding there is and the most demanding. Before you commit to it, it is worth knowing honestly what a Maryland summer does to real wood — and what the fibre cement version gets right.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
How much does cedar shake siding cost in Maryland?
Western red cedar shingle runs $11 to $19 per square foot of wall area installed, and hand-split shake $14 to $24. Add $1.20 to $2.40 per square foot for the ventilated rain screen behind it, which we recommend on every cedar wall. A single gable or dormer is usually $2,400 to $6,800. Fibre cement shingle panel, which holds the look from the street, is $9.50 to $16. The real comparison is over ten years, because cedar needs cleaning and re-staining at $2.80 to $5.50 per square foot every four to seven years and fibre cement needs painting roughly every twelve to fifteen.
The work
What cedar shake actually involves.
Cedar shingles and shakes are the look most people are after on a gable, a dormer, a turret or a whole cottage elevation: a textured, layered, slightly irregular surface that no moulded panel quite matches. Western red cedar is naturally rot and insect resistant, takes a stain beautifully, and weathers to grey if you let it. We install it, and we like it. We also tell every client the maintenance number before they sign.
Maryland is hard on wood. Humid summers, freeze-thaw cycles through the winter, and enough tree cover around most Frederick County houses to keep walls damp into the afternoon. Real cedar on a north elevation in that climate wants cleaning and re-staining every four to seven years, and a wall left past that starts cupping and splitting. On a south elevation the stain burns off faster. It is a beautiful material with a standing appointment.
That is why we quote two routes side by side. Real cedar, installed over a ventilated rain screen — furring strips behind the course so the back of each shingle can dry, which roughly doubles the life of the wall — or a fibre cement shingle panel, which comes in a staggered-edge or straight-edge course, holds the texture convincingly from the street, and needs painting every twelve to fifteen years instead of staining every five. Most clients who want the look on one gable take the cedar. Most who want it on a whole house take the fibre cement.
Real cedar over a ventilated rain screen
Fibre cement shingle as the low-upkeep route
Maintenance interval quoted before you sign
What cedar shake costs in Maryland
Cedar is priced on wall area and grade; the rain screen is a separate line because it is a genuine choice. Fibre cement shingle is the cheaper option over any ten-year horizon.
- Western red cedar shingle, installed
- $11 – $19 per sq ft
- Hand-split cedar shake, installed
- $14 – $24 per sq ft
- Fibre cement shingle panel, painted
- $9.50 – $16 per sq ft
- Ventilated rain screen behind cedar
- $1.20 – $2.40 per sq ft
- Single gable or dormer in cedar
- $2,400 – $6,800
- Clean and re-stain existing cedar
- $2.80 – $5.50 per sq ft
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull cedar shake cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
Cedar shake and shingle siding
What’s included
Everything the cedar shake scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
Both routes priced
01Western red cedar and fibre cement shingle panel quoted side by side on the same elevation, with the maintenance cycle and the ten-year cost of each one written down rather than described.
A rain screen behind real cedar
02Furring strips over the weather barrier so air can reach the back of every shingle. Cedar laid tight to sheathing dries from one side only and cups. The cavity is the difference between twenty years and forty.
Exposure and course lines set out
03Weather exposure chosen for the grade of shingle and kept consistent, course lines snapped across the elevation, and the pattern planned so the bottom and top courses land properly at the water table and the soffit.
Stainless or hot-dip fasteners only
04Cedar extractives corrode ordinary galvanised nails and the corrosion bleeds black streaks down the wall. Stainless is the specification, and it is not the place to save money.
Woven or mitred corners
05Corners woven course by course, or mitred where the elevation calls for it, rather than stopped into a corner board if you want the traditional look. Slower, and the detail people actually notice.
Finish applied where it can be reached
06Pre-stained or pre-primed on all six sides before it goes on the wall where the product allows it, because the edges and the back are where moisture gets in and they are unreachable afterwards.
On the job
Siding work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Cedar shake questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
Twenty to forty years, and which end of that range you land on is almost entirely about two things: whether it was installed over a ventilated rain screen so the back of each shingle can dry, and whether it gets cleaned and re-stained every four to seven years. Cedar laid tight against sheathing on a shaded north wall in this humidity can be cupping inside fifteen. The same shingles on a rain screen, maintained, outlast most roofs.
From the street, yes — the staggered-edge panels in particular read as a shingle wall and hold a crisp shadow line. Up close, within a few feet, you can tell: the grain is moulded rather than sawn and the courses are more uniform than hand-laid cedar. Our honest guidance is that it is the better buy for a whole-house re-side, and real cedar is worth it on a feature gable, a dormer or an entry where people stand close enough to see it.
Yes, and it is routine. Individual shingles come out and go back in with a shingle ripper and a stainless nail, and new cedar next to weathered cedar will look wrong for a year or two and then blend. Where it stops being worth it is when the wall is cupping generally, the fasteners are bleeding, or you are on the fourth separate patch — at that point the material is telling you it is at the end rather than damaged.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the siding work.
Most siding jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
James Hardie installation requirements
Fibre cement has published nailing, clearance and joint rules. A job that ignores them voids the warranty.
OpenNational Association of Home Builders
Where the residential-construction standards and material research behind these decisions are published.
OpenNational Weather Service, Baltimore/Washington
Local rainfall and freeze data — the numbers behind how gutters here get sized and when ice dams form.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
