It’s ALL in the product - The most important part of a cedar roof restoration is the spray-on protective treatment. In fact, the wash and the repairs are all done primarily, not for looks, but to prepare for the application of chemical treatment. Without an effective protectant, the roof will be back where it started in a surprisingly short time.

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that the vast majority of products used in the roofing restoration industry will fail by the second year after application. Or, if the appearance is still satisfactory at that point, the functioning of the chemical is all but useless.

In other words, with most of the products out there, you will likely be wondering whether you should have bothered having your roof restored in the first place before too long.

Thankfully, CedarEX™ 100A was co-developed with Canada’s esteemed National Research Council, and the resulting product is, according to the first hand data we see in the roofs we have restored, the best restoration chemical product in North America.

THE RESEARCH TEAM:
THE RESEARCH TEAM: CedarEX™ 100A Roof Preservative Treatment was developed by four of Canada’s foremost chemical, coatings, and wood science experts - a roster that, due to the severe weather extremes that are found in Canada, carries a lot of weight.

For example, Dr Jerry Davis, an Oxford-trained lead chemist, has 3 Ph.D.’s and has supervised 450 chemists as Research Director of Glidden Paints, a large US-based coatings manufacturer. He is a Prince of Wales Scholarship winner, and was offered a Rhodes Scholarship. For eight consecutive years he was nominated the Technical Chair of the Canadian Paint and Coating Association by his peers. The other three Ph.D.-educated individuals working on this product are also highly-qualified in the areas of coatings, chemistry, and wood science, and have a great deal of direct experience working in leading organizations, as well as many patents to their credit.

The group that oversaw the creation of the CedarEX product was the National Research Council of Canada (in co-operation UBC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (I.R.A.P.)), a federal government agency created in the 1920’s that oversees high-tech projects, and those which represent a significant technical challenge. For example, Atomic Energy Canada and the Canadian Robotic Space Arm development program used in the NASA Space Shuttle both operate under the National Research Council umbrella.

Our position as a respected cedar roof restoration company allowed us to monitor the often poor results of other coatings and give ‘full input’ into the performance needed for a high level cedar treatment. The NRC, through the I.R.A.P. will only work with companies that have a sound track record within their industry in this kind of research, so CedarEX's involvement in this research is something we take an immense amount of pride in.

THE CEDAREX™ APPROACH:
The CedarEX™ formula was ultimately chosen over many other approaches, such as alkyd (oil-based) emulsions, clear solidifiers (colloid silica, resins, epoxies), transparent or semi-transparent stains, varnishes, or adapted acrylic (concrete type) sealers. Despite the marketing material that accompanies other approaches, most are extremely generic; in other words, the product has more than one usage, thus the engineering has incorporated characteristics that ‘serve several masters’, rather than focus on what cedar needs most. With an (almost) unlimited budget, and starting from scratch, we found that when we eliminated alternate potential uses of the product, we were able to create a treatment with a higher, consistently achievable performance level for cedar shakes and shingles that does exactly what we need it to do, rather than several things we don't.

CedarEX™ 100A contains over 30 formula components, while a typical coating contains 1/3 as many, while the performance parameters were arrived at after observation of over 1,000 installations. After years of testing and tweaking, and with real world data collected from our customers across several winters, summers, falls and springs, today, CedarEX 100A is simply the best cedar roof protection product we can make. There was NO chemical or concept which had ever risen to this task previously. Today, CedarEX 100A is available with the performance to do the job!

While it is relatively easy to develop a slick brochure which in essence says ‘This product is GREAT’, you should know more actual details to assist you in evaluation before spending your money. Many of the products on the coatings market are old ideas, which are adapted or dusted-off, with new marketing material, to attract a new generation of buyers. Unfortunately, one prime reason for the vendors’ utilization of the product is simple availability and low cost. Frankly, we are amazed at the strange, vague, and contradictory roof chemical information provided by some competitors in this industry. If you read their material CLOSELY, you can often detect inconsistencies within the product information. ‘There’s no meat on these bones’. The same old problem still exists, which was why we developed CedarEX™ 100A in the first place.

CEDAREX™ INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED PERFORMANCE:
To last the longest, wood must have a low moisture content - below 21%, in order to be ‘inert’ or not have any microbe activity (microbe activity breaks down the cellulose, rotting the wood).

That accomplished, it must NOT be made rigid (or ‘densified’), or else the differential expansion rate of the wood and the introduced hardening agent (such as silica) will cause tearing to occur in the wood cellulose, effectively fatiguing the original wood to mush over time. Moisture penetration allows a host environment for the microbes in the partial cavities that are unfilled with silica throughout the wood mass.

CedarEX™ 100A does not disturb or change the excellent characteristics of the sound wood fibre itself. CEDAREX™ ADAPTS TO THE WOOD’S temperature expansion and contraction.

Below is a list of the performance properties of CedarEX™, and why they are critical to have:

Moisture Block - Most grades of shakes or shingles that are 7 years of age or older have lost the majority of the natural oils which served to retard moisture absorption, as well as to frustrate the existence of any harmful microbes. A roof that is 2 years old is absorbing approximately 5% moisture. By the 10 year mark, the same roof is absorbing up to 65% moisture, meaning that after extended rainfall, it has not dried to below the important 21% threshold even after a day or two of clear weather (this depends on temperature and humidity factors). With the CedarEX™ treatment, the moisture absorption is limited to the 9 - 14% range, (thus the wood is inert or not rotting) depending on the shake and shingle grade, roof pitch, overhanging trees, etc. Further, what little moisture has been absorbed, dries quickly after a rainy period (usually within several hours on the first clear day). What normally would take a day or two to dry only takes an hour or two with the CedarEX product. This fact alone has a HUGE effect on lengthening the service life of the roof wood fibre (shakes and shingles). You will be amazed to see your dry roof while looking at your neighbors roof which is still soaked (and rotting).

Permeability - It is essential that the coating allow the smaller water vapor molecules to escape from the wood. Otherwise, these form a bond-inhibiting layer, which may cause the coating to fail, such as what would occur with a typical oil paint type of coating, which is non-breathing, and highly prone to failure.

Breathability - CedarEX™ allows escapement of moisture vapor pressure down to the 8% level, the remainder escapes from the uncoated underside of the wood. CedarEX™ 100A is breathable.

Elastomeric Properties - Your shakes and shingles expand and contract a maximum of 17% - many times over the course of the year. CedarEX™ has the flexibility to move without losing it’s ‘grip’ on the wood, thus staying firmly bonded. In fact, CedarEX™ has a flexibility well in excess of that required, to allow for any long term aging effect on the film.

Ultraviolet Block - Through oxidation and burning on unprotected cedar, an upper layer of ‘slag’ cells are created (gray color) which hold moisture longer than sound cells. It is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to have as close to ‘opaque’ or solid finish treatment as you can. It is technically impossible for a clear or semi-clear finish to effectively block UV as thoroughly as a solid finish can. CedarEX™, with an opaque UV block finish, will reduce the UV graying effect completely.

Preservative - The external weathered portion of the product must be chemically protected from microbe activity in addition to that layer of the shake/shingle into which the chemical has been absorbed. Both of these are achieved with environmentally safe ‘micro biocides’. It also makes sense that since the CedarEX treated wood doesn’t absorb as much moisture as an untreated roof would, the effects of decay would be none existent.

Moss Control – CedarEX™ has the strongest environmentally sound micro- biocides available for moss/algae protection. For aggressive areas of moss formation CedarEX will recommend a treatment additive - an advanced chemical engineering approach that to our knowledge is not used by any other manufacturer, anywhere. Mature moss clump formation will be reduced by approximately 80%. As long as the roof is kept clean of debris, there should never be any moss build-up on your roof again.

Fire Retardancy – CedarEX™ 100A is a non-flammable, breathable, environmentally friendly stain. Once applied to your roof, CedarEX will NOT promote flame spread as some products do.

Durability - The primary coating film must be durable, as well; specific active components cannot leach out. They must remain in a fixated state to keep the entire film functioning properly. CedarEX™ has exceptional durability characteristics - it surpassed exhaustive goals by a wide margin. In addition, the real world installations have confirmed the weatherometer testing results, allowing a doubling of the warranty (originally 5 years, now 10).

Stability and Consistency - Simply put, super quality formula components yield a real synergy benefit, as they are much closer to advertised specifications, minimizing or eliminating production variability. Our manufacturing process follows strict guidelines. All components are ‘Mercedes quality’ resulting in top of the line batches with the best materials available.

Colour - Because CedarEX™ must be an opaque film for functional reasons, a nice side benefit is that we can tint it with attractive colours to match your exterior decor, literally any colour you like, although we have several popular ones. They are: cedar brown, weathered gray and tan and dark tan. (NOTE - 80% of customers choose the ‘new roof’ or tan colour. Although more expensive, CedarEX™ recommends a darker shade as it will show less dirt and other foreign material over future years.)

Water-based products vs. Oil-based - The cedar shake had cedar oil in it originally, but this oil breaks down and leaves the wood – which is why your roof needs to be restored. An oil treatment is only a short term solution because like the original oil within the cedar shake, it washes out and breaks down as well.

With CedarEX™ 100A (a special water-based hybrid latex-elastomeric/stain), the treatment penetrates the shake and dries into a unique, durable and long term barrier minimizing water penetration (yet allowing the cedar to breathe) and is superior to any oil based treatment.

If you are interested in a short-term oil-based preservative we have just the solution- CedarEX™ Oil Preservative (tinted or untinted). Although we recommend re-application every 3-5 years, this is a far better alternative than doing nothing at all. Please call for details.

Application - The CedarEX 100A product was tested to a ten year equivalent, at a roof coverage rate of 1200 sq.ft. per 5 gallon pail. Installing the product at a MINIMUM rate of 500 sq.ft. per 5 Gallon pail (5 pails per home average) will ensure a comfortable safety margin for the service life we claim. A majority of the other roof restoration products only require 1 pail of their product on the WHOLE roof – and often it is a watered down version (7 parts water to 1 part product). To actually protect your cedar you can’t ‘cut corners’! Use CedarEX™ 100A full-strength at our recommended application rates and really do some long-term good.

Environmentally Sound – CedarEX™ is non-carcinogenic and produced to exceed the Canadian regulations for coatings toxicity. It is very mild and will not harm any plants or animals.

If you'd like to see how Cedarex goes about the roof restoration process, click here.

The fact that we know what goes into our cedar roof treatments, and we know first-hand how good it is, allows us to offer the best warranty in the industry on all roofs treated with CedarEx™ 100A. So what a re you waiting for? Give us a call and we'll send one of our roofing consultants around to assess what your roof needs to be brought back to better than new.