Close Down the Insect Buffet
What’s for lunch? If you’re a termite or insect in the vicinity of a real cedar shake roof, a bountiful buffet awaits you!
While homeowners may like the “charm” of having a real cedar roof on their homes, these roofs come with many challenges. Cracking. Splitting. Growth of moss and algae. Fading. Shrinking. Curling. And, worst of all for some homeowners — mold and insect infestations.
“I wanted something that looked like real wood shakes but performed better,” says homeowner Thomas Meyers of Prior Lake, Minn. “I was tired of our older wood shakes deteriorating with different weather conditions. Plus, mold would accumulate on the wood shakes and the shakes were fading. Overall, dealing with this roof was a huge headache.
“After doing research on DaVinci Roofscapes and discussing the product with our contractor, we decided our best option was the Bellaforté Shake product that resists impact, wind, algae and mold.”
Meyers isn’t alone in his search for a “better” cedar shake. After severe hail damaged all 35 condo roofs at the Catawba Shores lakeside community, the homeowners association vowed not to let costly storm damage impact their homes again.
“The hail damage caught us by surprise,” says Jim Packard, president of the Catawba Shores Homeowners Association in Port Clinton, Ohio. “But we quickly learned that real wood shakes just don’t hold up against Mother Nature. The damage was so bad that our insurance company subsidized the cost of all the replacement roofs.”
After researching the community’s options, the Catawba Shores community committed to the man-made Bellaforté Shake roofing tiles and never looked back. Now on the community for five years, the synthetic shakes look as good as the day they were installed — and there are no free lunches up on the roof for termites!
For more on the Catawba Shores project, see A New Roof … Times 35 and Why You Should Care that DaVinci Polymer Roofs are Used on Condo Communities.