Enviroshake Roofing Tiles Look like Cedar

Enviroshake is a roofing tile that is intended as a cedar shake replacement. It comes in one colour, a dark gray when first installed, but within 6 months it weathers to a nice looking silvery gray similar to that of weathered cedar. The shakes come in 8 different profiles so that a roof will have that authentic cedar look to it.

Because the product is made primarily from composite materials some of the features of it are that it is:

• durable, it won’t rot, shrink or crack over its lifespan,
• pest, mould and mildew resistant,
• can withstand winds up to 110 km/hr,
• fire retardant,
• maintains its colour after the initial weathering.

At end-of-life, tiles can be sent back to Enviroshake to be recycled and made into new shakes again.

Perhaps what is most surprising about this product is that it is made from 95% recycled material. I contacted Ashley Hewko, Director of Marketing at Enviroshake to inquire as to what the 95% recycled material was made up of and whether the material was otherwise bound for landfill or if it had value of any kind, and where it came from. Here is Ashley’s response:

 The percentage breakdown of each type of recycled material in our formulation is a “PROPRIETARY” so I cannot share that. However, I can tell you that the Enviroshake is made from 95% post industrial recycled plastics, elastomers, and cellulosic fibre. Some content would otherwise end up in a landfill, and others are a valued commodity. All of our post industrial recycled materials are sourced from North America (within a 300 mile radius from our plants location), NONE of our materials is sourced offshore. We are an ISO 9001-2008 certified company and have been operating under this certification for over 10 years.

Then, being the persistently nosy person that I am, I wanted to know if they’d done a life cycle analysis comparison with cedar. Ashley sent me a comparison of Enviroshake versus Cedar. While it’s not exactly what I was looking for — I wanted to see the lifetime embodied energy of Enviroshake versus Cedar — it at least shows that Enviroshake lasts for 50 plus years with little to no maintenance whereas a cedar roof would be replaced one to two times during the same time frame. I guess the weakness of the comparison could lie in the assumption that a cedar roof needs to be replaced so frequently. Enviroshake acknowledges that cedar roofs of old used to last 40 years or more, but that shakes cut from newer-growth cedar trees tend to be cut thinner and can split and crack after as few as 12 years, while entire cedar roofs need to be replaced after 15-20 years.

Cost: Enviroshake purchase and installation costs the same as cedar, but given ongoing lack of maintenance versus a cedar roof, the Enviroshake roof comes out significantly less over its lifespan. See this sheet for specific details.

Warranty: As long as Enviroshake is installed by a certified Enviroshake installer, the roof will carry a 50 year warranty that is transferable.

To find out more about Enviroshake, visit their website.