Cedar Shake vs Synthetic Shake (Enviroshake, DaVinci): What to Put on a North Shore Home
The North Shore has more cedar shake per block than almost anywhere in the Midwest, and most of it is reaching the age where owners have to choose: real cedar again, or one of the synthetic shakes that have gotten very good. Here is the honest comparison from a company that installs both.
Why this decision is different here
In Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest and the older parts of Glenview and Arlington Heights, cedar shake is not a novelty; it is the original roof on a large share of the housing stock. When those roofs reach the end of their life, the choice is not really between cedar and asphalt. It is between installing real cedar again, with everything that involves, and installing a synthetic shake that is designed to look like cedar on day one and to keep looking like it for decades. Two synthetic products come up in nearly every conversation: Enviroshake and DaVinci. We install both, and we install real cedar, so we have no reason to steer you.
Real cedar shake: what you are actually buying
Cedar shake is split or sawn western red cedar, installed over spaced sheathing or a breathable underlayment so it can dry from both sides. It is a living material: it weathers from tan to silver-grey, it moves with humidity, and on a shaded North Shore lot under mature oaks it grows moss and holds moisture. That last part is the whole story of cedar in our area. A cedar roof on an open, sunny lot with good airflow can last a long time. The same roof under a canopy, on the north side of the house, without regular cleaning and treatment, can be half-dead in fifteen years. Real cedar rewards maintenance and punishes neglect, and it is untreated Class C for fire unless you specify pressure-impregnated fire-retardant shakes, which we cover in our Class A cedar post.
Enviroshake
Enviroshake is a composite shake made largely from recycled materials, and its signature is that it is designed to weather like cedar: it goes on with a brownish tone and, over the first year or two, greys out to a silver that closely resembles aged cedar. That is the reason architects and historic review boards on the North Shore often accept it where a shake that stays permanently brown would look wrong next to the original. It is a heavy, dense product for a synthetic, which gives it a substantial look at the eaves and rakes. The tradeoff is that the weathering is not optional: if you want the roof to stay the color it was on installation day, this is not the product. It also has a smaller installer base than DaVinci in our area, so ask any contractor how many they have done.
DaVinci Shake
DaVinci's shake products (Multi-Width Shake and Single-Width Shake) are molded polymer, the same family as the DaVinci slate we compared in our synthetic slate post. They are Class A fire-rated and Class 4 impact-rated, lightweight, and they come in a range of fixed colors and blends chosen at installation, including several that mimic new cedar and several that mimic weathered cedar. Unlike Enviroshake, a DaVinci roof stays essentially the color you picked. The molded texture is convincing at street distance; up close, the uniformity of the pieces is the tell, and the installer's job is to randomize widths and blend colors so the roof does not look like it came out of a machine. DaVinci has the larger installer base and easier availability of the two.
Appearance over time
Day one, new cedar wins; nothing looks like fresh-split cedar except fresh-split cedar. Year five, on a shaded North Shore lot, the honest ranking often reverses: the cedar is streaked and mossy unless it has been maintained, the Enviroshake has settled into an even silver-grey, and the DaVinci looks the way it did when it went on. Year fifteen, the cedar may be approaching replacement or restoration, and both synthetics should still look like themselves. If the goal is the look of cedar as it ages, Enviroshake gets closest. If the goal is the look of cedar frozen at a chosen point, DaVinci. If the goal is the real thing and the owner is willing to pay for cleaning and treatment on a schedule, cedar.
Fire, hail and weight
Both synthetics carry Class A fire ratings as installed systems; untreated cedar does not, and fire-treated cedar closes most but not all of that gap. Both synthetics carry Class 4 impact ratings, which matter in a hail year and which some insurers reward. Cedar handles hail reasonably but splits and loses pieces in severe storms. On weight, cedar is moderate, DaVinci is light, and Enviroshake is heavier than DaVinci but within the range of a normal roof structure. None of the three normally requires structural reinforcement on a house that carried cedar before.
Maintenance and repair
Cedar needs it: gentle cleaning (never pressure washing), moss removal, zinc or copper strips near the ridge, and periodic treatment, on a schedule that depends on how much shade the roof gets. Our cedar maintenance post walks through it. Synthetics need almost none beyond keeping gutters clear and having flashings checked. For repairs, cedar is the easiest to patch invisibly because the replacement shakes weather in; Enviroshake repairs weather in over a year or so; DaVinci repairs match immediately if the color is still made. Repairs on any of the three typically run $300 to $10,000 depending on scope, and a repair is often the right answer on a cedar roof that a less patient contractor would replace.
HOA, historic review and neighbors
Several North Shore communities have architectural review, and some Lake Forest and Winnetka properties fall under historic preservation oversight. In our experience, review boards that require cedar increasingly accept a synthetic that weathers to a cedar-like grey, and Enviroshake's weathering is often the reason it gets approved where a permanently brown product might not. Others will only accept real cedar. Check before you buy samples, and bring the review body a full-size sample and a photo of an installed roof, not a brochure. HOA communities in Glenview and Arlington Heights with cedar covenants generally have language written before synthetics existed, and a conversation with the board usually resolves it.
Residential and commercial
Cedar and synthetic shake are mostly a residential question on the North Shore, but not only. Clubhouses, country club buildings, church halls, and multi-building HOA communities in Lake Forest, Libertyville and Highland Park carry cedar too, and on those roofs the maintenance cost of real cedar across many buildings is what pushes an association toward a synthetic. We install cedar, Enviroshake and DaVinci on residential and commercial buildings and will tell an association board honestly when the existing cedar can be restored rather than replaced.
What drives the price
We do not publish a job total for cedar shake or premium synthetic shake on this site, because the range on North Shore homes is too wide for a number to mean anything and because we will not print a price we have not actually charged. What we can tell you is what moves the estimate. For real cedar: the grade and thickness of the shake, whether it is fire-treated, the sheathing or breathable underlayment system, copper or lead-coated flashing details, and the complexity of the roof. For Enviroshake and DaVinci: the product line and color blend, the volume of hip and ridge pieces (which are expensive relative to field pieces), and the same flashing and complexity factors. On most homes, the synthetics land in a similar range to fire-treated cedar; the gap shows up over the following twenty years in maintenance, not on the first invoice.
Our honest recommendation
If your lot is open and sunny, you love real cedar, and you will actually schedule the maintenance, install cedar again. If your lot is shaded and you want the aged-cedar look without the upkeep, Enviroshake. If you want a fixed color, the lightest product, and the largest installer base, DaVinci. If your existing cedar has failed flashings but sound shakes, which is more common than people think, restore it and revisit this question in ten years. We will tell you which of those applies when we are standing on the roof.
Talk to us
Leaders Roofing has installed, maintained and restored cedar shake on the North Shore and in the northwest suburbs since 1996, and installs Enviroshake and DaVinci synthetic shake on homes and commercial buildings across Cook and Lake Counties. Call (708) 847-5418 or request a free estimate and we will bring full-size samples of all three.