What color did you want? What is the purpose of bleaching the shingles if you want a color? Stain is not like paint that forms a protective film so more than 2 factory coats is not necessarily beneficial. Cabot stain should last 10 to 40 years depending on what you think shingles should look like. The old timers didn't put anything on red cedar and replaced them when they split or curled.

Ask to see that unusual spec on a house.

Thanks Renovator8 we like the look of fresh red cedar. It weathers pretty unevenly judging from the houses around us to a blackish brown color and eventually to a dark grey. Would live to keep the red color (at least until we get tired of maintenance) and would want the weathering to be more uniform if we do let them go.

The cause of color fading is primarily UV light and that will not be uniform. The later darkening is caused by fungus and it will also not be uniform. Trying to prevent these natural processes from happening is difficult and expensive.

Siding stain is essentially the same as paint except the synthetic resin binder that interacts with the linseed oil to form a tough surface film in paint is greatly reduced in stain. With both materials, after the linseed oil and mineral spirits mixture penetrates the wood and the solvents start to evaporate, the oil combines with the resins and oxidizes leaving a tough surface film in paint and a soft pigment finish in stain. One of the major advantages of stain is that the lower resin content allows the oxidizing of the oil to occur within the wood.

Cabot makes a very low-pigmented, solvent-based, oil-modified (linseed oil modified with alkyd resin) stain in 4 colors called "Wood Toned Deck & Siding Stain" (#3000 series). It slightly darkens the wood and provides a flat translucent finish with UV and fungus protection. The finish is supposed to slowly weather to a natural wood hue.

Field applying stain to shingles that have already been factory dipped in stain at the factory is a bad idea and not recommended by Cabot so you should ignore your architect's advice on this matter. A second coat of stain must be applied while the first coat is still wet otherwise the second coat cannot penetrate the wood and may leave a sticky top coat. The same problem can occur with an excessive first coat. Stain does not build up a finish like paint. This issue can also make frequent recoatings difficult unless the surface is very carefully prepared each time as recommended by Cabot.

There are pressure treated shingles that will hold their color and resist decay but I have not used them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabot Wood Toned Deck & Siding Stain

There is too much data missing to advise you.

1. Do you have the shingles on hand? Are they uniform in color or do they vary (WRC comes in reddish, yellowish, and blackish, depending on how and where the trees grew and the ages of the trees).
2. What grade shingle are you applying? #1's are all VG grain and all heartwood. #2's will have knots in the top 1/3 and can include flat grain and some sapwood. Any grade below #2 should not be used for siding unless you want a very rustic look. In all cases, the color can vary.

Retaining fresh-sawn color for WRC with any degree of UV exposure will be very difficult and the maintenance will be a killer.

The specified shingles are Teal Jones #1 100% heartwood r&r 18" with 5" reveal. These can be ordered untreated, pre stained in semi transparent, semi solid or 50:50 Cabot bleaching oil + grey stain. The latter isn't the direction we were thinking of going.

I read somewhere to expect annual maintenance if we go clear coat, biannual with semi transparent, every 3 years with semi solid and 5 years if we go with bleaching oil. Does this sound accurate?

I looked at the Teal Jones website. If you are buying the "West Coast Craftsman" shingles, then you are getting a #2 grade. #1 shingles do allow any flat grain or sloped grain or grain that is too wide.

Clicking on the West Coast Craftsman link below, in the Extractive Bleeding paragraph it says "A high percentage of flat grain present in this grade of shingle......"

The Teal Signature shingles are probably #1's but it does not say. In my experience, any boxed shingles are usually always #1's.

I'm not telling you to not go this route, but flat grain shingles, shingles cut too close to the butt of the tree, and shingles without straight grain will not lay flat for very long and will crack and cup. Plus, do you really want to repaint your house every 3 to 5 years?

I'm not anti-shingles, but I did manufacture them for over 20 years. I want you to understand what you are getting into. Please take a closer look at some of the shingled houses in your area and try to talk with the owners to get a better idea of what works and what does not.

Here is a link that might be useful: West Coast Craftsman

This post was edited by rmtdoug on Mon, Aug 19, 13 at 1:55

They also offer red cedar shingles with a red cedar tinted transparent stain finish from Superdeck that allows the natural appearance of the shingles to be seen. If you want to hide that, you might as well prefinish them with a solid stain and avoid the muddy mess of multiple coats of field applied semi-transparent stain.

You should definitely be looking at houses to determine what you really what your shingles to look like.

Thanks rmtdoug and renovator8

I am thinking we might eventually let the shingles weather and may even sell the house in 10 years. Have been looking hard at the neighboring houses and have ruled out white cedar as a result due to cupping and splitting of the southern exposure.

There are some nicely done semitransparent stained houses and some attractive new and weathered WRC too but some are really black and blotchy. Thanks for the suggestion to talk to the owners to get a feel for what they are doing.

Thanks for your help in understanding trade offs.

We put up WRC shingles 3 years ago. I hand dipped them in a semitransparent stain by Cabot. They are holding up great and look great.

Looks great kalapointer thx. Our location is in costal NE. Not sure we can expect the same weathering judging from neighboring homes.

Just got some Nishiha Sierra shakes-- they look pretty okay once stained. Lifetime shingle warrantee and prestaining is guaranteed for 12 yrs. certainly tempting