Any material that is made to mock another material has a very small chance of looking good anywhere.

^ I agree with you, Mark. But, some areas prohibit real cedar shakes due to fire code restrictions.

hduns, cedar shakes are found on typically more rustic style homes while slate, being more expensive, was usually found on grander homes. Styles have muddied. Both cedar shake and slate are upscale alternatives to asphalt shingle.

If your home originally was designed and built with shakes, I would stick with the shake style.

Why not just tell us what style home you have or post a picture? It would be easier.

We used - what called? - architectural shingles, and they looked nice. We chose a sort of slate color - blended with our several blue spruce trees, especially.

Mark, have you seen these synthetic slates? They have been used on several roofs in my neighborhood and they look very real. I would have used them on my house but they were 5 times the cost of architectural shingles.

You don't mention where you live, but cedar shakes that are not near the ocean, don't get the "curing" benefits" of salt air and tend to just ultimately rot. A neighbor two doors up spent a fortune putting them on her roof, thinking they would last for 50 years or so. Wrong! Rotted, leaked - a hideous mess. Much to my astonishment, she has put them on yet again (at even greater cost), but this time had them treated with a preservative before the shingles were installed. Supposedly, this will avoid the rotting. We'll see. I do admit that her dutch colonial roof looks very god with this, plus a copper roof over the front porch and side addition, and copper flashing everywhere. It's gorgeous, but one could buy a modest house for what all this roofing has cost here, and many buyers will find it a turn-off someday (owners are in their late 60's).

Yes, pictures will help. True slate is pretty much forever - yes, an occasional broken slate, but easily replaced. Don't know with the synthetic, Either roof is going to really cost you a lot!

Thank you for everyone’s feedback! Mark, the synthetic ones I looked at were called Enviroshake - I haven’t seen them in person, but the pictures looked very nice, so I thought it was worth looking into!

Our house is on Long Island - not on the water, but not super far either. About 8 miles from the ocean.

Here are a couple of pictures - it has mostly shingle siding, but some areas are stucco with Tudor-style beams. The gambrel roofline in some sections feels more coastal style to me. Kind of a mix of styles! The paint color may change, if that makes a difference.

I like the shake roof for your home, especially with the gambrel roof and shingled siding.

I think some of the slate options are too multicolored and can look busy. You have a lot of detail on your home and I wouldn't choose a roof that is too busy. Choose a roof with a solid color.

Thanks mmilos! I didn’t even think about the color differences looking busier

I'd stick with real cedar shake shingles - nothing synthetic. It goes with your house. And I like the color - will go well with the house as the shingles gray over the years. The synthetic cedar shakes look...well, "synthetic".

Anglophilia - we are only considering the synthetic cedar shake because the real cedar is causing a lot of issues in the home. We can’t insulate the third floor as we would like because the real cedar needs air beneath it to breathe, and there have been 4 burst pipes on the third floor in 15 years. Our roof is also only 15 years old and it is falling apart. So we are very hesitant to go with real cedar again, even though there are supposedly methods now that allow you to better insulate under the roof!

edenchild - this is amazing feedback! I am literally laughing out loud at the part about the police and just read your post to my husband. I never would have imagined that my roofing decisions could lead to this type of police involvement!

@hduns, I never imagined that outcome either. I really liked the look of the product and was so happy when it was first installed. BTW, we sold the house (for unrelated reasons) before the next winter and I have no idea if it ever happened again. I’m in an area that doesn't often get heavy snow (PNW) so it may not have.

Cedar shakes were standard for mid century ranches where I live. Mine lasted over 50 years and hadn't failed when we replaced them with cedar shakes. They looked pretty tired, though...

Except for real slate and real wood shakes/shingles and actual tile, aren't all roofs fake something though?

Edenchild - glad you liked the look! Which brand did you use if you happen to remember?

Fori - we were told that cedar should last 50 years, which is why we are so surprised that it needs replacing after 15 years! Maybe it wasn’t maintained properly? We just bought the house, so don’t know what was done to it previously

I lived in an HOA that insisted on shake cedar roof. It was supposed to be French chateau look.

I'd go with synthetic shake. And yes, most locales do not allow the real thing, anymore.

Beautiful home. It will look good regardless of the roofing you choose.

If your budget doesn't allow actual wood/cedar shakes/shingles, rather than using the fake stuff -- and local building codes permitting, of course -- you might consider some of the new metal roofing that is durable and comes in a lot of colors.

Properly done, it finishes well:

http://www.anchorroofingnj.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/new-jersey-metal-roofing2.jpg

and even comes in bright beachy blue:

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/83/1a/82/831a82661a2bd468d68cf2074c2eccb6--cape-cod-homes-metal-roof.jpg

There are times when the home is so nicely designed that it does not matter what is put on the roof.