Gedar shakes and shingles for sidewalls

A LTHOUGH western red cedar .{A.shakes and shinsles are usuallv thought of as roofinf material, substantial volume is used for sidewalls, according to Homer Earll, eastern district manager for the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau.

Traditionally produced from whatever species was available locally, shake and shingle sidewalls can be traced back before the 1700s. Colonists may have introduced them, since they have been used in parts of Europe for 400 to 500 years.

Using cedar for sidewalls is common throughout the U.S. and Canada, but the largest markets are New England, Long Island and New Jersey.

Sidewall material is available in 16", 18" and 24" lengths, with the most popular being the 18".

The standard shingle is dried, edges and butt machined parallel and smooth to produce a rebutted and rejointed, or R&R sidewall. The even edges allow the shingle to be laid with as little as an l/8" keyway, and the perfectly smooth butt results in an eyepleasing, sharp shadow line.

An R&R shingle is sometimes seen with a machine-grooved face, and sometimes a sanded face. Each provides a slightly different appearance to satisfy the preference of the architect or homeowner. A prime white or prime gray, or even a finished stain, may be factory applied to reduce onthe-job costs

Most sidewall shingles are produced as a No. I vertical grain product-the top grade available. But, if economy is a factor, a No. 2 red label shingle may be specified. The No. 2 allows for flat grain, which may result

Story at a Glance

Cedar shingles aren't just for roofing ... types, sizes of sidewall material.

rn some movement when exposed to intense heat. In shaded areas or at reduced exposures, the No. 2 performs very satisfactorily.

For a more rustic look, the handsplit and resawn shake, tapersawn shakes or roof shingles may be used. This is a matter of personal preference. The shake will give the finished building a more rustic appearance because the sideways spacing usually is not as tight and the butts may be a bit shaggy.

Another option is to use a fancy cut shingle. This is a 16" product offering a variety of standard patterns. Architects often specify these to emphasize architectural features on a building.

Whatever product is requested, easily applied red cedar sidewall products provide a high quality appearance, low maintenance and a long life-often 50 years or more. In addition, the inherent insulative value of western red cedar assures homeowners of minimum heat loss in winter and excellent resistance to heat during warm months. And, as a renewable natural resource, they are kind to the environment.

TANUARY l, 2000 is less rhan rwo j and a half years away. so it's very important for building material dealers and distributors to take action now on the Year 2000 Problem in their computer systems.

Here's the problem: for several decades, software developers and programmers have written programs and databases with two-digit date fields (so that, for example, 1997 is recorded as 97). This was done mainly because the disk space and memory in computer systems was very scarce and expensive. Every chance to save space was valuable, and the date fields were an obvious place to start.

Now that disk space is more affordable, and even small PC desktop systems have plenty of space, a potential problem is how the systems will process the date fields when the calendar rolls over from 1999 to 2000. Many computers will record this as 99 moving to 00; in other words, they will read the New Year as 1900 instead of 2000.

Numerous potential problems such as sorting by date (accounts receivable aging, for instance) could arise. All calculations and processes based on two-digit year data are likely to fail completely or yield incorrect results. Age calculations for routine tasks will be wrong, sorting routines will not work correctly, and many businesses could face crippling problems and severe logistical issues due to an inability to process orders, invoices, shipments or anything else