Cedar

For centuries, Western Red Cedar has been the Pacific Northwest's "heritage" outdoor building material - for some very natural reasons: Natural durability. Cedar's natural preservative oil eliminates the need for further chemical treatments, unless the wood is in direct contact with the ground. Natural stability. Cedar resists cracking, warping, cupping and pulling loose from fasteners. Natural working ease. Cedar is uncommonly light in weight, cuts cleanly and easily. Natural beauty. Cedar's richness of grain, color and texture complement any architectural style. From Northern British Columbia, Canada, to California, a rugged spine of mountains stretches for almost 1,500 miles parallel to the Pacific coast of North America. Along the slopes and in the valleys of these mountains, the humus-rich soil nourishes mixed softwood forests in vast abundance. The majority of Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) grows in coastal forests. Western Red Cedars grow also in the drier interior forests of British Columbia, Washington, Idaho and Montana where they are smaller in stature with a tight knotted growth characteristic. Cedars rarely grow in pure stands but are generally found in association with other species. Western Red Cedar forests are predominantly managed forests, in which controlled harvests, natural regeneration and reforestation programs ensure a perpetual harvest

The Gift Of Durability

Western Red Cedar contains natural oils that act as preservatives to help the wood resist insect attack and decay. Cedar is also a dimensionally stable wood that lies flat and stays straight. Properly finished and maintained, Western Red Cedar ages gracefully and endures for many years.

Cedar is the preferred material for all outdoor applications that seek visual harmony with the landscape combined with stability and durability: from siding and patio decking to fences, planters, screens, shelters and garden furniture. Indoors, cedar's dimensional stability makes it perfectly suited to a variety of uses in high moisture areas such as kitchens, bathrooms and saunas.

Western Red Cedar should be preservative treated if intended for use in applications where it comes in contact with the ground. Preservatives and or stains will extend the life of western red cedar by delaying decay.

Beautiful Benefits

Beauty aside, the purely practical, dollars-and-cent value of cedar offers other benefits: the wood's cellular structure creates interior air spaces that give it an insulation value higher than most woods and much higher than brick or concrete. Buildings which feature cedar paneling, ceilings or siding tend to stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Cedar also has excellent sound suppression and absorption qualities.

THE FINISHING TOUCH

While Cedar can be left unfinished for a rustic wheathered look, the use of a quality finish recommended by Perkins Lumber can enhance both its good looks and its natural characteristics.

Red Cedar accepts a wide range of stains in your choice of tinted transparent finishes for a natural effect, or lightly pigmented semi-transparent finishes. The latter are available in a spectrum of colours. We carry many lines of high quality interior and exterior wood stains.

Look for a coating that offers good fungicide and ultraviolet shielding properties as well as additional preservatives to protect your project's youthful complexion. Sealers, varnishes and other film-forming coatings which can crack and peel are not recommended for use on exterior horizontal surfaces. For exterior applications we recommend breathable stains as opposed to paints. A sealer should not be used as it does not allow moisture to escape without peeling the finish, although we carry some translucent products we recommend some pigment as in a semi-transparent or opaque stain to help deflect the uvrays that lead to deterioration of the wood.