7 min read · Cost
The honest answer to 'what does it cost to replace cedar shake siding?' is 'it depends on your wall and what you replace it with' — and anyone quoting a single confident number sight-unseen is guessing. What we can do is explain the factors that move the price and give general California planning ranges, so you can budget with your eyes open. This guide walks the cost drivers — the tear-off, the condition of what's behind the cedar, and the material you choose — and offers ranges that are for planning only, not a Sierra Siding quote. We scope every project on site.
What drives the cost of a cedar-shake re-side
A few factors do most of the work. **Wall area and complexity** — square footage, stories, dormers, gables, and how many windows and corners break up the field all affect labor. **Tear-off and disposal** — removing existing cedar courses and hauling them off is real labor, though cedar isn't as heavy or involved to remove as stucco. **Condition behind the cedar** — once the wall is open, the sheathing and the weather-resistive barrier get inspected, and any rot, moisture damage, or missing house wrap found there adds scope (it's also the whole point of doing the job right). **Material choice** — natural cedar, vinyl shake, and HardieShingle fiber cement sit at different price points, and the finish level (factory ColorPlus vs. field-painted) matters too. **Access and site conditions** round it out.
The tear-off is where value is protected — or lost
Replacing cedar shake is a tear-off, and that's a feature. Pulling the old shakes exposes the sheathing and the existing weather-resistive barrier, which is the moment to find and fix any hidden moisture problems, then install a continuous, correctly lapped barrier integrated with new flashing at every window, door, and penetration before the new siding goes on. Cutting corners here — siding over old material, or skimping on flashing — is how a cheaper bid turns into an expensive callback. When you compare quotes, the number to scrutinize isn't just the material; it's whether the weather barrier and flashing are being rebuilt properly. That work is a big part of why a professional re-side costs what it does, and it's exactly the part you don't want to save money on.
How to read the planning ranges below
The table gives relative cost tiers for the common shake-look materials, plus the tear-off, as general California planning ranges. Read them as a way to compare options and set a rough budget, not as a bid — actual numbers swing widely with wall size, condition, cedar grade, region, and access. Vinyl shake sits at the budget end, natural cedar and HardieShingle at the premium end (with cedar carrying decades of staining upkeep that the sticker price doesn't show). The only way to get a real number for your home is an on-site scope, which is how we quote. Use the ranges to decide which material to explore, then get it measured.
The shake-specific surprises a tear-off can reveal
Shake tear-offs have their own personality, and a couple of discoveries are common enough that a good estimate anticipates them. The first is spaced sheathing: many older shake walls were built over horizontal boards with gaps between them so the shakes could dry from behind — fine for cedar, but not a substrate any modern panelized siding can hang on. Those walls get new structural sheathing before anything else, and that's a real line of material and labor a sight-unseen bid simply cannot include as a firm number; look for it as a clearly stated allowance instead. The second is layering: it's not rare to pull shakes and find an older siding underneath, which means more demolition and more disposal than the wall suggested from outside. And shake demolition itself produces a distinctive mess — thousands of small, nail-studded pieces rather than a stack of sheets — so cleanup and magnet-sweeping the yard are part of honest scope. None of these are reasons to fear the project; they're reasons to prefer a bid that names them up front over one that's mysteriously cheaper because it pretends they don't exist.
Whole house or one elevation at a time — how phasing changes the math
Some owners ask whether they can spread the cost by re-siding in phases — typically the weather-beaten south or west wall first. It's a legitimate strategy with honest trade-offs. In favor: it spreads spending across seasons, addresses the worst exposure now, and lets you live with the new material before committing the whole house. Against: each phase repeats mobilization, setup, and disposal, so the combined price of several phases runs higher than one continuous project; the weather barrier has to be tied in properly at every phase boundary so the wall doesn't leak at the seam between old and new work; and if phases sit years apart, finish weathering between them can read as a subtle color step until a repaint evens it out. Where phasing shines is when the shake is an accent — replacing only gables and dormers is naturally a small, self-contained project. Where it disappoints is a full wrap split into thirds purely for budget reasons; financing a single continuous job is often the better arithmetic. We'll price it both ways if you're weighing it.
How to make competing bids actually comparable
Cedar-shake replacement bids are notoriously hard to compare, because so much of the price lives in assumptions the paperwork may not state. Before you weigh totals, get each bidder to itemize the same things: tear-off and disposal as its own line; what happens if spaced sheathing or rot is found — is resheathing included, excluded, or an allowance with a stated unit price; the weather-resistive barrier and flashing scope in writing, not implied; the exact product, profile, and finish level being quoted, since 'shake-look siding' covers a wide spectrum; and who handles painting if the material isn't factory-finished. A bid that's dramatically lower usually isn't magic — it's excluding something the others included, and the gap reappears later as a change order. The most useful question to ask each contractor is the same one: what in this price is an allowance or assumption, and what happens if the wall surprises us? The bidder who answers specifically, in writing, is showing you how the project will actually be run.
Cedar-shake replacement — relative California planning tiers
| Cost item | Relative tier | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Cedar tear-off & disposal | Moderate | Wall area, stories, access, haul-off |
| Weather barrier & flashing rebuild | Moderate | Condition of sheathing; any rot found |
| Vinyl shake (material + install) | Budget | Lowest-cost shake look; no repaint |
| HardieShingle fiber cement | Premium | Noncombustible, factory finish, low upkeep |
| Natural cedar shake | Premium | Cedar grade; plus lifetime staining/re-coating |
These are general California planning ranges to compare options, NOT a Sierra Siding quote. Actual cost depends on wall size, condition, material grade, region, and access — every project is scoped on site before we give a number.
Key takeaways
- No honest single price exists sight-unseen — cost depends on your wall, its condition, and the material you choose.
- Main drivers: wall area/complexity, tear-off and disposal, condition of the sheathing and weather barrier, and material choice.
- The tear-off is the chance to rebuild the weather-resistive barrier and flashing — the part a cheap bid tends to skip.
- Vinyl shake is the budget tier; natural cedar and HardieShingle are premium (and cedar adds decades of staining upkeep).
- The planning ranges are for comparison and budgeting only — a real number comes from an on-site scope.
FAQ
Quick Answers
There's no honest single number without seeing the wall — cost swings widely with square footage, number of stories, the condition of the sheathing and weather barrier behind the cedar, the material you replace it with, and site access. We can give general California planning ranges to compare options (vinyl shake at the budget end, natural cedar and HardieShingle at the premium end), but we don't quote sight-unseen. Every project is scoped on site before we put a number on it.
It depends on the cedar grade, but they're both premium materials, and the more honest comparison is lifetime cost. Quality cedar isn't cheap up front and then adds decades of staining and re-coating; HardieShingle carries a comparable-to-premium up-front cost with far less ongoing upkeep. For many California homeowners the fiber-cement route is competitive once you account for the maintenance you're not signing up for — but the only real number for your home comes from an on-site scope.
It's real labor, but cedar tear-off is generally less involved than removing stucco or abating asbestos. The bigger cost variable isn't the removal itself — it's what the tear-off reveals: if the sheathing or weather barrier behind the cedar needs repair, that adds scope. That inspection and the rebuilt weather barrier and flashing are the point of doing the job right, and skipping them is how a cheaper bid becomes an expensive problem later.
Mostly scope, not margin. One bid assumes the sheathing is fine; another carries an allowance to resheath spaced-board walls. One includes a full weather-barrier and flashing rebuild; another leaves it implied. One prices a factory-finished premium panel; another a bare product plus field paint. Because so much of a shake job's cost hides behind the old siding and inside the spec, unstated assumptions move totals dramatically. Level the bids by making everyone itemize the same lines, and most of the mystery evaporates.
Sometimes — with eyes open. A single failing elevation or accent gable is a legitimate small project, and it targets money where the damage is. But per square foot, a one-wall job costs more than the same wall inside a whole-house project, because mobilization, setup, and disposal don't shrink with the wall. A partial re-side also has to tie the new weather barrier into the old wall correctly at the boundary. If the rest of the shake is genuinely sound, phase away; if it's all equally tired, one continuous project is usually the better spend.
Sources
Authoritative references
- James Hardie — HardieShingle siding (fiber-cement shake-look, straight-edge & staggered-edge panels)
- James Hardie — performance & durability (noncombustible/Class A per ASTM E84; built for extreme heat & UV)
- Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau — finishing & maintenance of cedar shakes and shingles
- UC ANR Fire Network — Siding (combustible vs. noncombustible/ignition-resistant siding for the WUI)
External links to government, code, and manufacturer sources. Sierra Siding is not affiliated with these organizations; references are provided for verification.