Wood Shingles & Siding

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  • Does anyone have a recommendation for a licensed contractor? I need to replace outdoor siding of the second floor of my house. Thanks.

    Hi! 

    If you haven't completed your project yet, my sister used Construction Remedy (510) 637-8973. They are local and licensed. They did her siding on two sides and even fixed her deck outside. It looked really nice and professional. She loved it. 

  • Hi BPN, we have a wood shingle house where the shingles probably need to be totally replaced on at least one side of my house. Does anyone have a recommendation? Many thanks in advance

    Two recommendations of professionals who have been shingling houses in the East Bay for many years. Either one will do an excellent job. Avi who operates Shingles On The Side at 510-527-8583 and Oliver Govers ( Sidewall Shingling) at 510-339-6965. I suggest you talk to both of them (as well as perhaps others) to get a feel for them and their thoughts and prices for your project. It is not an inexpensive undertaking as the cost of materials has risen greatly. Currently the cost of shingles to cover a 10 feet by 10 feet square is about $500 and the cost of labor will vary.

    I’d recommend sticking to a shingle only outfit such as

    Shinglecraft (Gabriel Wynn);

     

    Gabriel Wynn does the work himself
     

    I would recommend getting bids from each and go with the lowest as all of these guys are very reputable. I’ve used Shinglecraft. Personally I like that Gabriel does the work so quality would be consistent. 
     

    We had Avi Messeri do our shingles a couple of years ago and we couldn’t be happier. He’s a super-nice and responsive person and his crew was top-notch. 

    https://www.shinglesontheside.com

  • Siding Contractor

    Jan 23, 2023

    Looking for any recommendations / referrals for a siding contractor.   We have some very old (40 years old) vinyl siding we are looking to have removed and the original redwood siding underneath repaired and restored.  Project also includes repair to existing exterior wood trim.

    Any referrals appreciated!

    We just used ALP Construction and Painting to replace our siding. We changed from this old ugly wood siding to James Hardie Fiber Cement. They also redid our neighbors cedar siding and also did an all natural cedar shingle house round the corner. We had very good experience with them. The workers arrived on time, cleaned up  incredibly well each and every day, and were polite and friendly. Greg Goray was our appraiser and he was easy to work with. 

  • Fire-resistant house siding?

    Sep 11, 2022

    We have a two-story house with wooden siding. We are just outside the High Fire Risk zone in the Oakland foothills.

    It would be great to replace the wood siding with a material that is resistant to wind-borne embers. 

    Any suggestions are welcome.

    Does anyone know of good local contractors who have experience with this type of exterior siding retrofit?

    I have heard of exterior siding panels that are made of cement hardened onto a fiber matrix.

    Can these materials be made to not look ugly?

    Thank you!

    Our Hardie siding in straight shingle looks great as does our neighbors' in plank lap siding. https://www.jameshardie.com

    James Hardie is pretty common and most affordable. Boral is another but about 1.5x the price. You have to figure out if you’re applying over existing or removing existing. You could call siding contractors for consult.

    Hardie Plank (or similar products) looks just like wood siding when painted, imho, and is fire-resistant (I think this might be the cement board you mentioned - it's not concrete, if that's what you're picturing, but fiber cement board similar to what you put behind a tile installation). Part of our house is the original redwood siding and an addition is Hardie Plank and you can barely tell the difference. I think you can get it pre-colored, but we bought the plain and it painted up fine. We've had it for about 12 years and no complaints. https://www.jameshardie.com/products/hardieplank-lap-siding

    You might consider going online and checking out cement based products made by the James Hardie Co. know locally as Hardie board. It is available in both siding and shingle styles. I  used the siding style when building a backyard ADU 12 years ago and Sherwin-Williams exterior paint was applied upon completion. The small unit exterior looks like it is only two or three years old now, The advantages are that it is almost completely fireproof with a class A rating, does not rot due to moisture or contact with rain and is pest resistant as well. It also is very low maintenance.

    You can find a list of all State Fire Marshall approved materials for Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) zones here: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/media/kmfiqck3/2022-sfm-wui-listed-products-ha…

  • We live in a Craftsman-ish house in Berkeley, built in 1908. The previous owners went the cheap route and painted (AAAAGH!) the redwood shingles on the second floor exterior of the house, as well as the wooden siding on the exterior first floor. The house is two stories, 2,000 square feet, very tall, and needs repainting. The original window frames and sills and a lot of the house should be sanded first, or something like that, as the paint is peeling in some spots. Rather than repainting the entire house, I would like to have the paint removed from the shingles and have them stained/refinished, but I am afraid that this will cost an arm and a leg. What have you paid recently to have a good deal of prep work done and a similar sized house painted? Have you had paint removed from shingles and the shingles refinished, and if so, what did that cost? Finally, can you give me some local recommendations to do the work? Any other suggestions or things I should consider? Thank you for your help!

    We have a similar 1907 Craftsman house with shingles.  (Shingles are cedar, not redwood.)  It would be quite costly to remove the paint for the shingles and they won't be able to remove all of the paint so it's not good.  Have you thought about re-shingling the entire house?  It will great.  The problem with doing anything with wood right now are the prices.  Wood prices are doubled if not tripled over the past year.  Over the years we have tried to sand and stain the windows in the front of our house.  The wood is so far gone it only looks good for a couple of years/.  We finally decided to get a quote....  $18,000 just to replace the windows or $25k to repair the existing windows.

    With all of the fires you are going to have a difficult time finding someone to do this type of work.

    It’s not feasible to remove paint from shingles. You can simply reshingle. I recommend this if the shingles are old since often people paint shingles when they are badly deteriorated in order to hide the damage.

    When reshingling you can either leave them to weather naturally, or apply stain. If you plan to stain, have your contractor stain them by dipping BEFORE putting them up. The stain will penetrate on all sides and be much more durable.

  • I am looking to replace shingles on two sides of my house. Does anyone have a recommendation for carpenters or businesses that replace shingles?

    I had my roofing done by Nicholas Roofing in Berkeley this summer. They were professionals and wonderful to work with. They also do repairs and shingle replacements. I know because they did my neighbors. 

    Avi Masseri, from "Shingles on the Side" did an AMAZING shingles replacement job on our house in Berkeley.

    His number: 510-219-4089

    Na'ama Firestone

  • Re-shingle entire house

    Jan 5, 2017

    We need to reshingle our whole house and was hoping for more current recommendations for shinglers. It's a 3 story house so it's a big job.  Any recommendations for someone that does quality work.  Thanks in advance. 

    Without a doubt you should go with Avi Messeri. Avi came highly recommended to us and did a fantastic job on our 1920s house. Reasonably priced high quality work. His number is (510) 527-8583. sean

    Best shinglers I have used are: Avi (Shingles On The Side) at 510-527-8583 and Oliver Govers (Sidewall Shingling) at 510-339-6965. This is not an inexpensive undertaking.

  • Hi BPN, I have a wood shingle house where the shingles probably need to be totally replaced on at least one side of my house.  For the remaining sides, I need cleaning and some spot-specific repairs.  I know the east bay (especially Berkeley) is filled with wood shingled houses.  Any tips are appreciated!

    Try Collins Roofing/Construction.  They have different operations but I know they did a nice job with some siding repairs for us and shingling has to be the same thing. 

Archived Q&A and Reviews


Questions

Need to re-shingle my house

June 2016

Hi, Our 100+ year old house in Berkeley needs new siding shingles. Since the house is not quite level, I'd like to get names of expert shinglers. The archive names are from the 1990's. Any new names/ recommendations? Thanks!


We have used Adrian Gomez Roofing for our last 2 homes. Great experience both times, excellent work, good pricing. You can reach him at: 510-582-1892 Good luck! ellen


Mynor DeLara of EcoValley Construction does excellent quality work. We have had him do a number of projects at our home over the last year including a kitchen remodel, replacing windows and siding, along with a few other changes. His number is 415-505-5815. He is located in San Rafael, but goes to other places in the bay area. Christina


Exterior Contractor to replace shingles and siding

Feb 2016

Hi, We are looking for a contractor to tear off old shingles and replace either with new shingles or with wood siding on our 2 1/2 story Victorian house in Alameda. Looking for bids both ways. May have lead paint on old shingles (have not tested yet). Must be licensed and carry worker's compensation insurance. Someone with some design experience/sense would be helpful also. Recommendations greatly appreciated. Linda


Two excellent shinglers in the local area are: Avi at 510-527-8583 and Oliver at 510-339-6965. Interview both of them and see which one suits your needs best. You can not go wrong with either.


Recent Shingler Recommendations?

Oct 2015

I'm looking for recommendations for quality shingle installers from the last few years in Berkeley. Thanks! anonymous


Govers Sidewall Shingling, in business since 1993, owned by Oliver Govers, a Berkeley native... sidewallshingling.com


We used Oliver Govers/Govers Sidewall Shingling. His website is http://www.sidewallshingling.com/2014/ He is a real craftsman. He just does beautiful work. We found him because we saw a house that he had done that we just loved and asked the owner, who also raved about him. His crew is great, easy to be around and very skilled. Vickie


ISO Shingle repair person

July 2015

We recently bought a Craftsman house which needs shingle work. Can't afford to re-shingle entirely, but we'd like to get several of the worst sections taken care of this summer. Any recommendations? Thank you!


Suggest you contact and arrange to meet Avi Messeri for your shingle repair. He has been in the business in this area for many years and always does a very fine job. His number is: 510-527-8583. Roger


Dec 2011

Re: Seeking shingler

Collins Roofing {collinsroofing.com} does siding as well as roofs. Think about it. It's the same process; just 90 degrees different. Great people. Good prices. Excellent work. Norm