Why Western Red Cedar?
In Canadian homes, wood is a traditional structural and decorative material. Western Red Cedar’s warm natural colours, from rich amber to deep honey brown, create a visual presence uniquely its own, compatible with a wide range of designs and furnishings and eminently more suitable to interior decor than metal.
Western Red Cedar does not require a finish for protective purposes because of its exceptional durability. Its use in a natural state is accepted by leading agencies (CMHA, FHA) in both Canada and the United States. Finishes are applied principally to provide a cleanable surface, to enhance the natural colour of the wood, or to modify it to a preferred colour tone for decorative purposes. Cedar’s fine grain, freedom from pitch, and exceptional dimensional stability make it an ideal base for a great variety of coatings.
Perma-Wood also offers optional exterior aluminum or copper finishes in a variety of colours to provide a year round maintenance free exterior. This option might also be considered if the house presently has a noticeable amount of metal trim or cladding.
Western Red Cedar has a very low shrinkage factor and outstanding resistance to warping, twisting and checking. All lumber is hygroscopic and will pick up or discharge moisture until it is in equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere (hence the expression “wood breathes”). However, due to its low density, Western Red Cedar has outstanding dimensional stability, a quality enhanced through kiln drying making it an ideal material for high humidity areas such as kitchens, bathrooms, saunas, and pools.
Western Red Cedar is also an excellent thermal insulator, in fact several hundred times better than metal. Its low density and unique cellular structure give the wood an insulation value superior to most other species, an important consideration in both winter and summer.
An important acoustical property of wood is its ability to damp vibrations. This damping reduces the tendency of structures to transmit vibrations over distance; it also reduces the magnitude of resonant vibrations thus improving wood’s performance as a reflective surface.