Are Cedar Shake Roofs Hard to Insure?
Often, yes. Cedar shake costs more to replace and burns easier than asphalt, so some insurers charge more or decline it.
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Age and Roof Condition
A newer cedar roof with no missing or curling shakes is easier to place and costs less to cover. An older one near the end of its life draws higher prices or a flat refusal. Insurers expect it to fail sooner and cost more to replace.
Class A Fire Treatment
Cedar shakes treated or rated for fire resistance insure more easily than untreated wood. Your declarations page or a roof inspection report should show whether the roof carries this rating. Untreated cedar is what drives most of the higher pricing and declines.
Wildfire Risk in Your Area
In areas prone to wildfire, cedar shake adds risk on top of risk. Some insurers won't write it at all in those zip codes. Away from wildfire-prone areas, the same roof is a smaller factor in what gets charged.
Rebuilding Cost, Not Market Value
Cedar shake costs more per square foot to replace than asphalt, and that higher rebuilding cost sets your dwelling coverage amount. A higher renewal often reflects what the roof would cost to redo now. It has nothing to do with what the house would sell for.
Cedar shake pricing varies a lot between insurers because each one weighs age, fire treatment, and wildfire risk differently. One company might decline a 20-year-old untreated roof that another prices fairly, especially outside a wildfire zone. Since nothing about the roof changed, the renewal increase reflects how one insurer sees the risk, not a fixed cost. Comparing quotes shows whether that price is typical or an outlier.
What Can Be Done to Lower the Cost
Replacing the roof outright is the most direct fix, but it is not the only one. If the cedar shakes are untreated, having them treated with a Class A fire retardant can change how an insurer prices the roof, and sometimes whether it will write the policy at all. Ask a roofer whether the existing shakes can be treated or whether the product itself needs to carry the rating, since that varies by what's already on the roof.
Some insurers offer a reduced rate for upgraded fire-resistant underlayment installed beneath the shakes, even without replacing the cedar itself. This isn't universal, so it's worth asking directly whether a particular insurer recognizes that upgrade before paying for it expecting a lower price.
Raising the deductible is a smaller lever, but it's one entirely within the homeowner's control. A higher deductible on wind, hail, or all-peril claims lowers the premium somewhat, though it won't offset a large increase tied to the roof's age or material. It helps most when the roof itself is already priced fairly and the goal is trimming the rest of the bill.
Bundling the home policy with auto or another line sometimes brings the cedar shake surcharge down, since the discount applies to the account rather than the roof specifically. It's also worth asking whether a roof inspection report, rather than just stated age, could move the pricing. An insurer working from assumed condition may charge more than one working from an actual inspection showing the shakes are sound. None of these change what the roof is, but they change what gets charged for it, and that's the distinction worth testing against other insurers.
Does Every Insurer Treat Cedar Shake the Same Way
No. Some insurers specialize in older homes and higher-risk roof types and have pricing built around cedar shake specifically. Others avoid it altogether, regardless of age or fire treatment, because it falls outside what their underwriting guidelines allow. A roof that gets declined by one insurer might be written at a normal rate by another that has more experience pricing that material.
Most renewal increases come from something broad, like rebuilding costs rising across the board or more storm claims filed in the state. A cedar shake surcharge works differently. It's tied to a specific, identifiable feature of the house, which makes it a better candidate for shopping around. The variation between insurers is wider than it is for a standard asphalt roof, where pricing tends to cluster closer together.
Local and regional insurers sometimes price cedar shake more favorably than larger national carriers, particularly in areas where the material is common and the insurer has a long history covering homes like it. A national insurer pricing from general guidelines might flag the roof as high risk by default. One familiar with the local building stock prices it according to what it has actually seen play out in claims. Neither approach is wrong, but they produce different numbers for the same roof.
Finding out means getting the roof's details in front of more than one insurer. Its age, whether it carries a Class A fire rating, and whether there's been a recent inspection all factor in. Two insurers working from the same facts can still land on different prices, and occasionally a different answer on whether to write the policy at all. Since the roof itself isn't changing, what's being tested is how each insurer reads the same risk.
Check the roof's actual file
Pull up your declarations page and see whether it lists the cedar shake's age, fire rating, or a recent inspection. Missing or outdated details mean an insurer may be pricing the roof on assumptions.
