Why Eastern Red Cedar?
Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) is a prolific native species that grows well even in our poor Southern soils. It has many distinctive characteristics, such as a pleasant aromatic smell, contrasting red heartwood and white sapwood, an abundance of small, tight knots, and naturally occuring rot resistance and pest repellance. However, Eastern Red cedar is an extremely hard wood to process. It's typically a small tree, and is often considered junk. It can be most readily found growing along fence lines, tangled in barded wire. Because of this, it isn't readily available for purchase. We remedy this problem by purchasing cedar logs and processing the wood ourselves. It's also a hard wood to build with because it's fairly hard and splits easily. Over the years, we've learned methods and procedures that allow us to minimize these characteristics, allowing you to enjoy the positive characteristics of this wood.
When Eastern Red Cedar is allowed to weather naturally, it's red and white color becomes a bit browner, eventually turning a weathered silver. Left natural, this wood will color, but it will not rot. We stain our structures to retain the reddish color, not necessarily to protect against deterioration, unlike other wood. Manufactured wood (plywood, pressboard, etc.) will deteriorate very rapidly. Untreated pine will also soften up and rot. Eastern Red Cedar, even when left in it's natural state, is one of the few woods that is rot resistant.
The naturally occuring pest repellant properties of Eastern Red Cedar work wonderfully well against pests that would harm your stored belongings. That's why it's been used in closets for many years. Well, we just make a really big, portable closet! Storage barns and garden sheds benefit the most from these naturally occuring rot resistant properties. For example, we sell cedar mulch (ground up scraps and inferior quality wood) for landscaping usage. One of our customers commented that the cedar mulch "took care of all my spiders" outside around the house. Our storage barns and garden sheds have the same properties.
The siding we use on our structures is 3/4" thick x 5" wide with eased edges with tongue and groove. It's solid wood, no man-made pressboard or plywood. Our siding is also available for purchase if you want to take advantage of the unique properties of Eastern Red Cedar. Just contact us for a quote...
We're sure you'll enjoy the benefits of using this unique wood as much as we enjoy building beautiful strutures with it!
