Many readers are responding to today's column (July 27) with their own horror stories about cedar shake roofs and fire. This e-mail, from a reader in Salem, is a good example of what I'm hearing ...

Shake roofs installed in this fashion can have life spans of as little as 15 years. Infrequently, I’ve seen cedar shakes installed over wood furring – strips of wood applied to the plywood ...

The green roof market alone grew by 115% last year, according to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a not-for-profit organization touting the benefits of turf roofing.

However, if cedar roofs are restored prior to reaching their life expectancy, then these same cedar roofs can last for 25 years or more. The process of restoring cedar roofing is not complicated.

The Denver Green Buildings Ordinance is a building code that requires buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to dedicate a section of their roofs to solar or rooftop gardens, with portions ranging ...