Pro's Picks: Tando Beach House Shake

Randy Burton

Owner, Burton Builders

Lewes, Del. 

We build and remodel luxury homes on the Delaware coast where high winds and horizontal rain are a fact of life. That being the case, we’re picky when it comes to exterior products. 

Not long ago we had a client who wanted cedar shingles but balked at the price. Doug Catts, who runs our company’s renovation division, spoke with our siding supplier and they mentioned Tando Building Products’ new Beach House Shake product—hollow polypropylene extrusion that comes in 34-inch-long panels. It’s installed just like vinyl siding but is thicker. 

We had tried vinyl shake products from other manufacturers, and though they have proven durable, we’ve never been 100 percent satisfied with the color. The thing that sold us on trying the Beach House Shake is that it actually looks like real cedar.

We were only the second contractor to use the Tando product, so the company did offer some incentives, but we opted to pass them on to the client. Tando also provided technical support, but the installation was pretty easy. About the only gripe Doug had was that when you rip the top edge of a panel—as is necessary to fit the layout in some places—you have to drill nail holes and then cover with a site-milled piece of trim. We’ve spoken to Tando about that and are hoping they’ll offer a piece of soffit and under-sill channel.

Despite that drawback, we’re happy with the end result. It’s a solid product with an installation time just one-third that of cedar shakes. We’re definitely open to using this product on other projects.