How To Choose the Color of Your Roof Shingles
How To Choose the Color of Your Roof Shingles
When remodeling or designing your home, the exterior color scheme will be a top concern for any homeowner. Studies show that one of the greatest challenges for these projects is matching shingle colors to your overall color scheme and design.
The most common colors used are black, brown, gray, and red, but you don’t have to defer to these basic colors. With our handy guide, you can tailor your color to your vision as a homeowner.
Matching Color to Your Siding
The most important thing to consider when selecting your shingle color is your siding. You need to ensure that these match to create a cohesive image for your home. This can be intimidating, but there’s an easy rule of thumb: warm colors should be paired with warm colors, and cool colors should be paired with cool colors.
For example, red siding should be paired with chestnut brown, beige, or pebble grey, while something like slate grey siding can be paired with moss green, heather blue, or nutmeg brown. A notable exception is white siding, which you can treat as a blank canvas. White matches with almost any color pallet, but it will contrast most attractively with dark or bold colors.
Matching the Color to Your Home’s Style
When choosing shingle colors, you should consider the overall architectural style and design of your home. You want darker, more traditional colors to complement historical styles like Victorian, Queen Anne, Colonial, and Plantation, while modern architectural styles will look good with warmer colors and a more diverse range.
Matching the Color to Your Goal
What are your goals as a homeowner? Do you want your home to feel warm and charming, or classic and dramatic? If you’re looking to add a distinct personality or stand out from your neighbors, slight deviations from the above color schemes can be a great way to distinguish yourself.
Are you designing your home for outdoor spaces, saunas, porches, or pools? You should consider more earthy, natural colors. You should also consider how much you want your home to blend in or stand out from your natural surroundings like woods or water.
The color of your roof also impacts the energy efficiency of your home. Lighter colors are great for reflecting heat and darker colors absorb it, contributing to the temperature of your home. Energy efficiency is overwhelmingly dictated by ventilation and insulation, but by tailoring the color to your climate, this incremental benefit will add up over the years.
Where Do You Live?
Finally, consider your location. For example, grey, brown, and green are prevalent in the Pacific Northwest to match with the local foliage. But more importantly, you should consider the lighting in your area. The local hue of your sunlight has a big impact on the overall appearance of your roof. The further north your home is the more it will have a bluish cast, while southern homes get more of a reddish light. If you don’t test your shingle color ahead of time, your carefully selected choice could end up looking washed out.
If you’re remodeling your home or just exploring your roofing options, we have the expertise to help redefine your exterior. Contact us to begin creating the perfect roof for you.