For many of us, picking a colour for a new collar for our dog is hard, let alone a colour that is on display for everyone to see. The decision-making of shingle colours, exterior paint colours, and window and door colours all fall into the highly-relevant category. Here are a few helpful hints to bring it all together.
Armour Shield Roofing strongly discourages homeowners from going up and down ladders or doing repairs on their roofs. The accidents and fatalities sustained by untrained individuals are tragic and avoidable by calling a professional roofing contractor.
Curb appeal is something we all want for our home, and choosing colours is the most common dilemma for the renovating homeowner. Which colour decisions should we make first if the renovation process is staggered over a few years and where does your roof or shingle colour land in that equation?
I know someone who painted three separate colours on her window frames so that she could stand back and decide over the next week which colour to paint her windows.
To her pleasant surprise, a few neighbours gave their opinions, and she actually went with the majority vote.
“It is essential to ask people’s opinions and to visually consider shingle options in real life (lean them against a window where you and other people will see them) for a week or so.”
Decide the colours of the larger shapes of your home first, the structure and the roof, and organize your priorities to give your colour decision-making process helpful parameters.
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Colour facts to help choose your roof colour:
- Cool colours generally have an undertone of blue and sometimes green.
- Warm colours generally have an undertone of red, brown, tan, or yellow.
- Black shingles can have compilations of warm or cool colours.
- Follow the cool to cool, warm to warm rule. If your house colour is cool, choose a cool tone for your roofing.
An example of a cool grey roof that works well with a (cool toned) blue siding.
“If you are unsure, it is always money well spent to enlist the trained opinion of a designer”
Exterior colours can definitely go wrong:
- You must spend time deciding the basic colours for all of your exterior components first. Even if all of your renovations don’t happen immediately, you’ll know you have a backup plan that will work a few years later. Typically, siding, shingle, and window and door manufacturers maintain their standard colours for many years. Keep a physical file of these samples and colours.
Do not get clever with colours. This is an example of good intentions gone wrong.
There is always artistic merit to go against usual rules. However, unless you are an experienced roofer, it is always better to stick to safe colour rules.
You will never go wrong if:
- You keep warm to warm and cool to cool (house to roof) and make sure there is a contrast (of dark to light) between the roof colour and the primary house colour.
Make one component, either the roof or the house, slightly darker. This means you need to be able to stand back, squint, and clearly see a definition of colour between the roof and the house.
Parameters from existing unchangeable features can be a good thing.
- The exterior colour of your house will be the determining factor for the colour of your roof unless you choose to paint your brick or add siding over your brick. There will always be a shingle colour that will look fabulous with whatever the inalterable colours are on your house.
The purple of these shrubs will always look fantastic with the dark brown roof colour.
A beautiful Japanese maple that turns red in the fall can be an elegant touch if you choose a burnt orange door and complimentary warm tones for your house and roof.
A 5-Star Online Armour Shield Review –
“Highly recommend! Very professional, knowledgeable and reliable. Assad was very thorough and patient at answering questions and concerns along the entire process. Andy, Rodney, Peter and all their crew made the roof replacement easy, promptly and exceptionally well done! Excellent experience working with a great company.” – LUNA
Armour Shield Roofing suggests viewing these professional roofing companies’ colour recommendations.
Each manufacturer also provides valid colour solutions:
IKO: ‘17 Facts and Tips to Help Pick Shingle Colours’
CertainTeed: ‘Design Tools to Make Colour Selection a Breeze’
BP: ‘Tips For Choosing the Colour of Your Shingles’
We all love our black roofs.
Climate considerations are at the forefront of renovation discussions and dark colours retain heat and this has the potential to translate into concerns in the winter with ice dams.
- Make sure your attic space is isolated to help you and the environment:
Dark colours are all the rage and dark colours absorb heat. So ensure your environmentally sustainable attic space is of a neutral temperature. A dark roof retains heat, and this is a costly thing in the summer if your attic space is not adequately isolated from the air of the living levels of your home.
The Yale School for the Environment, a foundation under the umbrella of Yale University writes, reflecting heat away from rooftops is an excellent case for geoengineering.
“New York City has painted 7 million square feet of rooftops white to lower temperatures. – NASA
Let us know how we can help you with your roof replacement. Call our friendly staff at (519) 858 5044 or contact us online for a no-pressure quote here.
Armour Shield Roofing strongly discourages homeowners from going up and down ladders or doing repairs on their roofs. The accidents and fatalities sustained by untrained individuals are tragic and avoidable by calling a professional roofing contractor.