Well, we’re buying a house (yay!) and the first thing we’re going to do to it is replace the roof (meh).

The house is brown(ish) brick, and I was thinking of going with a black(ish) roof for contrast. I used a visualizer on a roofing website and I thought it look pretty good.

But I’m reading about roof colors and some websites say black will make the house hotter, while others say newer roofing shingles have reflective properties that make this a non-issue. So I’m trying to figure out what to think here.

A possibly relevant detail is that there are three bay windows which have shingles over them. So although most of the roof will be separated from the house by the attic, I doubt there’s much space under the shingles above the bay windows, and I’m wondering if black shingles would make those rooms hotter.

Separate from that, it’s not clear to me whether black shingles have a shorter life span because of heat issues. When we got a new roof for our last house, we had a black roof installed (and it was a brick ranch). But one big difference is that that house had tall trees all over the place, so it was often in the shade in the summer. With the soon-to-be our new house, I don’t think there are any trees that will create shade on the roof (until maybe very late in the day) so I think this house will get direct sunlight for most of the day.

The current roof color is a fairly light colored brown and I’m not especially fond of that look, which is why I was thinking black-ish… but maybe gray could work? (Probably should go back to the visualizer…)

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions or advice (or experience with something like this), please share!

BTW, this is kind of a helpful image:



That’s why I mean by a bay window with shingles over it.

This website may be useful: Cool Roofs and Walls to Reduce Heat Gain

Big Al

quote:

Originally posted by big al:
This website may be useful: Cool Roofs and Walls to Reduce Heat Gain

Big Al

Excellent information!

Big, Al, thanks so much for posting that!!

So based on that info, the answer is "it's complicated."

Jokes aside, reading that it seems like I could choose a black or darker colored roof and not need to worry about the heat impact, as long I as I choose a cool roofing material.

And I do think it makes sense to do that, to choose cool roof materials, despite the fact that we do have "winter" here. Since there's no real shade, the summer will be the bigger burden and it seems like prioritizing cooling in summer is better than prioritizing any heating benefits that might be had in winter.

At least this the takeaway I got from reading that site.

Now I need to try to figure out what kind of shingle options are commonly available here. If a cool roof shingle jacks the price up significantly, then I need to think about that carefully.

Back to the question of colors... There's no scenario in which we'd get a white roof, or even a very pale colored roof. So one thing that's not clear to me is how much of a difference it would to go from black to just a darker brown. Looking at the roof colors, it seems like both colors would have similar heat issues (in the absence of cool materials).... but that really wasn't discussed on that page.

SK, I can’t see your helpful image.

We have a pale gray house with white trim, and a different gray roof.

I’ve always liked the variegated wood tone shingles that are meant to look something like wood shakes. A lot of them are cut to look a bit like shakes as well.

Like this, or similar from other manufacturers.

Timberline Weathered Wood

I like it for a couple of reasons:

They usually have several different shades of granule that helps them tie in to the colors in the house.

The varied shades help them keep looking good as they age. My 30 year old roof in CA still looked new from the street even though closer inspection showed it was near the end of its life.

The irregular shingle cuts mask any minor installation flaws. Symmetrical shingles have to be installed perfectly or they can look sloppy.

As for material selection, I suggest you consider Owens Corning “Duration” shingles.

I used them on the Huron house on the recommendation of the roofer. He walked me through all of the design features and I was really impressed. “Sure Nail Technology” sounds like marketing fluff but once I saw how they did it I was sold.

I see they have two cool roof options.

Owens Corning Duration

Good advice from the Owens Corning website:

quote:

COLOR ACCURACY
As color experts, we know getting the shingle color right is a big part of any roofing purchase. We recommend you start online to research and narrow down your shingle color options. Due to computer monitor color variations, we suggest you request an actual shingle sample to see how it will appear on your home and with your home’s exterior elements in various natural lighting conditions. Lastly, verify your color choice by seeing it installed on an actual home; your roofing contractor or supplier can provide a sample and may be able to direct you to a local installation.

quote:

Owens Corning “Duration” shingles

As it happens, that's the kind listed in the quote we got, so your experience is good to hear!

Once we narrow done our color choices, we will get a few samples and look at them outside against the house... We haven't narrowed the choices down enough yet.

I like the warmer colored roofs when you have a warmer colored siding. What you should do is drive around and look at neighbors house colors/roof colors.

We drove through the immediate neighborhood, but it seems like no one has the light-colored brick we do...

Jodi, can I send you a PM?

I got lucky because I liked my current roof color, so I was able to choose one very close to that. (I answered your pm) Maybe ask your realtor if they know of any other houses with that brick? Might help. I was able to take roof shingles from our house (we had extras in the garage - maybe they kept some from your house) in to the roofing place to look at them with the tile samples.

Thanks Jodi!

This is really hard… I don’t think it was this hard when we re-did the roof at our previous house… :/

YOu have a much harder house color to match! It’s like you need to stand way back and squint at your bricks and find the “general shade” which looks like a taupe that tends toward a brownish pinkcolor (instead of orange or yellow) based on the photos - but may not be in real life. So the roof colors you showed me, the brownish greys that tended towards that part of the spectrum were the ones I liked the best. When I picked my roof color, I found that bringing home the huge samples (instead of the tiny ones) was the most helpful. Maybe lay it up agains the brick and then stand way back on each side of the house (in shade and sun) and decide that way.