Tips for Selecting Roofing Colors with Confidence

by Kathy Ziprik, Staff Writer

Cotton candy pink. Pumpkin orange. Sunflower yellow. Of course these aren't colors you would consider putting on a roof. But did you ever consider light clay, dark mountain or medium Chesapeake?

If you're locked into selecting just one or two standard roofing color choices, it's time to broaden your horizons. Today's synthetic slate and shake roofing tiles come in dozens of colors plus a wide array of attractive color blends.

But how do you make the right roofing color choice for your next home?

According to color expert Kate Smith, don't be afraid to consider a stand-out roofing color like medium gray, light autumn or dark green.

“Selecting exterior building product colors can be daunting for some people, specifically because of the long lifespan of those products,” says Smith, a color consultant for DaVinci Roofscapes. “If you select a durable roof like polymer slates and shakes from DaVinci, they have a lifetime limited materials warranty backing them. That’s a long-term color investment.

"So, while it’s fairly easy and inexpensive for your clients to repaint the interior of a room on a whim, you want to maximize your roofing investment for them by selecting a color your customers can live with for many years. Many builders need some support and guidance when making those larger color decisions.”

Smith, a nationally known color expert, color trend forecaster and chief color maven of Sensational Color, offers these tips for builders to help them determine which roofing colors to select for their new projects.

Tip #1 – Take time and do your homework. Really study the house exterior of the plans you're working on. Try to envision what the home exterior will look like next year, five years from now, and then 20 years from now.

Tip #2 – Consider your options. While a solid color roof may work for some home styles, a blend of several colors may offer a “softer” look with more accent options. Pre-bundled roofing color blends can be made with two, three, four or five different colors that complement each other. And, when they arrive pre-bundled, they're faster and easier to install on the jobsite.

Tip #3 - Get your buyers involved. If you're constructing a home for specific clients, get them involved in the color decision. Point them to the online Color Designer tool so they can mix and match any of DaVinci's 50 colors to create a custom blend that best fits the personality they envision for their home exterior.

Tip #4 – Get assistance from a professional. Consult a color expert and use his or her color tools to gain a strong comfort level for your color choice. For example, when selecting DaVinci roofing, you get the free assistance of Sensational Color's experts to help you select roofing colors.

Tip #5 - Investigate the different roofing color options available to you. Use the Color Designer tool to create a custom color blend from 50 colors or to see the company’s standard 28 color blends.

Tip #6 - Request life-sized samples of the color roofing tiles you believe will work best with your home design. Then, hold the tiles up against other planned exterior element samples (like the siding) to see how the colors can complement each other. Also, move the tiles around the house to see how the sun impacts their appeal as it hits from different directions.

Tip #7 - Consider fading. While the colors on polymer tiles from DaVinci will not fade over time, other elements of the home, such as the siding, may fade. Select a roofing color that works now with the entire look of the home, and that will also work decades into the future if other elements do fade or change.

Tip #8 – Look at the other homes in the neighborhood where you're building. The new home you're constructing should blend in (or stand out!) from other homes, but never clash with the rest of the homes in the community. A roofing color can help achieve a harmonious look.

Tip #9 - Consider if the home you're building has a "cool" or "warm" exterior personality. A "cool" home may feature blues, greens and purples as the primary colors in the siding, entryway and roofing. On the flip side, a "warm" home exterior would have more focus on neutral colors plus hues in yellow, orange and red.

Tip #10 - Embrace gray. When it comes to home exteriors, gray is a true neutral that "plays well" with all other colors and can set the stage for creating a cohesive color scheme for the many materials used in home styles. A long-time favorite for roofing, shades of gray are the number one roofing color sold at DaVinci. The company offers 14 shades and several blends to suit any style of home.