Your roof plays a major role in the curb appeal of your home. In fact, it accounts for up to 40 percent of your home’s visual exterior. For this reason, choosing a color for your asphalt shingles is an important consideration. The ideal color palette should enhance your home’s architectural style and draw the eye upward to any special details such as gables. On the other hand, the wrong shingle color can make your home look unappealing and throw off other exterior colors.
Remember, the color of your asphalt shingles makes or breaks the look of your home’s exterior. To help you choose the right color for your roof, read on. Next Level Roofers, one of the top roofing companies in the state, discusses the importance of the color of your roof.
Does the Color of Your Roof Matter?
When it comes to shingle colors, one of the first things you need to know is the difference between light and dark shingles. Light-colored roof shingles are best for warm climates as they reflect sun rays, keeping roofs cooler and helping homeowners save on their energy bills. Meanwhile, dark-colored roof shingles are better for cooler climates since they absorb more heat.
However, contrary to popular belief, expert roofers say that the lightness or darkness of your asphalt shingles doesn’t have much of an impact on your home’s energy efficiency. If your home is well-insulated and you have adequate ventilation in your attic to regulate your roof’s temperature, you shouldn’t have any issues with your roof being too hot or too cold.
Nevertheless, choosing the color of your shingles is still a big decision and is too important a factor to ignore. It’s also worth noting that your roof can express your personality. Depending on the style of the home and the color of the roofing shingles you choose, you can create a welcoming atmosphere or a dramatic statement. The right shingle color can also make a great first impression from the front of your home, boosting your home’s curb appeal as well as its resale value.
What to Keep in Mind When Choosing a Roof Shingle Color?
Your roof shingle color should coherently blend with the color of your home’s exterior and the natural landscape that surrounds it. Green shingles may look out of place in a desert landscape, for example. The same goes for brown asphalt shingles on a home surrounded by lush pine trees. As such, when determining the perfect color for your shingles, be sure to keep the following in mind:
- Consider Your Home’s Architectural Style
The color of your shingles should compliment yet contrast your home’s exterior elements. If everything matches, you risk making your home look boring and repetitive. Thus, it’s best to consider your home’s architectural style when choosing a shingle color for your roof replacement. For instance, since a Cape Cod-style house is more light and airy and usually with weathered wood siding, try classic, cool lighter colors. Dark colors, on the other hand, wouldn’t play well with that look.
For a Tudor-style home, meanwhile, dark brown shingles look best since these homes typically have a darker-toned style. In contemporary homes, the key features tend to be the windows and prominent angles, while the roof itself is playing off of the clean design with darker tones.
- Pay Attention to the Natural Surroundings
The natural colors surrounding your home play a key role when deciding the colors of your shingles. The right shingle color should make your home pop and stand out without looking out of place. One good example is a desert home. Desert landscapes have wonderful brown and red shades to bring out your home’s natural look. Therefore, using muted, light brown and red tones play with the natural surroundings and make your home blend in.
Homes near oceans or lakes work best with earthy, sandy tones of light cream, blues, and yellows. This gives the home a more relaxed feel in an effortless landscape. Busy suburbs or cityscapes, meanwhile, allows you to choose brighter colors such as fresh white, light blues, or yellows to help your home stand out.
- Match Your Siding Color
Take note of the color of your shutters and windows. You don’t want to make your home look messy with an uncoordinated color combination such as red siding, black shutters, and a light brown roof. If you have red siding, your roofers may recommend a dark gray roof with white shutters to make it match and cohesive.
To make your exteriors easier on the eye, be sure to match your siding, shutters, and roof shingle colors. This is highly important in getting the overall aesthetic of your home right. For example, if you have dark blue siding, you need to choose a lighter shingle color to make your property look softer and more welcoming. As such, try light-gray roof shingles. If you choose dark-colored shingles to match a dark blue siding, however, your home may give off a dark and serious vibe.
- Get Large Samples and Try Them Out
One common mistake homeowners make when choosing a shingle color is by testing large samples of the shingles. As mentioned in the previous section, your shingle color needs to coordinate with all the other exterior colors. After choosing the roofing company you will be hiring for the roofing project, be sure to request large samples of all the shingle colors you like. This way, you know what your home looks like after the roof replacement.
For best results, try the samples in various lighting conditions at different times of day against all of your home’s exterior elements to ensure that what you see is what you’ll get. Take each sample, move it around your home, and prop it up by your brick, siding, garage door, and any exterior stonework you have.
- Don’t Forget Your Neighbors
One way to help you choose the right color for your roof is by looking at the roofs around yours and choosing a shingle color that harmonizes. Remember: don’t make it match but instead, make it blend. You don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons, especially when the time comes to sell your home.
If you live in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association (HOA), clear your choice with the HOA board and make sure the color you choose complies with any subdivision rules. In most cases, the board will provide you with a list of shingle colors you can or cannot choose. This way, you won’t stray too far from the color palette of your neighborhood.
As one of the top roofing companies in The Villages (Leesburg, Florida) and Sumter County, Next Level Roofers is determined to help you with your roofing project. We provide top-quality asphalt shingle installation services, from repairs to replacements. Give us a call at (407) 237-7960, or fill out our online contact form to request an estimate.
