Whether you’re a homeowner or a commercial builder, choosing a color for your new metal roof is an exciting process, especially these days when so many colors are available to you.
But, it’s also possible to get lost in all of the choices. If you’re a homeowner, you might be thinking about your own personal preferences alongside increasing your home’s value; if you’re a home builder, let’s just say that picking the right metal roof color is just one of the hundreds of choices you need to make.
Talk about decision fatigue!
We’ve put together this short guide to help you compare the most common color options available to you. Luckily, we’re not asking you to use your imagination to visualize your metal roofing colors because we’ve created a new color toolkit that will do the work for you.
We recommend reading this blog post alongside the color toolkit and bookmarking the toolkit as long as you’re in decision mode. If you’d like to speak to an expert, don’t hesitate to contact Kloeckner Metal’s building products team. When it comes to metal roofing suppliers, Kloeckner Metals combines a national footprint with 50 years in the business.
Kloeckner Metals is proud to offer a full palette of metal roofing colors that homeowners and builders can choose from: a wide range of browns, tans, grays, reds, and greens that are attractive in every setting we can think of. In our color toolkit, you can see each color demonstrated on a metal roof.
Here, find a metal roof painted in hunter green.
Paint systems can be divvied into paint, coatings, and sealants. What is the difference between paint and coatings, you may ask? Coatings are essentially paints with added performance features. Sealants can provide additional protection against premature fading, peeling, corrosion, rust, and water infiltration. Whatever you choose, you will want to select a combination that gives you weatherability—or the ability to withstand weather conditions—over a long time.
Kloeckner Metals is proud to offer Galvalume-based Sherwin-Williams WeatherXL coil coatings in a variety of colors that are all laboratory tested for heat reflectivity. The WeatherXL coatings are extremely resistant to abrasion, chipping, and marring with tremendous color and gloss retention over time and they are available in Solar Reflective (SR) formulations that meet Energy Star and LEED certifications. The coatings we provide for our customers are ideal for both residential metal roofs whether you’re a home owner or builder.
The color of the metal you select should match the overall style of your home. We recommend choosing a color that’s based on different elements of your home’s exterior design, including the color of siding, doors, and windows. Don’t discount the look of your landscape. Each of these factors will weight prominently in the pleasure you get from seeing your home as well as its curb appeal to potential buyers.
You could be in your home a long time and you’ll want to choose a color that has lasting appeal. That’s why we recommend focusing on your existing exterior elements and landscaping rather than current trends. Go with a color that complements your home’s design and creates a peaceful, unified, and balanced appearance.
Take a look at different color samples over the course of the day in different lighting. Do you like how it looks in the morning as much as you do midday and evening? Also, check over the course of a week so you’re not catching yourself in a particular mood. If you’re a home builder, involve different stakeholders in the decision makers, and maybe even include potential buyers for their take.
Just like warm or cool tones may do better jobs of highlighting your features, there are certain benefits to different metal roofing colors to consider. While above we advise complimentary colors for a more classic look and feel that will stand the test of time, we can’t deny there are other design considerations to take into account under special circumstances.
If you are going for an ultra-modern look, we recommend using complementary bare colors. Stainless steel, titanium, Galvalume, copper, zinc, aluminum, and other metals all have their own distinctive colors that set them apart and can create a unique and beautiful look for your home. For many new homes or complexes where their eco-friendliness and modernity is a selling point, bare colors may be the right approach.
As well, it’s important to note that light versus dark colors can have a big impact on the look and feel of your home. Lighter colored roofs will make your home look larger and taller. If your home is small, has a low roof, or a shallow pitch, consider a lighter color metal roof. If, on the other hand, you have a tall or large roof, select a darker colored roof to make it feel less overwhelming.
Are your neighbors using metal roofs, or would you be the only pioneer? Homes may reflect personal taste, but neighborhoods can reflect aesthetic cultural norms. Whether you’re a home owner or a builder, it’s important to take your community into consideration. Are there unwritten aesthetic rules that you should follow? While your home may look perfect for you, it may be an eyesore to somebody driving through. Something else to consider.
A roof isn’t just shelter from the rain, it also helps to regulate the indoor environment from heat or cold. If you would like to make your home more energy-efficient—and maybe reduce that monthly electric bill—the energy efficiency of your roof is another consideration. And one factor that impacts the energy efficiency of your roof is none other than color.
Just as it goes for clothes and cars, light colors reflect while dark colors absorb. Light color metal roofs will reflect much more of the sun’s heat than a dark color metal roof. A light colored, Energy Star rated metal roof could be 50 – 60 degrees color than a dark color asphalt shingles roof!
If you live in a warm climate that gets many days of sunshine, we’d recommend a lighter color roof, for example ash gray, light gray, light stone, or polar white. A lighter colored roof will be worth its weight in protecting your home from heat, lowering your monthly energy expenses, and reducing how much your AC has to work in the summer.
Alternately, if you live in a cooler climate or your home is already well-insulated with a ventilated attic, you can feel free to choose a darker colored roof if you prefer the aesthetic. And, don’t fret, because many dark colored roofs are also Energy Star rated.
One of the key benefits to metal roofs, specifically standing seam metal roofs, is how easy it is to install photovoltaic solar panels. They are easily integrated with your standing seam metal roof structure and will neither compromise the look of your home or compromise the structural integrity.
We hope that this short guide has been helpful in detailing the different considerations to take when choosing metal roofing colors. Don’t forget that at Kloeckner Metals, we have over 50 years of experience in the business and serve homeowners and builders nationwide. We’re happy to help you make the best decision for your home or project – contact the Kloeckner Metal’s building products team today to get started.
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