The Husband and his father were deep in discussion this evening over apple crisp and coffee. The scratch paper was out and pencils were a-flyin' as they worked out the details of our roof. As you know -- or not--- the roof sheathing is on the log house, but there's no roofing materials on top of that yet. Poor, naked roof. We've been debating whether to do a metal roof or shingles. Shingles have carried the day, but now we've come to the issue of color. It had not occurred to me that I would have to choose a roof color. In fact, I don't know that I'd ever even noticed the panoply of shingle colors available. Holy smokes! Drive around your neck of the woods and take a gander at your neighbors' roofs. Unless you live in a trailer park or McMansion development, chances are you're living near an architectural rainbow. Who knew?
So we've come to this: what color shingles? Black? Gray? Mixed Brown? Green? Blue? (Blue?!) The list goes on, but I will not. Help! What say you, blogosphere?
I was too full of hearty homemade beef barley soup, oatmeal muffins and Mother's Day good cheer to cough up an opinion tonight, but perhaps with your generous insight I might just give The Husband my answer before he gets impatient and picks at random.
Thanks bloggyfolks!
10 comments:
Why shingles and not metal? We just replaced half of our roof with shingles and it was expensive! If we had to replace the entire thing we would have definitely been looking at other alternatives. I'm sure there is a higher up front cost for metal, but the maintenance may be less over time. In addition they are safer in that they are fire proof, which may help to keep your insurance premiums lower. Not to mention if you choose to go metal you will not be contributing to the petrodictatorships around the world who would love for you to keep purchasing products made from oil.
Maybe a better option all together is recycled roofing material. http://www.greenyour.com/home/home-improvement/roof/tips/choose-recycled-roofing-materials - Go Green!
Dark green, rustish red, dark brown are my top picks. Earthy organic colors are key since it's a log home. And architectural shingles for sure....
Slate grey. That's my vote. I like a classic look me.
Anne, I'd let nature choose. Stand back from the cabin and see what would blend in... most likely dark green.
p.s... those lilacs on my post were in Albany. Things down there are way ahead of the north country!
I'm not a visual person, so I can't imagine what it would look like, but I like the thought of green.
I'm a little biased and I know it's not very "original" but I love green! I just think a green roof looks so good against the color of a log cabin. Seems like a more natural setting in the woods. Reminds me of the green on a tree. (Yes, our roof is green!)
Metal! There is nothing more romantical than cuddling whilst listening to the rain on a metal roof. A Red Metal Roof! That's my vote.
I'm going to break from the pack and suggest a nice bright red. Give it that cheery East European cottage look.
-D*
Out of all the shingle colors, green is by far my favorite. After Hurricane Rita in Louisiana, the roof needed to be replaced. The contractor that we used, strongly reccomended the green for our roof and I was nothing less than impressed. Recently several roofs in my neighborhood in El Paso have had new green shingles put on and it seems to add a lot of definition and character. That is my two cents.
Dave
Green is great for reflecting the sunlight, so your upper floor will be less likely to get hot in the summer. Red, maybe a reddish brown, against all of the natural green might be a great compliment, and in the fall it will blend in, and in the winter it will seem brighter against the white.
Some words of caution on metal: from experience, a metal roof under trees, post rain, makes for a jarring, random, Chinese-water-torture dripping racket, and as it expands and contracts with the heat, it will make noise.
No cedar shakes? Take the wood all the way to the top, baby!
No solar panels? Come on... if you are going to build your own log cabin, why not make your own power? Live off the GRID! Send a message to the man! Bet you are getting more than you bargained for, asking for opinions...
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