Need to replace shed roof...should it match the house?

[pqtex]

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've been here, but I lurk every now and then. We haven't had time or money to work on our 1913 family homestead in a while, but we're about to get busy on it again.

The little white house in the back is really just a shed, but it has always been called "the little house" as long as I can remember. It was built in the late 20's, early 30's. It was originally roofed with hand cut cedar shakes, which are still under the rusty corrugated tin roof that was placed over the shakes. We are making some repairs and my husband wants to re-roof the shed. He thought to use the same style/color shingles as the house, but the color is no longer available. His second choice was to put new tin on the shed roof. I don't mind the look of the old rusty tin, but new tin might look wrong. Our home got a new roof in 2006, so it's in good shape for a few more years.

Should the shed roof match the house, or would it look better to have something entirely different instead of having a close-but-not-exact match? Would you just try to match it as close as possible or choose something different?
Help! I need design opinions/suggestions!

Jill

[Gothichome]

PQ, good to here from you. My thoughts, the shed is not in the same style as your home or built at the same time so I think all options are open. Being tucked in the trees though, shakes would look nice.

[Manalto]

I agree with GH and will go one further, suggesting that the shed should have a roof that's different from the house, metal or cedar.

[heartwood]

well nice to hear from you--long time, no see!

I would say it is a personal choice based on esthetics...if the roof doesn't leak, perhaps painting it is an option...tin roofs come in many colors these days...I think red or green might be nice...it does look like a 'little white house' and sounds better than 'the shed'...

good luck...
...jade

[matchbookhouse]

Since your shed doesn't "match" the style of your house I don't think it's as necessary to color-match the house as it would be otherwise. My shed/garage was built at the same time as my house (1927) and looks exactly like it, gable and all, so I re-roofed it in the same forest green shingles. In fact, I even put the same green shingles on my Amish garden shed, so that all three of the buildings look similar. I like to refer to them as "the compound", lol.

[Mick_VT]

As it is not attached top the house, pretty much anything you put on it will be fine IMO

[pqtex]

Thank you all! We do need to totally replace the roof. The photos are not current and the roof sustained some minor damage from falling limbs. Unfortunately, we have lost both of the trees to the right of The Little House. I will continue to look for some ideas. I had suggested replacing the roof to match the original shakes, but my husband wasn't keen on that idea. It's good to be back at The Historic District. I'm hoping to rekindle my enthusiasm for my old home and overcome my feelings of it being a Time and Money Pit.

[nhguy]

I built a woodshed/chicken coop the roof is metal, I used dark brown metal primer on it as my wife hated the silver metal. I think a detached building can have whatever type of roof needed to keep the rain out. I used metal because it's under trees, so I figured it hold up better.

[awomanwithahammer]

The roof on my detached garage needed replacing, and instead of trying to match the house shingles, I chose to put a metal roof on the garage in a coordinating color, a dark gray. I think it looks very nice, and it had the advantage of being much less expensive than shingles.

[Jeepnstein]

Metal on a shed like that is a half day job. Right over the existing shingles unless there's some gaping hole in the roof deck.