New Metal Roof - Opinions Please!

[clover]

So here's the deal: Our house consists of two parts. An 1860s farmhouse and a 1970 addition. When we purchased the property in 2007, the farmhouse portion had almost 40 year old split cedar shingles that were improperly installed and rotting. The addition had a shingle gambrel roof that appeared in decent shape (we had it inspected by several roofers.) Because we plan to stay here the rest of our natural lives, we decided (with the help of opinions from OHW) to replace the cedar with a standing seam metal roof, as we couldn't afford to replace it with the original slate, and metal roofing was also period appropriate. The roofer we chose used Fabral roofing systems and we chose brick red as the color.

Fast forward to today. The shingle roof leaks in multiple places if the wind and rain are right. We want to replace the shingles with a matching metal roof. The problem: We've chosen a different roofer than the one we used on the older part of the house, and they order products from Metal Formed Goods and hire someone to fabricate the metal panels for them. Of course, the colors are different. We were hoping they'd have something close to our existing roof color, but after checking the color chips, their reds are either too dark, too red, or too orange. They do custom colors, but there's a minimum order quantity and we're waiting to hear back on whether our roof qualifies. In the meantime, we're researching our options. I have yet to find a picture of a house with standing seam in two different colors, but it has to be out there.

So what do you guys think? Will two completely different colors of metal roofing on the same house look ridiculous? If we had to do it, I was leaning toward slate gray. My husband thinks that two completely different shades of red will look fine together, since they don't touch, but I think it will look ridiculous. I'm also open to other colors with our red. Patina Green? Black? We've found a roofer who is willing to install the new roof with Fabral material to match, but without even receiving the quote, we know it will be out of our price range. Our current quote is a heart attack inducing 24k, and we know that's very reasonable for the work that needs done.

I'm sorry I don't have a better pic, but the front of the house is your very standard L-shaped brick Italianate farmhouse. I'll post more pics if it will elicit more opinions!

[Nettie]

Was there a reason why you couldn't use your first roofer again?

[JRC]

At first, I was agreeing with you, clover, that if you can't get a perfect match, you should go with a complementary color. But after seeing the pic, I think a red that is close to the one you already have would be OK.

I say this because none of the roof slopes in the addition appear to be the same as the original roof, so the colors would always appear different, even if you could get a perfect match.

[Mick_VT]

chances are the color will have faded a little even if you could get exactly the same roofing.

I think your husband is right that it will be ok to have two different shades, given the distance between the roofs. However I find myself taking a different angle when I look at this. I think that the slate gray would look nicer on the shingled section, it would compliment the look of the structure and not dominate like a brighter color might. It also, again because of the distance would not matter that it didn't match the other roof. Having a totally different color might also remove any worry that a change in shade might look odd to some people in the future.

Just my 2 cents

[clover]

Nettie - When we replaced the first roof 7 years ago, our options for roofers who do standing seam wered limited. The roofing job they did was OK, but it was also a very simple job and they could have done better. We wanted to go with someone with more experience this time, considering the complexity of the gambrel roof.

mick_vt - That's why we were originally considering a completely different color and style for awhile (like metal shingles instead of standing seam). We think the gambrel style roof was chosen for the addition to dwarf the look of it a bit and let the original part of the house be the star, but it would still be a big roof with a lot of red. That said, one of my favorite houses in our area is an old farmhouse with an addition and all red metal roofing and I love the look.

The roofs have always been two different materials and colors, so it's not the difference in color we're concerned about, but rather the look of having the same material in two different colors.

Here are the current colors we can choose from: http://www.metalformedgoods.com/colors.htm

And here's the brick red color we have currently: http://www.fabral.com/residential/color ... rd-colors/

If it was your roof, and you had to pick another color, which would you choose?

We still have a piece of metal from the original roof to use to make a match, though it's obviously not been exposed to the elements for the last 7 years.

[phil]

could you check with a powder coating shop? maybe the existing could be scuff sanded and repainted with an auto finish? or could the new panels be ordered "naked" or galvanized and coated to match?

while it is easy for a body shop to match colors, to supply paint to match the available colours. someone would have to go and at least scuff sand and repaint the panels in place and I don't know if the environmental police would be on your case, or the neighbors.

it is probably more expensive for a powder coating facility to change colours as the whole booth needs to be cleaned up for the color change. They use dry pigments which are blown around and the metal parts are given a charge which attracts the paint particles. No solvents are used like in conventional paint. They hang the metal parts on a track and the parts go through and receive the charged paint particles, then the track takes them through an oven where they are baked into the metal. You can't repaint stuff that is already coated using this process unless you sandblast it. I think someone that does powder coating might be able to advise. It is possible to re-paint something powder coated , I have had body shops repaint powder coated machine panels for example, with acrylic enamel. but will the bond fail in time? or would the color shift in time differently than the brand new powder coated panels?

[JRC]

Nettie - When we replaced the first roof 7 years ago, our options for roofers who do standing seam wered limited. The roofing job they did was OK, but it was also a very simple job and they could have done better. We wanted to go with someone with more experience this time, considering the complexity of the gambrel roof.

mick_vt - That's why we were originally considering a completely different color and style for awhile (like metal shingles instead of standing seam). We think the gambrel style roof was chosen for the addition to dwarf the look of it a bit and let the original part of the house be the star, but it would still be a big roof with a lot of red. That said, one of my favorite houses in our area is an old farmhouse with an addition and all red metal roofing and I love the look.

The roofs have always been two different materials and colors, so it's not the difference in color we're concerned about, but rather the look of having the same material in two different colors.

Here are the current colors we can choose from: http://www.metalformedgoods.com/colors.htm

And here's the brick red color we have currently: http://www.fabral.com/residential/color ... rd-colors/

If it was your roof, and you had to pick another color, which would you choose?

We still have a piece of metal from the original roof to use to make a match, though it's obviously not been exposed to the elements for the last 7 years.

I didn't think to mention this earlier, but those who mentioned that the color has probably faded are definitely right. Red is one of the colors most prone to fading.

Also, if you're not already, you should be comparing actual samples of the colors you're thinking about using, not choosing from a website. When we choose colors in the office, (I work in an architect's office) we choose from physical samples made from the actual paint that will be used.

[clover]

jrc - We do have actual physical samples of the metal and paint colors, and we're using an original scrap piece to compare them to. The next step is to climb onto the roof and place the scrap piece next to it and see how much seven years has changed the color, though it doesn't appear to be as much one would expect.

If it turns out we can get the color matched to our scrap piece, we do expect there will be differences in the two colors due to fading, but since the roofs don't touch and the light hits them at very different angles, I don't think it should be too obvious.

[Don M]

I agree with others, a slight variation in color won't make much of a difference. Our 1830s stone farmhouse has a late 1800s standing seam roof which is silver (sanded & painted many times over the years). I had a new breezeway built between the house & summer kitchen with a new hand built standing seam roof; the front porch also has new hand built standing seam which replaced old cedar shingles. The metal is galvanized & not painted. It doesn't look exactly like the original old standing seam in color but the over all look is essentially the same.