Any common thoughts on roof shingle colors?

Question

on a rehab sf flip....are there any thoughts, marketing data, or insight on what sells better as far as the colors of common asphalt shingles (black, grey, tan, reddish...)..?

In the "it depends" answer category, should i stick with whats common in the 'hood, what the best looking homes in the 'hood have (i am tending to favor this), or something else?

Thanks for your thoughts...

Jean Bolger · Answer

It totally depends on the house, you just need to complement the siding/brick/whatever. The roofing guys can give you a sheet of samples on the colors of shingle they stock. If you don't feel you have an "eye" for it, ask someone who does. For a flip you probably want to stay pretty middle-of-the-road with browns and greys. Solid black, IMHO, is too heavy looking for most houses.
	
	That said, I just did blue shingles on my own house (a 1950's blond brick ranch) and it just makes me happy every time I look at it. (The roof guy had never used the blue before and tried to talk me out of it, but in the end he liked it too.) Of course, I'm not planning to sell any time soon so I could indulge my quirky tastes.

Pat L. · Answer

If you have a lot of large trees close to the home any shingles other than black will have grey/black streaks within several years.

Jennifer Day · Answer

I just re-roofed my house and got rid of the ugly orangish-brown shingles and replaced with gray demensional shingles. Very Pretty! I would recommend sticking with black or gray, and they go well with all house colors. Would not recommend going with orange/brown, blue or green shingles!!!

Michael Seeker · Answer

I personally think this is dependent on the rest of the exterior of the house.  Some shingle colors just wouldn't go with some exterior color schemes.

That being said, I'm a big fan of the 3D shingles and think they are absolutely worth the additional cost vs. a standard shingle.

By default, I would say black 3D is probably the best universal shingle but I don't have any hard data to back that up :)