Is A Gray Metal Roof Right For Me? Plus Design Ideas

Color is undoubtedly one of the most critical choices you make when designing your roof as it sets the tone of the overall look of your home. When looking to avoid drastic choices that may quickly go out of style, it’s common to gravitate towards neutral colors. Neutral tones are seen as being a “safe” choice, even though they pose the risk of appearing boring. However, the design trends of recent years have proven that neutral can still be exciting thanks to the popularity of the color gray.

Without a doubt, gray has dominated the neutral palettes and has become the color of choice in decorating and design in recent years because of its versatility. As a mix of the colors black and white by definition, gray has the capacity to appear traditional or ultra modern depending on the application and shade that is chosen.

Gray offers this same diversity and variety when it comes to metal roofing. At Western States Metal Roofing, we manufacture metal roofing and siding panels in over one hundred unique and custom colors. We currently offer over 20 unique shades of gray roofing panels.

In this article, we show examples of gray metal roofs and discuss why this color may be the right choice for your home.

What Shade Of Gray Is Best For Your Metal Roof?

It’s common to see the following adjectives used to describe the color gray:

Moody

Balanced

Calming

Stylish

Timeless

Edgy

Elegant

Mysterious

Corporate

Sophisticated

How can one color be described by such a large variety of words? The answer lies in the shade of gray you choose.

Grey metal roof colors will vary from a light ash gray to a dark charcoal gray that at night can almost appear black. As we mention in our Guide To Choosing The Right Metal Roof Color, one factor you want to consider is how your roof will look at different times of the day. The roof will look lighter and brighter at noon with direct sunlight than it will in the evening after sunset.

The metal roof color you choose should complement the coloring and style of the rest of your home. Gray is an excellent choice to make accent colors pop, and can unify diverse materials and textures to pull the overall look of your home together. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Gray Metal Roof House Color Combinations

The best way to determine which gray metal roofing and siding color combinations will look best on your house is to use a color visualizer. This tool will allow you to play around with different color combinations and architectural features on your house. There’s even a link to request free metal samples for the metal roofing colors that you think will look best.

We’ve used our color visualizer to create some of the most common color palettes that are associated with gray metal roofing colors.

Will A Gray Metal Roof Fade?

When considering colors, you also want to consider fading. Unfortunately, roofs do eventually fade over time. The good news is that gray metal roofs fade less than other colors.

The slower rate of fading on a gray metal roof is because:

Gray is an inorganic pigment

Gray is a less vibrant color

Most grays are matte, and matte colors fade slower than glossy finishes

Keep in mind that painted metal panels do come with a paint warranty that covers excessive fading. However, a steady loss of pigment over the years is expected and will not be covered under a warranty.

Cool Gray vs. Warm Gray Metal Roofing Colors

When describing the shades of gray, you will commonly hear that a color is a “cool” gray or a “warm” gray. These terms are referring to the undertones that are in a color.

While gray in general is considered a neutral color, there are shades of gray that lean towards being cool or warm. A cool gray has more blue and green undertones while a warm gray has more red and yellow undertones. A neutral gray is just black and white with no undertones.

An easy way to remember the difference is by using the color temperature concept. The names are associated with things that are cool and warm. Ice and snow are cold and the color of the shadows in them is blue. Therefore blue, or grays with blue undertones, is a cool color. On the contrary, fire is hot and consists of red and yellow shades. This means that red, or gray with red undertones, is a warm color.

While neutral colors can go with anything, it's best to mix warm colors and cool colors for contrast. If your home is a warmer tone, consider using a metal roof in a cooler shade and vice versa.

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