If the house is insulated, black will not affect the heat in the house.

So would you recommend moire black?

Can't recommend anything. It's such a personal choice of taste. My own choice would be the moire black and possibly the Max Def Moire Black. I like black with brick.

I don't think the slate would look good at all as it is cool because of the gray while the brick an stone appear to be warm, unless it is the photo.

I think black would be too harsh. Two tone mid grey would look fabulous imo.

Has the installer given you a list of other jobs they've done with the same type of shingle so you can see how they look installed?

We have Certainteed and I believe those same shingles on our roof. We originally wanted to go with the moire as well but once we saw it installed, it was way too dark and stark.

Instead we went with Weatherwood which was a good compromise between the moire and a medium gray.

Any thoughts on the colonial slate? That is the one we are leaning towards but the roofer can't point us to any roofs they've done with this. Is it too busy? Would the colour go with our red and beige bricks (I've seen some red specks on colonial slate and wondering if that will complement our red or maybe it's so subtle it doesn't make a difference).

Advice and feedback is much appreciated!

I have weathered wood and like it.

Thanks everyone for the input. So our choices are either:

1. Colonial Slate - so far I've heard from a couple of folks this will look good against the red brick and beige natural stone we have. I've seen pictures online and there appears to be quite a two-tone going with this and prefer a single tone look. Is Colonial Slate essentially a very dark grey?

2. Moire Black - the only concern I have is will it be TOO dark but I've seen a few homes on the street with black/dark roofs (not necessarily Moire Black though) against a red brick and it looks quite nice. In particular my house has red bricks and beige/natural stones so hard to pick one roof colour that ties it all together. One other positive I see with Moire Black is that it is more one-tone than colonial.

3. Driftwood or Weatherwood - I believe both are on the brownish side which is wwhat we currently have but I feel there may be too many colours showing up (brown, grey, black) and I'm not crazy about a mosaic look on the roof.

The challenge I have is my roofer is fairly small and a bit "rough around the edges" so things like aesthetics, showing larger samples, etc. aren't exactly his strong suits...he would much rather I pick a colour and he'll show up with the crew for the install. I've asked him for home addresses where he has these colours installed but not holding out for much from his in this regard!

We're currently building and used the Moire Black. As for heat gain, Tibbrix is correct that living space in an insulated house will not gain more heat with a dark roof. Beyond that, even the attic space will not gain more heat with a dark roof. Sun beating down on a Driftwood roof on an 85 degree day will raise the temp in the attic to about 120 degrees f - and it will be the same with a black roof. What you need then is good insulation between your living space and your attic space.

DLM is right, good insulation and enough air vents on your roof. We just added 4 more to ours.

I was a little freaked by the combination of the colors on the Weatherwood/Driftwood myself, however when it's up, it it doesn't show, from the ground, our roof looks gray. It is really important that the installer provide you with a list a of jobs that have the shingles you are considering. I would actually be concerned if he didn't for a number of reasons.. Here is the Weatherwood / Driftwood on our house. We live on a hill so it's hard to photo and we don't have brick but you can see the color differences are subtle and blends in, it doesn't have a mosaic look at all. One's in some sun and the other in shade

I just had the Colonial Slate shingles delivered. I like the dark grey and the specks of red. However I noticed the other half has quite a lot of white specks in it. Not sure how it will look when up on the roof, hoping it will be primarily dark grey but not sure how the white will show...confused!

If your roofer can't provide addresses with roof colors for you to see, you could try calling the shingle manufacturer. My roofer contacted the manufacturer to get addresses for me when I was interested in a type of shingle for which they didn't have any example houses.

Of course your going to see all the individual colors when you're standing right on top of it, but once it's up, the colors will blend and have the end result you're looking for. From the street or even your front yard, it will be very pretty.

ETA:. You were repeatedly encouraged to look at samples of other jobs your roofer has done, I hope you were able to do that, if not, you really might want to take heed to CRL_'s advise.

I didn't get an opportunity to look at homes with Colonial Slate. I admit, this was a poor choice on my part. The roofer didn't have any addresses in the vicinity and I emailed Certainteed but never heard from them. The roofer didn't have many install dates available so I had to give him a colour to proceed. Now the Colonial Slate is here I'm wondering about the amount of white/light grey in the shingles but I think you're right that it will look much different when it's on the roof and viewed from the ground at an angle. Plus it's raining today and the white on some of the shingles that are damp have taken on a duller grey colour.

My concern with Colonial Slate is mainly around the pattern being an overtly dark/light ("mosaic") pattern appearing on the roof. I would prefer a more consistent darker look but I guess I'll find out once it gets installed in a couple of days...too late to go looking at homes now and arguing with the roofer to change the shingles he's already delivered! The other frustrating piece is that when you search for Colonial Slate online, you find very different pictures from homeowners claiming they have Colonial slate (some look like exactly what I'm looking for including the Certainteed website and roof visual tool they have, other homeowners are showing a dark/light mosaic look).

Thanks everyone, I'll plan to post pictures once the shingles are up on the roof...here's hoping Colonial Slate doesn't disappoint!

See if roofer will take back Colonial Slate and exchange it. My roof is Driftwood 3-dimensional shingles and I love it.

@Anglophilia your house and roof look beautiful. I don't see a need to exchange colonial slate just yet, I'm quite certain it will be good, just couldn't understand why there was so much silver grey/white in the shingle but I'm hopeful from the ground the colours will blend in.

Be sure you're there when the roofing is going up with the understanding that after a small section is done you can call a halt if you don't like it. My experience with the mid and lighter gray roofs is that they often read blue.

Hi, sharing pictures of colonial slate after four years of install as someone was looking for feedback. Overall we are fine with it although it has hints of green that I’m not crazy about (mostly visible when it’s overcast, can’t see it on a sunny day, see pictures).

I think it looks great! We just got the same roof and for some reason, it looks a lot lighter than yours. I also looked at a house in our area the same roofer we have did in the same color. It looks different on their house. I wonder if there are different dye lots? Right now, I'm "getting used to it." Our old roof was a lot darker so I'm adjusting. I don't hate it but I don't love it yet.