Pro tip: I went with a dark gray roof on my house in Phoenix and everyone said it was a bad idea

I mean, I know the popular advice is to use light colors in hot climates to reflect heat. But I really liked the look of a charcoal gray shingle, so I went for it last summer. I did the math and paid about $12,000 for the whole job. Honestly, my energy bill only went up maybe $15 a month during the worst of July and August. It looks way better than the tan roof every other house has, and the attic fan handles the extra heat just fine. Has anyone else gone against the grain on color choices for a hot area and been fine with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace9264d ago

River_wright, you brought up the shingles getting brittle from heat, but nobody's talking about how a dark roof in Phoenix actually helps in the winter. We get those chilly December nights where it dips into the 40s, and that dark roof soaks up whatever weak sun there is. My buddy's light colored roof means he's running his heater more those months while mine stays warmer naturally. It probably balances out the $15 summer bump more than people realize. The whole light vs dark thing is more complicated than just reflecting heat away.

seth_rivera571mo ago

But you're missing the point where he actually LIKES his house now. Paying a little extra for something you enjoy looking at every single day is worth it. Those shingles are rated for decades anyway, so a few years difference is a future problem. My buddy did the same thing in Tucson and his AC is totally fine.

river_wright1mo ago

Glad it worked out for you, but that extra $15 a month adds up over the years (that's $180 a year, just for two months). The real issue is the extra heat can actually shorten the life of the shingles themselves, making them brittle faster.