I bought my first house, a 1923 bungalow in Southern Illinois, last June. It has been a project day in and day out.

The area was recently hit by a catastrophic storm and the insurance company is springing for a new roof. I have decided to go with an architectural style (GAF Prestique) shingle instead of the 3 tab shingle. Is this a good or bad move? I am trying to keep everything as traditional as possible, so, I am not sure if a 3-tab is a better choice, but I want something that will hold up to the wind.

The bigger decision is what color to go with??? I was thinking about Hunter Green to match the awning on the front of the house which I painted dark hunter green last year. The window sashes and storm door are black. The siding is white. Maybe charcoal or slate is a better choice for the roof?

web page

Our house has green architectural shingles, which I think look a bit closer to a cedar shake roof. Here is a link to ours when it was being re-roofed:



And finished:

Thank you. The green looks nice on your house. I still like the green, however, due to the heat in this area (Southern tip of Illinois), people are telling me to go with a lighter color. I don't know, a lighter color will show the algae more.

I read somewhere that unless you use white shingles, the difference in heat of various colors is relatively small. We went architectural in brownish/tan - which looks sort of woody.

---mike...