Steel Building Colors

Walls, trim and roof. Making the choice for your steel building can be tough. Here are some examples to help.

Color Choices

The Future is bright! Or is it Neutral?

Today’s customization possibilities are virtually unlimited – and color choices are no exception.

Understanding the finish formulas is another important area of color selection. Signature® 200, a siliconized polyester (SMP), is the standard finish for our Products. It is a high-performing finish, available in just about any color you choose.

We often think of color as a strictly aesthetic choice, but the realities of sun exposure, climate, weather and heat absorption mean your selected color is likely to have a myriad of impacts other than its level of beauty.

Darker colors can lead to increased solar gain, therefore creating hotter buildings and higher energy bills. Lighter, more reflective colors help maintain cooler temperatures, but can also cause problems with reflectivity and glare.

Further, there may be local regulations and restrictions that limit your choices. 

Keep It Cool

Exterior walls and roofs are exposed to the powerful light of the sun all day every day, which can cause those surfaces to heat up more than 170°F. A cool-colored roof can really make a difference. Simply by selecting a cool color, it’s possible to drop the temperature of a wall by 50° – often resulting in a 7-15% reduction in heating and cooling bills. 

The Cool Roof Rating Council’s website is an excellent resource when considering color choices, with helpful information regarding the solar reflectivity performance of many assorted color choices. Cool colors are especially important for flat and low-slope roofs, which tend to trap heat in the air above them, while steeper pitches encourage air movement. 

It’s not just a clever idea to pick a cool color for your roof. In some places, it’s mandatory. The state of California, for instance, won’t issue a building permit unless you are using colors that are listed by the Cool Roof Rating Council. Hawaii has introduced cool color requirements for walls as well. 

What's Right For You?

it’s time to choose the one that’s right for you. You may want your building to blend in with the surrounding neighborhood, natural features or the area. Or perhaps you want it to pop against that background. The key is to envision what your color choices will actually look like in reality. To do that well, you need real-life samples in your hands. 

While it’s fine to use your phone or computer to make initial color selections online, it’s crucial to use actual samples and color chips when narrowing down your options because different web browsers, phones and screens display colors very differently. The best bet is to request color charts.

But remember that simply printing off these PDFs will not provide you with an exact color. Colors can appear very differently depending on the light source. 

Free Samples 

The actual color on the color charts is applied to paper, but there is also a primer applied, which creates a sample that’s similar to the final product. From this, narrow it down to a few top choices and then request color chips. These are actual samples of the selected color on a 3×5 index-card-sized piece of metal.  

Let us know what samples you need and Providence will get them to you ASAP.

Another reason Providence Steel Solutions is with you from start to finish.