Colour

Dark James Hardie Siding Colours: What to Know First

Charcoal, black, deep blue and dark green exteriors are everywhere in new Calgary builds. They look superb. They also behave differently from light colours.

Why dark works on fibre cement

Dark colours absorb more heat from the sun. On some claddings that causes real trouble, with boards expanding, buckling or distorting. Fibre cement is dimensionally stable, so it copes with dark colours well. That’s a large part of why the dark-exterior trend has gone hand in hand with fibre cement.

What dark colours show

Dust and pollen. Calgary is dry and windy, and a dark wall shows a film of dust that a grey one hides. A rinse with the garden hose sorts it out.
Water marks. Where sprinklers hit the wall or water runs from a sill, minerals leave pale streaks. Aim sprinklers away from the house.
Chips and scratches. The board under the finish is pale. A chip on a dark wall is more visible than on a light one. Touch-up product in your colour deals with small ones.
Fading. Every exterior colour shifts slowly in strong sun. On a dark colour you notice it sooner, mostly on south and west walls.

Finish matters more with dark colours

A factory-applied ColorPlus finish is the sensible route for a dark colour if the shade you want is in the range. It’s applied and cured under controlled conditions and carries its own 15-year limited finish warranty. If you need a custom dark colour painted on site, the quality of the paint and the painter matter a great deal, and so does the weather on painting day.

Smooth or textured

Smooth and dark is the most dramatic combination and the least forgiving. Wood grain softens the surface and hides dust and small marks. If you want the look without the upkeep, a dark colour in a grained texture is a reasonable compromise. More in smooth or Cedarmill.

How much dark is enough

An all-dark house can look heavy, especially a large two-storey on a narrow lot. Options that keep the effect without the weight:

Dark siding with warm wood-tone accents at the entry or soffit.
Dark on the main body with a lighter colour in the gables.
A lighter main colour with dark trim, fascia and window frames.
Dark on the front elevation only, with a related mid-tone on the sides and back.

Trim with dark siding

Matching trim to the siding gives a sleek, modern result where the windows seem to sit straight in the wall. White trim on dark siding is a strong traditional contrast, and it shows every bit of dirt on the trim. Black window frames with dark siding are popular; just make sure the shades are deliberately the same or deliberately different, not nearly matching.

Check before you commit

Look at a full-size sample outdoors at midday and in the evening. Dark colours shift a lot with the light.
Check whether your community has architectural guidelines that restrict exterior colours.
Look at the roof colour next to the sample. The roof is a large part of what people see.
Ask for touch-up product to be left with you at the end of the job.