Re-roofing the 1880s barn: what color?

[B_and_B]

I ought to note, my 1870’s barn has red shingles on one side, and the standard metal on the part we just redid. Here is a picture of it as we were finishing the rebuild. Green with aluminum. I’d prefer the red shingles or the cedar brown, but it is functional, it is in budget, and it does work. (the funny spots are ice breakers, they keep the snow from sliding off all at once)
Before Rebuild

After:

[LCDR]

Silver. And maybe paint “See Rock City” on it. Those of you who date back to the 1950’s before interstate highways will know what I am talking about. But definitely silver.

[2DogsFarm]

You give me - Art School dropout - Hope.
I now have a Spring Project:
Create a quilt/distelfink for my barn.
I know I can enlist neighbors (Faux Grandson & his Dad) to hang it for me.
Above the front slider, it will hang at ~14’
Slider is 12’ high X 12’ wide.
What size plywood (marine, right?) will be a decent size to be seen & appear proportionate?

ETA:
Found these.
Not so very difficult-looking
&, As you said: height hides boo-boos

[frugalannie]

EssexFells, the idea isn’t to replicate the cedar shake shingles on your roof, but to consider the color of the old cedar shakes and look to find a metal roof color that’s close. That way, visually, it may fit in better.

When we last had to reroof our barn and indoor, the metal roofing was significantly more expensive than composite shingles, so that’s what we went with. And at least around here, you’re allowed to have two layers of roofing. I would think that if they can install the metal over your current roof, it would decrease the number of nails on the ground and maybe provide some insulation from temperature extremes and noise . Your roofer of choice will definitely have an opinion. Best of luck.

[LCDR]

Not marine plywood. Look for MDO (Medium Desity Overlay Signboard) It is waterproof and is used for road signs. You won’t find it in big box stores and you will need to search in your area for a source. I use it for the large painted figures I put on wings of stadium jumps.

[EssexFells]

Yes on MDO, and I’d do 4x4ft. To help you judge, that’s the size of my quilts and the barn door opening is 16x12’. Over 12x12it’d be perfect. Plus there’s the convenience factor of making just one cut from a 4x8 sheet of MDO.

After paint has fully dried, use marine-grade polyurethane to seal all surfaces especially the sides. Be aware that any poly is going to yellow with age (due to UV exposure). So a design that has lots of white can end up looking (very) pale yellow after a year or two. I shrug it off and just call it “patina”. But anyway, if that idea bugs you, I’d focus on a design that fills a lot of the white space.

[LCDR]

I’m glad you brought up polyurethane. I have started using water-based spar urethane, which seems to hold up well outside and doesn’t yellow. I’ve tried the Varathane and the Minwax brands.

[Chroni1990]

The goal is to pick a metal roof colour that closely matches the colour of the ancient cedar shakes rather than trying to recreate the cedar shake shingles on your roof. It might look better integrated that way. You are also permitted to have two levels of roofing at least here. There will undoubtedly be an opinion from your preferred roofer. If they could install the metal over your existing roof, it would lessen the number of nails on the ground and possibly offer some insulation from extremes in temperature and noise. When we last had to replace the roofs on our barn and house, metal roofing was much more expensive than composite shingles, so we chose that. We have also used the slate roofing method and did it well.

[2tempe]

Havent read all posts, but I would go with a Lighter gray or a beige color. Here is one example but if you google “old red barn” images you can get some sense of how they look.