Unless you live in an apartment, the roof of your house plays a prominent role in carving out the identity, or avatar, of your house.
When evaluating roofs and roofing with regards to feng shui, the priority is in assessing the form factor of a roof which, in turn, determines the roof shape and element.
The roof color comes after that.
Even though the roof colour is not a top priority, it does carry weightage… especially when you completely get it wrong or right.
And when selecting a roof color for your house with feng shui in mind, the priority is to avoid clashes.
These clashes usually come in the form of whether the color creates element conflicts between the color of the roof against:
- Shape of roof
- Color of house exterior walls
- Facing direction of house
To make it easier for reference, below is a table that indicates primary and secondary clashes of the elemental colors of roofs.
| Roof Color |
Primary Clash |
Secondary Clash |
| Wood | Metal | Earth |
| Fire | Water | Metal |
| Earth | Wood | Water |
| Metal | Fire | Wood |
| Water | Earth | Fire |
Elements that do not cause clashes and conflicts are assumed to be in harmony.
To determine what colors represent what elements, you can refer to the feng shui color chart. To find out what directions are associated to what elements, refer to the relationship between the 5 elements.
Simple application of this feng shui concept can be done by identifying the element of the roof color, then assessing if elemental clashes are present against the roof shape, house exterior color, and the facing direction of the house.
It must be said again that roof colors alone are of secondary importance.
However, if you have feng shui OCD or someone who seeks feng shui perfection, then this is certainly a simple exercise to do to choose a roof color.
Green roof (wood)
A green roof represents the wood element. Wood element is also represented by other colors including certain shades of brown.
Sometimes, people living in houses with flat roofs build a garden of sorts at the rooftop. Carpeting the surface with green turf.
This would also constitute a wood roof.
Such roofs would be most auspicious for houses that are facing east and southeast.
Red roof (fire)
When we think about the color of fire, we instinctively think red. But don’t forget that this element can be represented by other colors as well such as purple.
Most homes have fire roofs due to rainwater drainage system setups.
Couple this with the fact that most houses are square or rectangular shaped, it indicates that most of the time, red roofs are usually fine.
Moreover, fire on top is much better than fire below. The latter might pose a feng shui problem sometimes.
They are best for south facing homes and should avoided by houses that face north.
Yellow roof (earth)
Buildings with yellow roofs are not popular due to the tendency for defects to appear obvious.
However, they are not few and far between too.
Just go to an elevated place and look down at all the buildings below. Yellow earth roofs can be easily to spot.
This colored roof is in total harmony with square houses and flat roofs.
A lot of roofing uses dark brown shingles too. These are symbolic of the earth element as well.
They are a good match for houses facing northeast and southwest.
White roof (metal)
While white roofs are uncommon, gray roofs which also represent the metal element are very common as it’s the colour of concrete slabs and are very common with modern homes with flat roof lines.
Metal roofs need to avoid the fire element and should be avoided by houses that are facing south.
They should also be avoided by triangular shaped roofs.
Houses that face west and northwest are most suited for metal colored roofs.
Black roof (water)
Black roofs are uncommon but not unheard of.
The main reason homeowners avoid them is that they absorb heat from the sun. And the reason people can love them is mostly down to aesthetic value.
A water roof in theory needs to avoid square shaped houses.
But since many houses are built in square shapes, and it’s the recommended house shape of feng shui masters, a away of inducing harmony of a black roof and a square house is to introduce an exterior wall color of metal or construct a flat roof.
By bringing metal element into the picture, harmony is achieve between water (roof) and earth (house shape).
Water roofs are suited for north facing houses.
Finally something to note is that while the color of a roof alone is not a critical feng shui factor, it can present a problem when the house exterior is of the same color as the roof.
Such design configuration can create a strong presence of a particular elemental energy as represented by the single color. This issue can even be compounded when the shape of the roof and house is of the same element as the roof color.
In such cases, avoiding clashes of house facing directions can become a top priority.
