I have some grey plastic, diamond slate roofing material (Kibri) and would like to make it look more like slate roofing. Does anyone have any experience painting something to look like slate? My home, for example, has a slate roof and though it is almost 75 years old, is not flat gray in color.
I’d give it a coat of rattle can auto primer, either light gray or dark gray.
Go to Google Images and type in slate roof. There really is an amazing variety of colors and shades of slate roofing – some is dark gray, some is dark green, some are redding or yellowish. The slate roofs I am familiar with however are indeed rather dark gray with just a tinge of greenish perhaps.
Dave Nelson
Are you looking for a shade, or more of a texture? I have begun texturing my roofs with textured paint, one called ‘Sandstone’ to be exact. It is fine enough for HO & the compatible colors (Lightly sprayed) turn out nice. (to me)… If you’d like a picture let me know & I will go shoot one with those for ya. Lemme know…
Slate colors vary quite a bit from dark gray to greens and red/ purple. You need to decide just what coloring you want. Is this to look new, or well aged.
Paint to a desired “base” gray color, go lighter than what you’d like. Then either weather, drybrush w/ acrylics and to show more definition you also can weather w/ India ink/ alcohol. The purple/gray hint of the ink may be just what you need for the slate. Experiment w/ the dilution, you don’t need much ink to alcohol.
Bob K is on the right track!
India ink washes can be a blessing when you’re trying to acheive a certain look. Just start out with a very dilute solution and build it up as needed. The shade of primer you use as a base will determine the final outcome, I try to keep several brands of oxide, gray, white and black primers on hand as each brand has slightly different characteristics and shades.
After application of the alcohol/india ink wash you may want to buff it to give the slate a bit of glossiness.
Here’s a quick shot of a wash over white primer to represent old dirty Vermont marble…
I like the effect… as Bob said, go very light on the base coat. Take a look here for color ideas.
Go to Roofing… slate
Hope this helps, good luck… and experiment!
Ed
Like, Chad, I’ve been using those Rustoleum textured and speckled paints. They are great for rock walls and particularly roofing. The black speckled one looks like an asphalt roof, or asphalt shingles on a sloped roof. The multi-colored ones may not look right for slate, but they have monochromatic ones that have a rough, sandy texture to them. That break up the very flat look you get from primer or other sprays.