Interested in a little light reading?

Appropriate color measurement tests can help you create fiber cement siding that is as beautiful as it is durable. Image Source: Shutterstock user Kiattisak Thongtawee

Fiber cement siding—a sturdy combination of wood pulp, fly ash, portland cement, and water—was first introduced in the construction industry just 25 years ago.1 Since then, it’s become one of the most popular materials that architects use for their projects. Almost 15 percent of all new homes have fiber cement siding, in part because this material is so durable and versatile. Although this material can be made to look just like brick, stone, or wood siding, it is actually far stronger than wood or vinyl materials, and less expensive to make than brick or stone. Quality fiber cement siding is fire resistant, termite-proof, rot-proof, and can withstand extreme weather conditions like heavy rain, strong winds or fluctuations in temperature.

But in order to achieve both the durability and beauty of fiber cement siding, manufacturers have to use appropriate color measurement methods at different points in the manufacturing process. Siding color is often the first thing that visitors notice when they look at a house, which is why it’s so important to test for color accuracy before you sell your products to customers. Even subtle inconsistencies in color could make fiber cement siding appear cheaply-made or weather-worn, and will negatively impact the overall appearance of the house. By using spectrophotometric color measurement during manufacturing, you can ensure that every piece of fiber cement siding meets your exacting standards and that your final product will appear beautifully-crafted.

Unpainted fiber cement siding is usually light grey in color. Image Source: Wikimedia user Michael Holley

Terracotta products, like gardening pots, are a popular tool for homeowners and garden designers. Image source: Pexels user rawpixel.com

A garden designer has spent months searching for the perfect teal-colored pots and planters for a new urban green space located on the rooftop of a massive apartment complex. The designer wants the rooftop garden to look beautiful and cohesive, and so she carefully selects plants and pottery that will complement each other.1 Similarly, architects use well-crafted terracotta tile as roofing, flooring, and decorative elements, making buildings appear more colorful and aesthetically-pleasing. In both cases, customers rely on colorful, unique clay products to make their visions come to life.

Color is one of the most attractive features of clay and terracotta products; the right shade can completely transform the appearance of a space or building. As such, manufacturers must take color quality control into serious consideration and integrate spectrophotometric technologies in their production process. Spectrophotometric color measurement helps ensure that each product conforms to your aesthetic expectations, helping you make the most of these colorful materials.

Terracotta is naturally orange in color due to the oxidation of iron that occurs when the product is exposed to high temperatures. Image source: Shutterstock user Pi-Lens

Brightly-colored stucco walls can help buildings stand out in crowded city centers. Image Source: Flickr user Jose Ramon Polo Lopez

If you’ve ever taken a road trip across the United States, you may have noticed that fast food restaurant buildings all have virtually the same appearance from franchise-to-franchise. When you visit a Taco Bell in Nevada, you’ll see almost the exact same pale orange stucco on the front of the building as you see on Taco Bell buildings in Florida and Wisconsin. This is because most restaurant chains make a conscious effort to carefully match the appearance of the stucco on each building.1  Not only does this color matching process make the buildings look more cohesive, it also helps businesses establish a unique and easily recognizable brand.

However, getting two shades of stucco to match isn’t always easy. Inconsistencies in the formula and pigments used can dramatically alter the overall appearance of stucco products. Additionally, the rough texture of the final application may cause the stucco to appear lighter or darker in color to the naked eye, even if the stucco mix is a perfect color match. To solve these common manufacturing problems, stucco manufacturers can use spectrophotometers to ensure that every product meets ideal color standards. Unlike the naked eye, which can be unreliable when it comes to accurately detecting small variations in color, a spectrophotometer provides manufacturers with the most accurate color readings possible, allowing them to create more reliable, aesthetically-pleasing building finishes.

The Value of Color Accuracy and Consistency

The appeal of stucco lies primarily in its appearance. While it provides minimal protection against the elements, stucco is frequently used to cover up more protective layers of materials, such as concrete or wood, to open up new aesthetic possibilities.2 Because the main purpose of stucco is to make a building appear more beautiful, color quality control is of utmost importance.

Contractors like to use stucco because manufacturers can mix a wide range of color pigments into the material to create virtually any color the customer would like. Whether customers are looking for a deep, rich red material, or a creamy eggshell white, manufacturers can easily mix the perfect percentage of pigment into every product. The only problem is that this color must be perfect from the moment it’s applied to the building—while you can paint over stucco, this process is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and difficult process. As such, stucco manufacturers have to get color right the first time.

However, color doesn’t just have to be consistent within a single building project. Because brands often use the color possibilities of stucco to fortify brand identity, color must also remain consistent over time and across geographic locations. This color consistency is essential to making brands easily identifiable to customers; too much variation in color can compromise customers’ perception and disrupt the sense of familiarity trademark colors seeks to elicit.

If you want to change the color of a stucco wall, you have to apply a brand new layer of stucco on top of the existing wall if you want to avoid the time-consuming work of painting. Image Source: Unsplash user Landis Brown

From historic and weathered, to modern and sleek, bricks play a vital role in the aesthetics of American architecture. Image Credit: Unsplash user Fernando Reyes

Brick is an essential part of the aesthetic fabric of American architecture. In every major U.S. city, and thousands of smaller cities, towns, and villages, brick buildings line the avenues, house after house, business after business. Even in areas dominated by wooden, cement, or modern steel-and-glass architecture, brick buildings still dot the streets, relics from earlier days or testaments to the taste of their builder. Often, even buildings made from other materials have a brick facade simply for looks. In the U.S., we like to build with brick. 1

Builders Choose Bricks Based on Color

The reasons for the prevalence of brick are myriad. Brick has enormous compressive strength, allowing it to hold heavy loads. It insulates highly effectively, regulating temperature and blocking out noise, making it ideal for use in harsh climates and high-traffic areas. Another major selling point is that brick does not burn, a fact that led to the proliferation of brick buildings after a number of historic fires in cities across the country. After Chicago burned to the ground in 1871, for example, brick was mandated in the building code. But perhaps the most important reason people choose brick for their homes is the aesthetic, which explains why even wooden homes so often have brick facades. People simply like the way brick looks.

Because aesthetics are so important, the final color of bricks is of considerable value for brick manufacturers. While a range of colors are tolerated—and even prized—in bricks used for architecture, builders are still choosing brick based on hue. As such, brick manufacturers must ensure that their bricks are the color that builders desire. This is accomplished both by paying careful attention to the mineral properties of the clay they fire to produce brick and by using color measurement instruments to ensure that each batch of bricks falls within acceptable tolerance standards.

Builders pay great attention to the color of their bricks. Credit: Unsplash user Kevin Wolf

Measuring the color of roofing granules with traditional spectrophotometers can present a number of challenges that impede accuracy and efficiency of analysis. Image Source: Shutterstock user Unkas Photo

Roofing granules require rigorous analysis to determine the final color and appearance of the product. Continual monitoring of pigmentation throughout production and stability testing ensure consistent product appearance and longevity. However, roofing granules present a number of challenges to the color measurement process due to their textured, non-uniform nature, compromising efficiency and accuracy of analysis. Today, however, advances in spectrophotometric technology has allowed for the creation of instruments that address these challenges. HunterLab’s new SMART technology incorporates a number of recent innovations to simplify the measurement of textured, non-uniform materials like roofing granules, reduce sample preparation time, increase efficiency of analysis, and improve accuracy of results.

Making high-quality roofing materials that appeal to customers depends on the ability to ensure accuracy and consistency of color. Image Source: Shutterstock user Viacheslav Nikolaenko

Advances in paint and coating technology allow even dark colored homes to enjoy increased solar reflectance for natural cooling in hot summer months. Image Source: Unsplash user Bernadette Gatsby

Air conditioning can be a significant proportion of a household’s energy consumption and cost each year, representing “more than 8% of all the electricity produced in the U.S., at a cost to homeowners of over $15 billion.”1 Not only can this be a blow to a household budget, it also greatly increases the home’s carbon footprint; for the average home, a single air conditioning system releases almost two metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Although many homeowners have made the switch to high-efficiency air conditioners, some are looking to decrease their energy bills and carbon footprint even further by reducing the need for air conditioning in the first place through measures such as better insulation, moving toward energy-efficient light bulbs, and getting rid of energy-leeching appliances. However, there is one major area of potential energy saving that is often overlooked: solar reflection.

This modern home incorporates light roofing and walls to maximize solar reflectance. Image Source: Unsplash user Inspiration de

Wine bottle glass colors are carefully chosen to preserve wine integrity and improve marketability. Image Source: Flickr user Alex Brown

I feel blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas in our country. The Pacific NW offers the perfect climate and landscape for summer recreation and one way to enjoy the great outdoors is to spend a Sunday afternoon driving through the hills and valleys of this region. A quick drive into the country can lead to beautiful landscapes covered with rolling vineyards and architecturally beautiful wineries. The wine industry has grown significantly in this area over the past several decades and in just an afternoon you can stop by more than a handful of destinations and sample a large variety of fine wines. On our last winery tour I was given yet another lesson on wine tasting, but this time the conversation was not about the actual wine itself. In fact, I spent nearly an hour with the vintner discussing wine bottle glass colors. You may be wondering how the color of the bottles could possible warrant that much attention, but in truth it plays a significant role in wine integrity and marketability.

Most wine connoisseurs know that proper storage conditions greatly affect the quality of wines. Light and high temperatures are the main culprits for altering wine integrity and can have a direct effect on taste and color. “Studies have shown that the color of the glass affects the color and aroma of the wine within when exposed to light; specifically it was found that green bottles have a greater protective effect against light than lighter colored bottles when held at a constant temperature. Interestingly, other studies have found the exact opposite, so it’s not completely clear what is going on inside those bottles when exposed to light.”1. Glass color measurement provides insight on how light affects wine after bottling and can help wine producers make important choices when it comes to bottling quality wines.

Monitoring glass color with advanced spectral technology provides the data needed to make the best choices in bottling options. Image Source: Flickr user dpotera