Because builders continue using materials with a broader range of colors, patterns and textures, maintaining color consistency throughout construction is more critical now than ever. In the commercial world, many companies use certain color tones or shades to trademark their brands. These businesses pay top dollar for precise color matching, requiring builders to take the most effective measures to maintain color consistency from early project stages through completion.
Color consistency is the average variation amount of chromaticity between two samples. Chromaticity refers to a color's quality, determined by its dominant wavelength regardless of brightness. Because not all inconsistencies are identifiable by the human eye in specific light settings, builders use precise tools to measure color and achieve the consistency their customers require.
Builders often relate color consistency to color tolerance, specifically when comparing materials with various textures or degrees of roughness. Color tolerance is the amount of permitted variation between a material's color and an existing color standard. Many color tolerances go beyond what's detectable by the human eye in an average setting.
Maintaining color consistency is vital because it saves significant money in potential material replacement and labor should the customer discover a variation when the project is complete. Color consistency is crucial because it can make or break a building company's or contractor's reputation.
Besides construction companies needing to measure color consistency in all construction stages, it's equally essential for building material manufacturers to monitor color throughout fabrication. Some materials are much more challenging to measure than others. For example, architectural glass is either reflective, transparent or a combination of both, requiring precise measuring methods.
Similarly, bricks often change color when fired and can vary in consistency from batch to batch if exposed to different temperatures. Roofing shingles have coarse textures that make color monitoring even more challenging.
Spectrophotometers are the perfect devices for monitoring color consistency in building materials, particularly products with unique properties like glass, bricks, cement, tiles and shingles. These devices evaluate color by reflecting controlled light bursts off an object's surface and analyzing the reflected light's wavelengths. Some spectrophotometers evaluate a product's texture and roughness during measurement, both vital factors for most building materials.
With many decades of experience in developing superior solutions for the building materials industry, HunterLab offers various instruments for monitoring color consistency. Contact our team online today to learn more about our products or request a quote. You can also explore our blog for more insightful posts about spectrophotometers and color measurement.
Mr. Philips has spent the last 30 years in product development and management, technical sales, marketing, and business development in several industries. Today, he is the global market development manager for HunterLab, focused on understanding customer needs, providing appropriate solutions and education, and helping to solve customer color challenges across these industries and cultures.LinkedIn