For BaanMae, we went with the Onduvilla bitumen roof tiles because they were very light weight. But they ended up quite difficult to source when it turned out we didn’t order enough. And the supplier kept changing prices and types of pieces.

So for BaanRimNaam, we decided to try going with the more standard fiber cement roof tiles that are very mainstream here in Thailand. These roof tiles have been up for a while, but I just recently noticed that the underside is an ugly grey color. With the rustic wood look we have been targeting, this grey color has a somewhat jarring industrial look. (Or slum look?)

Here is a picture of it:

So on a whim, I decided to experiment with painting them with the same fiber cement paint that we’ve had good luck with for the balconies. The first results were not very promising. It came out way too dark as a consequence of the grey underside of the roof tiles being much darker than the lighter grey of the fiber cement board we used on the balcony.

But the workers had the idea of painting it with a thin coat of a lighter paint before using the wood style paint. And the results were quite promising:

The ones in the lower right has been painted with the first lighter coat. The ones farther away have had the wood colored paint done as a second coat.

So I asked them to go ahead and paint the underside of the roof, at least on the outside of the house.

You can see the original grey underside of the tiles in the upper left, the light colored layer in the middle, and the completed one down below. Given my preference, I would have gone with a lighter color, but we couldn’t find one.

Here is what it looks like after completion. Note that the lower roof was added to cover the entrance:

It doesn’t exactly look like wood or anything, but it blends in with the rest of the house much better. So I am quite pleased.