Colorado Springs homeowners deal with one of the most demanding climates for exterior finishes in the country. Sitting at roughly 6,035 feet above sea level, the city sees far more intense UV radiation than lower-elevation metros — and that altitude doesn’t forgive cheap paint or a thin factory finish. Add in summer hailstorms that regularly produce oversized hail, hard freeze-thaw cycles from October through April, and Chinook winds that can top 50 mph, and you have a combination that chews through standard exterior paint in just a few years.
That’s exactly why so many homeowners in Briargate, Banning Lewis Ranch, and the Broadmoor area are turning to James Hardie fiber cement siding — not just for its structural durability, but for its color program. If you’ve ever repainted the outside of your home only to watch the color chalk and fade within three seasons, you already understand the appeal.
Why Exterior Colors Fade Faster at Elevation
Most people understand that UV rays damage skin, but fewer realize how aggressively high-altitude UV attacks exterior finishes. Colorado Springs averages roughly 300 sunny days per year, and at 6,000 feet, UV intensity is approximately 25% higher than at sea level. For standard exterior paint, that translates directly into faster chalking, fading, and color shift — especially on south- and west-facing walls that take the full brunt of afternoon sun.
Organic pigments in conventional paint are particularly vulnerable. Darker colors tend to fade most visibly, while lighter tones chalk and lose their clean appearance. For homeowners in Old Colorado City or the Patty Jewett neighborhood, where older homes carry traditional dark exterior color schemes, this is a real and recurring problem. Repainting a full exterior every four to five years isn’t just expensive — it’s exhausting, and the results never quite match the original.
How James Hardie’s Colorplus Technology Works
James Hardie’s ColorPlus Technology is a factory-applied, baked-on finish system — not paint applied in the field after the siding goes up. That distinction matters more than most homeowners realize. When siding is painted on-site, the painter controls adhesion, coverage, and cure time. Weather conditions, surface prep, and human variability all affect the result. With ColorPlus, James Hardie applies multiple coats of color in a controlled manufacturing environment, curing each coat at high temperatures to bond the finish at a molecular level.
The result is a finish that James Hardie backs with a 15-year limited warranty against fading and peeling — one of the longest finish warranties available on any siding product on the market. That warranty sits on top of James Hardie’s 30-year non-prorated product warranty on the fiber cement substrate itself. Combined, that coverage outlasts most conventional exterior paint jobs by a factor of three or four. ColorPlus also uses UV-resistant pigments specifically formulated for sustained color performance in high-sun environments — exactly the conditions Colorado Springs delivers year-round.
Color Palettes That Work for Colorado Springs Homes
One of the most common questions we get from homeowners exploring James Hardie in Colorado Springs is how to choose a color that will look right in ten years, not just on installation day. James Hardie offers more than 700 color options organized around real design movements. A few that we see perform particularly well in the Colorado Springs area:
- Mountain Modern palette — Deep charcoals, warm taupes, and soft sage greens that complement the Rocky Mountain backdrop. Boothbay Blue and Monterey Taupe are consistent favorites in Briargate and Flying Horse subdivisions.
- Traditional palette — Crisp whites and soft creams like Arctic White and Navajo Beige, typically paired with dark trim in Cobblestone or Iron Gray. These perform especially well on craftsman bungalows throughout Old Colorado City and Ivywild.
- Bold and expressive options — Deep Ocean, Khaki Brown, and Evening Blue for homeowners ready to commit to a statement exterior. These deeper tones showcase exactly where ColorPlus earns its keep — standard field paint at this saturation level fades measurably faster at altitude.
James Hardie also offers a color visualization tool on their website that lets you upload a photo of your home and preview finished color combinations before a single piece of siding is ordered.
Matching Colorplus Finishes to Colorado Springs Architecture
Colorado Springs has an unusually diverse housing stock, and the right color choice depends heavily on the architectural style of the home. The Broadmoor area features traditional and Tudor-influenced estates. Banning Lewis Ranch and Meridian Ranch lean into contemporary suburban design with open gables and mixed exterior materials. The historic districts — Old Colorado City, Ivywild, and Shooks Run — have Victorian and craftsman homes that call for more restrained, historically sensitive palettes.
We work with homeowners across all of these neighborhoods to select ColorPlus combinations that fit the architectural language of the home and meet any applicable HOA color guidelines. One practical advantage of the ColorPlus system: because colors are standardized across production runs, HOA approval submittals are straightforward. You’re presenting a documented, named color with a published specification — not a paint swatch that can drift between batches or fade to something unintended by the time the HOA approves it.
How Colorplus Holds up Through Colorado’s Hail Seasons
Color retention is only part of the story for Colorado Springs homeowners. James Hardie fiber cement siding is also recognized for its hail resistance, which is a meaningful consideration in a city that sits squarely in Colorado’s high-plains hail corridor. HardiePlank lap siding carries a Class 4 impact resistance rating under the UL 2218 standard — the highest classification available — reflecting testing with 2-inch steel balls dropped from significant heights to simulate large hailstones of the kind that routinely damage wood and vinyl siding during Front Range storm season.
Critically, the ColorPlus finish holds up to hail impact without cracking or peeling at the point of contact. This is a meaningful difference from field-painted fiber cement, where an impact that doesn’t crack the substrate can still cause paint adhesion failure around the strike zone — leaving you with a repair that never quite blends. With a factory finish, there’s no weak adhesion perimeter for impact to exploit.
Schedule a Free Colorado Springs Siding Estimate
If you’re ready to stop repainting and start enjoying exterior color that holds up to Colorado’s UV, hail, and freeze-thaw conditions, we’d love to help you explore what James Hardie’s ColorPlus program can do for your home. Colorado Siding works with homeowners throughout Colorado Springs, Briargate, Banning Lewis Ranch, and the greater Pikes Peak region. We’ll walk you through color palettes, profile options like HardiePlank and HardieShingle, and what to expect from the full installation process — with no pressure and no obligation.
Contact us today for a free estimate and let’s find the colors that will still look great a decade from now.
Martin Faith
Martin Faith is a proud Scotsman, business owner, and home improvement expert. In 2002, after an unfortunate experience with a local contractor and a siding project gone wrong, Martin decided to start his own home improvements company. His goal was to help other homeowners avoid having to suffer through the same experience. He founded Scottish Home Improvements, a customer-focused siding company based in Denver. Martin's small business grew rapidly and today is the largest siding company in the state. With an A+ Rating from the BBB, recognition as a Preferred James Hardie Elite Contractor, and over fifteen years of experience, Scottish Home Improvements is the number one trusted source for residential and commercial siding in Colorado.