Gentle-As-Rain Roof Cleaning Service
Generally, roofs that are more than 5 years old are usually good candidates for a roof cleaning. Both tile and shingle roofs can harbor black mold. Mold reproduces by using airborne spores and as it becomes more visible, it will begin to migrate to other surfaces of your home such as your walls, skylights, pool decks, gutters, driveway and sidewalks.
Health Tip: For those with respiratory concerns, mold and mildew may even pose a health hazard. In fact, today it is even more important that you avoid inhaling mold spores because once inhaled, they can "overload" your immune system leaving you susceptible to any number of illnesses, viruses and pathogens.
Maintenance Tip: The longer you put off your roof cleaning, the darker it will get and the darker it is, the thicker it is, which means either a stronger solution or more coatings will be required to eradicate it completely. This means more chemical, more cost, more time to do more passes all while increasing your chances of browned or dead grass and/or landscaping.
When we finish, there is zero mold left. That is the only way we can give you a Two Year No Streak Guarantee. For the first two years, if you see anything, you call us, its free. After the two year period, we can then maintain your roof without stepping on your roof with an annual treatment that is 1/3 the strength and costs 1/3 the cost of the actual cleaning.
Do You Have To Walk On The Roof?
Now, here's a topic that could fill a whole chapter. I've offered roof cleaning for over 20 years and as far as I know, anyone that you hire to clean your roof MUST know how to walk on your roof. If you need repairs to your roof, skylights or solar panels, they have to know how to walk on your roof to do it. So, unless they use a crane (about $2,000 per week to rent) or a bucket lift (about $500 per day) or they have wings, they have no other choice when it comes to cleaning around gables, vent pipes, ridges, valleys and along second story walls. Of course, the problem is that if you don't know how to walk on a tile roof, you can break a lot of tiles. So, experience is key.
If you are looking for someone that can clean your roof without actually stepping up there, just remember that trying to apply roof cleaning chemical by shooting it across your roof to reach the peak or the other side means that roof chemical will splash everywhere and onto everything causing light colored oxidation streaks and splash marks on your painted walls and windows. That's why we prefer a low pressure application process. With little to no overspray we can clean roof sections right next to your walls without getting any chemical on your second story painted surfaces.
If you are looking for someone that can clean your roof without actually stepping up there, just remember that trying to apply roof cleaning chemical by shooting it across your roof to reach the peak or the other side means that roof chemical will splash everywhere and onto everything causing light colored oxidation streaks and splash marks on your painted walls and windows. That's why we prefer a low pressure application process. With little to no overspray we can clean roof sections right next to your walls without getting any chemical on your second story painted surfaces.
See this picture below? This business just had their office painted last year and decided to have their roof cleaned this year. Just look at the damaged paint. It bothers me every time I walk my dog past it. While I won't say who it was because hopefully, they are going to rectify this, but it's been 2 months so far. They looked professional enough but looks can be deceiving. See where the chemical splashed on the paint of the wall and oxidized it? This is also what happens to any of your walls it touches, but more specifically on your second story walls when someone tries to clean your roof without walking on it and they're trying to shoot chemicals 40 feet away. Often, cleaning contractors will go by what they see on the internet and prepare a roof cleaning solution using bleach and trisodium phosphate (TSP) as directed by Handyman Bob or Bill. On the internet, they expect you to spray it on, let it soak, then get up there with a stiff brush to "brush" the mold off your shingles. In my opinion, this is a good way to lose granules and destroy your shingles in the process. So, now let me tell you a little bit about TSP. It's used to break down oil and grease. Basically any petroleum based surface will start to break down with TSP. And underneath your granules, your shingles are made of tar, also a petroleum based product. Let me give you a minute to let that sink in. Basically, it will cause premature granule loss if the roof cleaning solution is not mixed correctly for the amount of mold you are cleaning. *Remember, I mentioned earlier to never use degreaser on your home? Well, TSP is like a degreaser. It is used to prepare surfaces for refinishing or repainting, due to its ability to de-gloss paint as well as free the surface of flaking, peeling areas. *Remember I mentioned earlier that it will dull your paint? Well, it removes the oils from your paint, so that a new paint can be applied. When someone shoots roof cleaning solution from the edge of your roof to avoid walking on it, they are at the mercy of the wind and any painted surface this stuff lands on will look just like this picture below. That's why I do not use TSP. Instead, I use my propietary housewash cleaner that's designed to clean without affecting window and door seals. So, it absolutely will not hurt your shingles.
Can't We Just Clean It With Water?
In a word, no. Just like cleaning your home's exterior, plain water does nothing to slow mold regrowth. Mold will return within 6 months. When I first started cleaning roofs over 20 years ago, at the time, everyone I knew in this business used pressure washing to clean roofs. Tile or shingle made no difference. Every now and then you'd see someone using chemicals but you could always bet on dead grass and browned out landscaping.
I actually learned my craft from a fellow that is now retired. He was voted best cleaning contractor in Westchase five years in a row. During that time, as we would work, he would point out all the damage other roof cleaners would leave so that I wouldn't repeat it. I learned a lot, but when I started doing this on my own, I decided to call several shingle and tile manufacturers and when I explained what I did, they were happy to help me. Back then, it didn't matter if it was shingle or tile, they all said the same thing that as long as I didn't use over 500 psi and only used 10% bleach, everything would be fine. Well, let me tell you, unless your shingle roof is less than two years old, even 500 psi will remove granules. Sometimes a roof has been dirty so long that the bleaching solution can't penetrate the thick layer of mold. And a 10% bleach solution won't even touch the black mold that we have here in Florida, so back then, you would be forced to use pressure up to 500 psi to remove the remaining mold stains.
Today, shingles are much sturdier, often 2 to 3 times as thick and hold more than twice as much granules packed into the surface as the old style to meet hurricane standards. So today, if you call a roof manufacturing company, they will tell you to use a 50/50 solution of bleach and water. The problem here is that like water, bleach has a surface tension higher than that of the mold. So, it will literally bead up and roll right off the mold (like a newly waxed car in the rain) creating streaks on your roof if you don't know what additives to use to give your chemical solution a "wicking" action to permeate the mold without affecting granule adhesion. So, yes, we clean exactly as recommended by ARMA (American Roof Manufacturing Association)
Unlike many of our competitors, we apply a gentle mist of a mildewcide solution that only requires about 1/2 the amount that our competitors use. On a 2500 square foot home, the run off is often less than 2 1/2 gallons. Our chemical treatment does not contain any petroleum distillates to break down the tar of your shingles and loosen the granules. Over 10 years ago, I saw a contractor clean a roof with bleach mixed with degreaser and the next day, every single one of the shingles curled up. The entire roof had to be replaced. Our cleaning solution only attacks the mold, mildew and algae growing on your roof. What has kept me from hurting landscaping is knowing the right ratio of each additive in the solution so that it doesn't damage the shingle or produce too much runoff. Knowing how to handle, mix and use these chemicals are key to safety and a satisfactory job.
As you can see in the two roof pictures below, there is little to no runoff, which reduces the chances of brown grass and dead plants dramatically. Notice how it barely runs down to the next row? That doesn't just happen by accident.
Unlike many of our competitors, we apply a gentle mist of a mildewcide solution that only requires about 1/2 the amount that our competitors use. On a 2500 square foot home, the run off is often less than 2 1/2 gallons. Our chemical treatment does not contain any petroleum distillates to break down the tar of your shingles and loosen the granules. Over 10 years ago, I saw a contractor clean a roof with bleach mixed with degreaser and the next day, every single one of the shingles curled up. The entire roof had to be replaced. Our cleaning solution only attacks the mold, mildew and algae growing on your roof. What has kept me from hurting landscaping is knowing the right ratio of each additive in the solution so that it doesn't damage the shingle or produce too much runoff. Knowing how to handle, mix and use these chemicals are key to safety and a satisfactory job.
As you can see in the two roof pictures below, there is little to no runoff, which reduces the chances of brown grass and dead plants dramatically. Notice how it barely runs down to the next row? That doesn't just happen by accident.
*We recommend that you turn on your sprinklers next to your home for the next three or four days to ensure that your plants or grass aren't "browned" out by salt water. Yes, our chemical formulation begins breaking down the bleach into salt in less than 24 hours. (Yes, bleach is made from saltwater so it returns to being salt.) The morning dew will mix with the salt on your roof and some of it will drip onto your grass and plants. Even after our formulation breaks down it works to retard mold regrowth up to two years before any mold begins to grow again.
The home you see below belongs to a Swedish business man that only gets to visit every few months. No one would touch this home because it was out in the boonies and had a large three story pool cage. Most of my competitors take their pictures from across the street. I'm showing you how I see your roof when I clean it. There is no way that I can offer a two year warranty on your cleaning if I leave any mold behind at all. So every roof has to be spotless.
The home you see below belongs to a Swedish business man that only gets to visit every few months. No one would touch this home because it was out in the boonies and had a large three story pool cage. Most of my competitors take their pictures from across the street. I'm showing you how I see your roof when I clean it. There is no way that I can offer a two year warranty on your cleaning if I leave any mold behind at all. So every roof has to be spotless.
