Roof Cleaning: Why You Need to Remove Moss and Mould
Many people love the look of moss, but while it’s perfectly at home in a rainforest, your roof isn’t the place you want to cultivate it!
A build-up of mould, moss or lichen can potentially lead to structural damage, and may prevent rain from running off your roof freely.
Why worry about it?
Mould, moss, lichen and general grime can build up very easily on roofs and exterior surfaces, particularly after rain or humidity. Both mould and moss contain tiny airborne spores that will cling to roof tiles and the spaces between them.
And it’s not only unsightly. You may not realise it, but moss on the roof can act like a sponge, absorbing moisture, increasing mould, and leading to structural damage if left unchecked. Although notoriously difficult to remove from home interiors, mould may often be easier to remove from the roof, with moss potentially growing centimetres thick.
How to remove build-up – it’s all in the pressure
Roof cleaning isn’t the easiest of jobs, but it’s one that should be done done right. A general hose is not likely to be very successful against moss or lichen, and certain cleaners may remove the surface level dirt, but not the underlying build-up. A reputable roof cleaner will first spray the roof with a weed killer (or other similar chemicals) to kill the lichen, this is necessary to loosen up the plant’s grip on your tiles, about 2 weeks later (when the lichen is well and truly dead) the pressure washing can commence. The pre-spraying of weed killers also ensures that the mould and moss inbetween your tiles and gutters cannot survive. Roof Cleaners use high pressure cleaners that can safely remove mould, moss, lichen and general grime quickly and effectively.
Finding the Right Contractor to Clean your Roof
Pressure cleaning of roofs is a difficult task. We recommend caution when selecting the right company for the job. Commercial cleaning of roofs should only be carried out by those who are qualified to also repair and restore your roof. A 4000psi pressure washer is a very powerful machine and it’s a definite certainty that some damage will occur to your roof during the cleaning process, a reputable roof cleaner will spend the following day replacing your broken tiles and re-bedding your valleys and re-pointing your ridges. As a general rule, if the contractor cannot repair & restore roofs they really shouldn’t be up there pressure washing your roof. Pressure washing of roofs is normally just one stage in a full roof restoration.
We don’t pressure wash roofs but we are experts in Gutter Cleaning and Gutter Protection Installation, call us on 1300 472 976 if you need any advice of roof maintenance. Some roof restorations and roof cleans will render your gutter full of the green waste of lichen moss, our full gutter cleaning service will solve this dilemma for you!
