# Cleaning roof ?



## Piney (Oct 13, 2006)

Greetings--

Our composisition roof has black "stains" on it here and there. Also, where water runs off (no guters), it leaves black stains on the brick. IN addition, where water runs off the roof, over the alum. poarch and onto the patio--black staqins in the concrete.

It looks like mold, as the patio get slippery. I power wash it and its good as new.

No close trees so the entire roof gets sun during the day.

How does one go about cleaning a roof-- and preventing it from reoccuring ?


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## the roofing god (Aug 2, 2007)

Here you go:ALGAE – Shows as black streaks on shingle roofs
MOSS – Small flowerless plant, grows on all types of roof material, Grows in shady moist areas
LICHENS – Plant that grows in small patches

To control moss and lichens, use the following:
1 cup Trisodiumphosphate
1 gallon Bleach
4 gallons Water
Mix together – spray on roof with garden sprayer. Leave set for 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse off with clear water from a garden hose. The roof may need to be retreated every 3 to 4 years unless the conditions that caused the growth are changed. 

The trisodiumphosphate should be able to be found locally at hardware stores or larger lawn and garden shops.








good luck!


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## Piney (Oct 13, 2006)

*bowing* Thanks RG--
I assume the same mix for Algae ?


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## the roofing god (Aug 2, 2007)

yes,and you could purchase zinc strips to place by the top of the roof the runoff from zinc kills it also


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## Barry M (Feb 28, 2007)

Great advise as far as the cleaning goes that is also what most of the major shingle manufacturers recommend using to clean algae infected shingles. :thumbsup: 

I've heard good and bad things about the zinc strips. Here is a pic of a house with the strips, it seems they only protect a couple of feet down the roof.


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## apple roof cleaning (Mar 12, 2008)

*Zinc Strips Keeping Roof Clean*

Barry is correct.
Zinc Strips do not keep the whole roof clean, especially here in the Tampa Florida area.
A better plan is to spray the roof once a year with a bleach/water/Borax solution.
You need 50 percent each of water and bleach, and 1/2 cup of Borax per gallon of mix :thumbsup:
TSP is a FERTILIZER and a potent cleaner.
It will NOT prevent algae. :no:
The bleach will kill the algae, and the Borax will help prevent re growth, preventing roof cleaning.:yes:


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## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

How do you collect the run-off from something like that (on a roof with no gutters) so it doesn't kill the plants below?


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## apple roof cleaning (Mar 12, 2008)

NateHanson said:


> How do you collect the run-off from something like that (on a roof with no gutters) so it doesn't kill the plants below?


You wet all the plants down on the side of the roof you are doing first.
Then, you start spraying, and a person on the ground immediately dilutes the run off.
The diluted run off is harmless if diluted right away.
Let the run off sit on plants, then rinse, and you will have trouble.'
Tarps are better then nothing, and sometimes you can get away with them.
But a man on the ground watering while you spray is the best overall situation.


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## FCPWLLC (Sep 7, 2006)

Old post, but great info. Chris and Barry are dead on. Those zinc strips are more of a scam in the roof cleaning industry. Very ineffective.

__________________________
Michael Kreisle
First Choice Power Washing LLC 
Roof Cleaning
Pressure Washing Lexington KY


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## echase (Mar 10, 2010)

If you can't collect the toxic bleach runoff you can use oxygen bleach, it's very effective, and won't kill your shrubs. The chemical is called sodium percarbonate, and is sold under many brands (it's the active ingredient in oxyclean, but that stuff is heavily diluted and overpriced). Stainsolver.com has high-concentration formula at a very good price.


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## Mark58 (Jan 7, 2009)

Tried today to clean my roof and results were not great. Used instructions as above and I would say it's only about 30% better. I will wait few days and repeat agin if it would help.


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## ensleyxteriors (9 mo ago)

there is a wealth of info on this site. I landed on this page from a google search! I'm excited to learn. I've been playing around with pressure washing ie. moon lighting for a year or so. I just had a website and facebook page made. I can't wait to learn from you guys.

check it out


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## mrrobotman (10 mo ago)

NateHanson said:


> How do you collect the run-off from something like that (on a roof with no gutters) so it doesn't kill the plants below?


as below



apple roof cleaning said:


> You wet all the plants down on the side of the roof you are doing first.
> Then, you start spraying, and a person on the ground immediately dilutes the run off.
> The diluted run off is harmless if diluted right away.
> Let the run off sit on plants, then rinse, and you will have trouble.'
> ...


this is the best solution, you want to scrape the moss off the roof using a moss removal tool I used the tool roofscraper.co.uk as they had a good sale. I scraped the moss off, I had a similar roof to you with no gutters to collect the runoff, what I did was wet the plants that were close enough to get any chemicals on and then once I applied the chemical solution to the roof I then rinsed off the plants to ensure they did not get contaminated with chemicals. always use a lot of water


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## jameskevin19940 (6 mo ago)

Old post but still useful


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