So I had a job today and It didn’t go so well. Barrel tile roof. Pretty steep. Technically walkable but not something I was willing to do. this roof hasn’t been cleaned since the house was build in the 80s. Not much moss but tons of lichen. I kept upping my mix until I got to 70% sh and it still barely touched it. It was fresh sh I just picked up this morning. It got to the point that I could rub the lichen off with my hand or remove it with pressure but it wouldn’t rinse off. Basically it needed to be pressure washed. Does anybody have experience with this kind of roof? Arizona, Nevada maybe?
I’m not too happy at the moment. Pretty sure I’m going to drop roof cleaning from my service list or only do certain types for now on. I’m definitely not going to hit them with high pressure or start walking wet slippery roofs. I’m considering trying some other chems but dont have anywhere to test the chems. I’d really rather not go back to the house I was at today. It was pretty embarrassing to tell the customer I just couldn’t do the job he hired me for. He was okay with it but I’m not really.
Anyways…I’m kind of ranting now…maybe venting a little bit.
Has anyone experienced this or something similar? Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Someone else can correct me if I’m wrong, but lichens will die if you just spray the roof and walk away. A lot of people don’t rinse.
Can you change your approach to selling it? Let them know it’s a two part adventure. Spraying the roof and letting them know it’s going to take a bit for the lichens to die so don’t expect all of it to be gone right away?
@Clean1 I’m new to roofs, and that was a tough pill for me to swallow as well - walking away with lichen on the roof still. I think I actually created a topic on that not long ago. If it bleaches out, you should be good to go. All of my proposals for roofs have something along the lines of…
“Algae (brown/black staining) will be removed same day. Moss/Lichen (Plant Life) will die during the application, but Mother Nature will need 2-4 weeks to run her course.”
My first three roofs that had significant lichen are all good-to-go.
Hey guys. Sorry about the late response. It looked better than when I got there but definitely wasn’t cleaned up to my standards or anyone who was going to pay for a roof cleaning. I used a roof cleaning surfactant for powerwashstore…dragon grip I think or something along those lines. 32 oz to a 55 gal mix like it said on the label.
@squidskc I might be able to change the way I sell it but if I cant offer instant satisfaction like I do with other services then I dont really think it’d going to work. I just cant see peiole paying top dollar for results at sometime in the random future.
I’m going to follow up with the guy today and let him know that I’ll be stopping by omce a week or so you’ll see if its progressed at all. Still at no charge of course just for my own sanity. Ill try to upload another pic.
I clean tile roofs like this all the time. It’s not uncommon to use straight SH (several applications) if you want to get it clean. Occasionally, even that won’t get the job done and you’ll have to pressure wash spots that refuse to go away. I’m surprised you’re having issues, it doesn’t look that bad in the picture.
I went tbrough 40 gal of 12.5 sh on this job. I’m realizing now that it’s painted cement tiles and not actual clay but id think that would have been easier. I talked to the homeowner today. He said It looks better than it did yesterday. I was surprised about the lack of results myself. I did pick up the sh from a local pool supply but theyre stuff is usually pretty good. I’m thinking maybe I got an older batch but who knows. I was pretty down about it yesterday but I’m feeling better as of now. Just finished a 8000sq ft stucco mansion. $1250 in 4 hours which is better than I normally do hourly. So it kind of makes up for yesterday. It would have been 2.5 hours but I spent a good while trying to remove some rust stains. They werent included in the quote but I figured for what I charged them I could at least try. Plus I just got in some f9 Barcelona I wanted to try out. Oxalic acid actually did a beter job than the f9 did.
Anyways it was a good learning experience. I didnt take any after pics but that particular section is actually as clean as a whistle now but I has to take a 40° nozzle to it. If I knew anyone with a tile roof ( other than previous clients) I would clean it for free just so I can get it down… If its really going to take multiple coats of straight 12.5 then I’m not sure if its something I want to do or I need to double my prices. I’m in the process of refining my business to only include services that we’re really good at and that bring in the most $ per hour. Roof cleaning would be one if I could get the results that I want. From what I can tell most of my competition is actually pressure washing roofs, and with no safety harness.
After this recent experience I’m just going to pick and choose which roofs I do. Ive had great success cleaning flat cement tiles and asphalt…the easy stuff. Or maybe I’ll try again…the $ always seems to pull me into things I’m not 1000% sure about.
What would have been your process for cleaning this roof?
