I am not trying to insult or fight anyone. I’m new to this business. However when people say that you can’t pressure clean roofs, they’re patently wrong. I don’t care if you’ve been in the business for 30 years. I wouldn’t pressure clean asphalt shingles, but clearly many many contractors clean at least tile roofs with pressure with no issues, to the point that manufacturers even make specialized tools for the task.
I asked you a question in another thread regarding the same issue and you didn’t answer my question. When you get tasked to clean an old roof that has unknown issues and you water damage it from using high pressure, who pays for the repairs? You or mosmatic? When you strip the paint off a poorly prepped and painted house using pressure, who pays for the repair, you or the nozzle manufacturer. When you kill expensive landscaping who pay for the plants, you or ProPortioner. The point is it’s up to you to take the risk, if you can clean it chemically without spending hours on a roof with high pressure washing the unknown with a surface cleaner why would you?
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You can’t clean the kind of roof in the Mosmatic video by just spritzing it with chem and water.
That’s a perfect example, would you take a chance with a roof that neglected bursting it with high pressure left, right and center? Lol. You can clean that roof chemically I’ve done plenty of them in the same condition out in farm areas.
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It’s water, coming down at an angle, on ceramic (?) roof tiles. Yeah, I’d do it if I had that device and I could get anchored into something. Falling off the roof and breaking my neck would be a bigger risk than water somehow magically transporting itself past interlocked tiles, breaching the roof water seal and filling the space underneath with so much water that it would cause damage.
In all honesty, I’d like to see that because it seems unlikely to someone inexperienced as myself.
@jcfin I think that’s the main point. Don’t give advice or direction unless you’ve had experience yourself doing it. In addition to different countries having different housing standards, codes, and using different build/roofing methods.
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This is why you should absorb free of charge advice. You haven’t got a clue or enough skin in the game to be giving advice. I’ve made every mistake you’ve made and ever will make. Learn from them.
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Do you have before and after pics of a really mossy roof? What I’ve seen is that people scrape the roof with a tool, then soft wash it. Doesn’t seem to get quite clean that way.
No I don’t have before and after photos they don’t excite me anymore like they did when I first started, it’s just a job for me. That’s correct you scrape off the bulk of it and chemically clean the rest as you would any other roof. You would make sure to clean the scraped out debris out of the gutters before applying chemicals. Some of this stuff can be as big as a tennis ball.
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Many Roof Tile manufacturers recommend 1% sh solution and pressure wash up to 1200 psi.
I am in SW Florida and here like war zone between " Pressure only " , Downstream Sh mix and pressure wash and Chemical -soft wash guys. There is one big company all around Florida doing many communities using high volume (10-12gpm) hot water pw with surface cleaners on tile roofs . Also there are contractors with " Miracle chemicals" like Roof-A-C***, Spry and For*** and some other.
What i noticed lately soft wash - chemical method is most popular. Is that write method, i don’t know. But in my opinion is most effective and efficient . Just do research and make your decision .
I have that machine, it’s awesome.
Many ways to slay a dragon. I use an xjet m5 to spray my chems on roof without the proportioner, than use pressure washer at low pressure to rinse. Works well for me.
Paul, what percentage SH would you say is hitting the roof with the xjet? Are you running a smaller machine that draws more?
Running 4,000 4gpm and im getting about a little less than 50/50. The chart says without proportioner its 1/1.6 ratio.
I went back and looked at the chart and had no idea that smaller gpm machines draw more chemicle than higher ones. 2 gpm is .08/1
3 gpm is 1.2/1. Good to learn something new☺
Yeah my 4/4 would suck down SH in no time with the Xjet, my 5.5 takes a lot longer.
You can turn throttle down to have the xjet suck more.
Mmm, sucking.
South FL is one of the worst places to even try and do roof cleaning. I’ve never seen prices so low. It’s home of the $99 roof wash guys . These guys advertise a one a year cleaning. DS and high pressure with a surface cleaner.
It’s a difficult area for professional roof cleaners. I talked to a guy that’s does 10 roofs a day down there. Spends 5k a month on direct mail.
No GL insurance. He can’t get it
No WC insurance he can’t get it
Not a single employee speaks English not really a problem in Miami
Not one employee was a legal citizen
He had horror stories out the ying yang of damaged. He called me interested in learning how to soft wash. Once he seen the chem cost alone he said it wasn’t feasible in his area. People are just used to $99 roof cleaning
Point is surface cleaners don’t belong on roofs.
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I know this is a controversial topic, but how many people clean spanish tile roofs by soft wash method? In our experience, no realistic amount of bleach is strong enough to loosen thick algae so that it can be rinsed off. We have traditionally stayed away from cleaning spanish tile roofs, or just used a wand. We were just asked to quote a 21k sq ft house roof, and that mosmatic roof surface sprayer looks worth a try.
Are we talking downstreaming or 12v setup? Usually 5-6% is enough to take care of most roofs I have dealt with.
