This is my third roof and I’ve run into a bit of a dilemma.
One portion of the roof had some moss growing. I generously applied 50/50 roof mix with cling-on added to it over the moss section. Let it sit for some 45 minutes and re-apply again. Another hour went by and I’m pretty sure the moss is dead now. It turned white and mushy. Soooo what’s next? How do I remove it?
I rinsed the roof from a garden hose and most of the stuff came off in small chunks. But there’s still plenty of it up there. I climbed up to make sure it’s dead. It is. I can scoop it out with my finger. But I doubt the rain would wash it away - or will it?
What do you do to remove dead white moss?
Alex @ Nothside Power Washing
Sent from my iPhone using Pressure Washing Resource
I had the similar roof a few weeks ago and it is now clean but it has been raining pretty much non stop for the past two weeks. I think I’ll build a arc.
Leave it be and allow the rain to rinse it away once it releases from the roof. To remove it immediately after killing it risks damaging the roof. The same goes for lichen.
That being said, you need to advise the customer of this prior to service otherwise you may have an angry customer.
The algae is gone by the time I leave the customer’s house.
Lichen will remain, but will be dead. Over time it has attached to the roof, and the safest way to remove it is to kill it and allow time for it to remove itself.
Moss is the same as lichen.
If you mechanically remove lichen or moss while the roots are attached to the shingles you risk damaging the roof. After you kill lichen and moss, it will dry out and fall off over time.
So i very rarely do roofs, this one is a Decra tile roof and had a lot of lichens and moss. I avoided walking on it and cleaned from ladder/from the ground. Took all day as we were really careful with stained wood and a small copper roof nearby.
We applied multiple times. A lot came down but the rest turned white but is sticking up there.
I’m not happy with the results and feel shady invoicing the customer as their roof looks like crap with the white moss and lichens that didn’t fall off even with multiple applications and rinsing.
I was aware of this possibility from reading here and had explained it to the customer before quoting and written in the quote but i just want to make sure this will fall away with rain. I don’t want to tell the customer the rain will remove that if it doesn’t.
Is there anything i should do before invoicing the customer?
I cleaned a roof recently that was loaded with clumps of pillow-like green stuff. I just gave it a few applications of hot stuff & left it alone (no rinse). The next day I was back cleaning the rest of the property & rinsed the roof with soap tips while I was there. It washed off huge gobs of crud & pretty much accelerated the effects of a month of rain. It came out great! Invoice them & tell them you’ll be happy to come back in a couple weeks & give it another shot if need be. Keep in mind you can always refund them later if push comes to shove. Just my 4 cents.
Tell them you’ll bill them in 60 days, or offer to come back if need be. Put it in writing like a guarantee offer on your work and that’ll make them feel better about paying you now if you’d rather that happen.
Forget about the moss and lichen. It’s dead. Tell them just like spraying a weed. It’s dead, but may take a month or so to disintegrate and fall off. If it’s white it’s dead. Usually only takes a few min.
Of more concern, what are those black streaks to the left of the dormer? They shouldn’t be there.
Normal routine of a roof wash for us (other than the tiles)…offer a warranty, and let them know that the best way to remove it is to let the roots let go on their own…and you’ll come back if needed.
This is part of my pre-cleaning fact sheet sent with all roofing quotes. Plus if they have a lot of lichen/moss will make a point to discuss with them prior to commencing work. Have never had a problem with any client.
Your roof may have a brownish tint in areas where there is heavy infestation or extremely dark algae stains. This means it’s dead, and within a few weeks it will disintegrate and be washed off with natural rainfall. Think of spraying a weed in your yard for an analogy. If necessary for a real estate showing or for pictures, we can rinse the roof off for you, once it’s sat for about 15min, however we recommend just letting nature do the job since it will allow the treatment to stay on the roof longer.
*If you have moss or lichen on your roof, after the cleaning, you will notice these areas will be white from the cleaning solution. This lets us know the growth is dead. It may take some time for the dead debris to be completely rinsed from your roof because of the root system. It can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to 6 months for heavily infested areas of lichen to become free of dead debris. This quote is for Roof Stain Removal only unless otherwise specified.
I’m not sure why these streaks are there. We covered the roof at least 4 times. I will go back to get them. Maybe my sh was weak as it’s the last of my last pallet and has been in the heat of summer for many weeks.
If you have any black streaks, don’t even move ladder until they’re gone. I’ve had some it takes 4-5 hits to get gone and one 2’ away will vanish in one hit. But for sure you could see them if you took a pic of. Not sure why you would leave it. If it’s not gone within 10-15min after last hit, it’s not going to get better with age.
Pierre - “Please Lord, send a bolt of lightening to zap these black streaks after I’m gone.”
The black streaks are the easy part of roof cleaning. My first roof job was covered with them. I gave the customer the whole “after several rains” bit & they were gone before I left. It’s the thick green stuff that puts up a good fight. You are obviously determined to do good work or you wouldn’t even be here asking.
I think we’ve proven this many times with my stubbornness
I agree 100% with the idea that if he went over all of this in his quotation process then it should be of no concern to stick out his hand to collect payment. But, if he’s unsure of it himself it’ll make him feel better about the situation until he can figure out that his methods are proven to work (or not). As his confidence builds up, he won’t have to question whether or not this is a moral thing or not.
Rang doorbell of a client’s house Wednesday afternoon as I was ready to roll up hoses and asked for the $1,100 check. Customer came out to check out the roof and he saw the brown from the dead mildew stains in the shady parts of his roof. Soon as he saw the two patches of brown he simply turned to me and confirmed that I had already warned him that this would happen and that it would take a few good rainstorms to knock it all off. He even repeated part of my quote to him right then “if it’s brown it’s coming down”. He then asked if I knew how to do a good rain dance.
