New. Tried to clean a roof with a backpack sprayer new

Roof Cleaning
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Just wanted to say what’s up to everyone. Really curious as to how many of you stay active on here. If you read this, say what’s up to satisfy my curiosity.

Anyways, my last job I was in roof inspections and sales more or less. Moved to another state and quickly realized I couldn’t tell which roofs were at the end of their life cycle due to the amount of algae covering them. Well, didn’t even know it was algae until I researched. Then I researched and discovered roof cleaning. Then I discovered no one in this area is doing roof cleaning. Now I’m working roof cleaning in to my business plan.

I read what I could based on what I found through google. Watched whatever youtube videos were up. Then, I concocted what I thought to be a bulletproof plan. I kept reading and hearing “soft wash”, so I assumed that mean regular garden hose pressure… Basically my game plan was to walk the roof with a backpack sprayer, then rinse away with a garden hose… Didn’t know ANYTHING about what people in the industry used as far as chemicals. Came across “safe wash” products and decided to go with that as they advertised biodegradable yadda yadda and I didn’t want to jack up people’s landscaping. Used my uncle in-law as a test subject. Walked the roof with the backpack sprayer, had to re-fill it 3 or 4 times. Then, with the roof finally coated I hopped back up with the garden hose and to my dismay, hardly anything came off of the roof. If I got on all 4s and had the sprayer almost directly against the shingle, everything came off like a charm and looked brand new.

THANKFULLY I discovered these industry message boards. I found this board, RCIA, and PTstate and was blown away by the wealth of information. Then, I noticed the other two had hardly any activity at all. Decided to bite the bullet and hop on board here. Filing for my LLC this week and setting everything up, ordering my equipment and chemicals. Trading in my SUV for a pickup to haul my stuff as a trailer isn’t practical with my current living situation.

So, I’m buying a 50gal tank, a bandit, getting the truck, and still needing to do research on where to get SH locally as well as which surfacant I want to go with. I guess my biggest question I have right now is the rinse/no-rinse. I’ve read through all of the posts with who does what, when, and why. My thing is, around here, NO ONE has gutters. From what I’ve read, everyone that runs no-rinse always rinses if there are no gutters. So what I’m wondering is, do I have to worry about damaging any vinyl or other types of paint/siding with a 1 to 3 SH ratio and surfacant? If I rinse the roof right after, so I just need to dilute the perimeter with a ton of water and everything will be good? I understand the best route is to tarp flowerbeds and other important landscaping. I guess I’m just concerned about grass and everything else I touched on. Any advice would be appreciated! Oh, and as someone who wants to max profits and efficency, I’d rather not rinse at all. However I want A) instant results for the customer B) Zero damage to the structure or landscaping. That answer as well as any other tidbits you want to throw my way would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks fellas ( yeah I assumed your gender).

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Not sure if already mentioned, but get insurance before doing any more jobs.

Not sure your wherabouts, but here in north central fl, we do a lot of roofs. 50+% have gutters, those that don’t we pre-wet, and tarp everyrhing…

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As far as SH goes, ask your local pool supply co, i.e. pinch-a-penny 'round here, where do they get there Chlorine from, than call that co.

Good luck and be careful!

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My A-D-D will not allow me to read that entire novel. Is there a short version?

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Haha! I don’t even do roofs but for some reason I read the whole thing! Sorry @Musgrave, I can’t be much help with roof questions. I will go ahead and tell you though, people are very active here. Some great guys with a lot of knowledge. However, you will hear “use the search bar” a lot. Most answers can be found there as most questions have been asked before. Anyway, good luck.

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Lol nah man, you just have to learn how to read faster.

Or get a script for Adderall.

Or I’m not interesting and should stick to bullet point questions.

All of the above?

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Yeah man I searched all of the forums, a lot. I mainly kept coming across rinse vs no rinse arguments. I now know all about bagging gutter downspouts and soaking everything before and after. Just wanted to pin down no gutter markets and those specific questions. Just double tapping and introducing myself.

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Roofing is something I’ve been researching for a while. Going to be jumping into that next year. However I do not beleive residential would be my go to… I would like to do mainly commercial for roofing. I do windows too, but I feel the same about windows. The only window customers I have, are commercial places, I love it !

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I’ve had better luck not tarping plants. I feel like the sh gets trapped underneath and cooks the plant. Just my opinion don’t know if it’s right or not.

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I’d say a few hundred folks are on here daily, most stay quiet, but it’s an active forum

You should start rinsing and covering stuff, better safe than sorry, as you get better down the road you can determine if you wish to continue that process, since the debate comes down to preference
Some leaves are REALLY sensitive so some foliage loss will most likely occur

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Clematis is very sensitive. Don’t ask me how I know! :thinking:

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Non guttered roofs, definitely cover shrubs. with clear visqeen not dark colors or it will act like a steamer & cook plants, even covered with clear [in full sun] heat builds up fast. I have seen damage done in as little as 2 hours of being covered. We never leave coverings on for more than 1 hour. Rinse only if you have too.

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I’ve seen white house wrap recommended. You’d have to be sure to put the outside surface facing up but it should let water vapor (and heat) escape upward.

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Hmmm, that makes sense to me.
Thanks

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Cover everything that has no gutters above it. Bag all gutters with at least 3mil bags I use 6mil that I order from amazon. Don’t move faster than your grounds guy. This method will keep plant damage to less than 5 percent of jobs. Replace what you damaged on the 5 percent.
If there is no gutter and sod just below there is very little you can do. In some areas flooding the sod will prevent damage. In other areas it will just spread it. In those areas it’s best to do nothing but advise the resident that a thin line of grass will brown but quickly be overgrown by the grass on both sides. Minimizing run off will be the most you can do in this situation

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Everyone has hit cover growth but not too long since that will do as much damage as the SH. I want to suggest you not use the backpack sprayer for chems. I know two people that have had serious chemical burns because the backpack was leaking, it was hot outside and they didn’t realize it was chem and not sweat. Best of luck.

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I won’t have a ground guy, to start anyways. I guess my game plan was to do small sections at a time. Have a garden hose on standby to keep diluting the runoff as I make my way around. I know a 2 man crew would be way more efficient but I have to find a way to make this all work by my lonesome for now.

Seems the takeaways are:

Soak the vegetation where there will be runoff

Tarp flowerbeds and other important landscaping after soaking

Minimize runoff

Periodically soak whatever is getting hit with runoff

Remove tarps and soak again

Does that accurately sum it up?

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Oh no, I threw in the towel on that after my first attempt. I had no idea what was what, hardly any research put in at all. After that I realized I wasn’t on the right track and have spent a week researching all of this. Backpack sprayer is getting returned and I’m getting a 12v.

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I would never consider cleaning a roof without a grounds guy. Endless there was no vegitation but even then overspray can get on the house and ruin the paint… I know guys do it all the time but in my experience it not worth the risk

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Yeah, I know there will be risk involved, just trying to figure out how i can manage it as best as possible until I can afford hiring on a ground guy. Think I’m just going to do as much as I can from a ladder so I can periodically hop down with a garden hose and hit the side of the house and vegetation as I go. Even if it slows me down a ton it seems worth while.

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Before I hired s couple of guys when I was staining fences one way to protect the house is keep it watered down so the stain doesn’t stick to it. I used a sprinkler to keep a steady flow of water where I needed it to be based on the wind etc. I think you could do the same to keep the house and vegetation wet when your doing the roof. Just a thought.

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