Hello, I’m a diy homeowner who needs to soft wash his roof. I have a plan, but need to verify one thing and ask about a couple others I don’t see people talking about.
It’s a large area at about 4000 sf, asphalt shingles.
The verification question is about the correct amount of bleach. If using 10%, at a 5% application rate I’m coming up with 50 gallons of bleach. Am I nuts, or does this sound right?
Concerns:
Having all that bleach disburse in one area into the woods since I have gutter drains that merge into one pipe.
Do I need to worry about aluminum gutters, copper flashing, and nails cording or rusting?
Thanks guys
Mike
Are you factoring the pitch as well? I would think 50-60 gallons of mix (25-30 gallons of bleach and 25-30 gallons of water) would be minimum for that size roof.
Yup that’ll wreck some havoc to that area.
Yup, have a second set of hands to spray from the ground.
Leaving it to a professional is perhaps an ideal approach, but not necessarily going to achieve my goals. I’d love to shel out the cash if I had it, and have someone address this, but I have no assurance that they will be successful, and or not cause harmful side-effects.
Regarding the mixing ratio / Mix volume: I was not factoring pitch for run-off, but my area is accurate within 200sf. I was considering a mix volume of 1 Gallon/ 50SF of area with enough on hand to be certain could complete the job, resulting in 50 Gallons of 10% bleach mixed with 50 Gallons of water (100 Gallons of Mix). Everything I have seen from assumed professionals on Youtube indicates a 5% application rate for roofs to kill the Gloeocapsa Magma. That suggestion is about half that rate.
I am inclined to hire someone so I don’t screw this up, but I’d still like to know the facts so I can be assured they don’t either. if this is the only way to address treating the roof without pressure washing. I’d also like to know if there is a way to prevent damage to the area where the gutters drain out to?
Also, what about installing copper sheet near the ridge vent, will that kill it?
Your goal is to get a clean roof, right? If you hire a professional company that’s insured, has great reviews, and can show you before-and-after photos of their work, you’re in good hands. Make sure they have insurance—ask for proof, and if they can’t provide it, move on to the next company. You don’t want some random guy showing up and using rough methods that could mess up your roof.
Pressure washing can do more harm than good. Soft washing with a hot mix and a gentle rinse is definitely the way to go. It might take a few weeks for everything to loosen up and fall off, but after a few heavy rains, whatever is left should wash away. To protect the runoff areas, make sure they have a second person on the ground to keep things wet, and see if they’ll bag the gutters.
Not sure I’m understanding the need for copper sheets, but copper and bleach don’t get along, so be careful with that.
They will be successful, if you hire the right company, as outlined above.
There are methods to counteract the effects of the solution, that any good contractor should know how to do. In the end, there is no assurance that there will be no issues from the runoff, but a top company will take all the potential excess precautions needed to try to prevent them.
This is wise to know what you’re looking for, but if you’re looking to tell them how to do their job, then they aren’t the right contractor (or they won’t take the job with you telling them how to do it).
It is, and if anyone remotely suggests pressure washing it, just save the money and get a new roof now.
It may slow the return of the growth, but doubtful it will do much to existing growth. The shingle manufacturers who put those additives in to prevent growth are now paying folks like us to treat those roofs in a lot of cases, because it didn’t work.
All sound advice here… skip the rinsing it at all. Let it work for the full 12-24 hours until inert, and the rain will wash it away. Get some form of neutralizer to use for runoff, and bag the downspouts. We do all of the above almost every roof wash, and we do 100s a year.
The close up is probably the worst and is on the left side of this pic. There is moss and lichen on nearly every shingle edge. The bigger area in the center shows what I’m calling pretty bad.
I did get a quote today which I found reasonable but as expected I never got answers to any of my questions.
You can do all of that with 3-4%. I’d figure 40 gal of SH. Landscaping not a big problem, but still should have someone with a hose rinsing where necessary like when you’re shooting along the sides. runoff shouldn’t be a big problem, shouldn’t be more than 5-6gal for the whole house… Probably won’t even make it to woods, depending on how far away they are. And unless you’ve got something within 3-4’ of where they all dump together, don’t worry about.
What part of the country you located? Around here that would be about $1100 for the house, depending on rear of course.
That doesn’t look anywhere near as large as you were saying, unless we’re missing something.
As usual, I second @Racer. Max 3% on most of that, maybe 4 (or a n extra pass or 2) on the bad part (which doesn’t look bad at all.
If it drains to the woods, not going to be enough to do much damage there (other than kill some underbrush, at most. If it is going to get there en masse, stick the hose in the downspout to continuously run water to dilute any runoff (or better preload the drains with deactivator beforehand). Light mist and multiple passes eliminates most of it (think painting a car, not rinsing off your driveway)
