One in every three roofs is replaced early because of damage done by roof moss. Roof moss may look harmless but it is feeding on the roofing material that is attached too, causing homeowners to spend thousands of dollars to replace. Maintaining your roof will keep that money in your pocket and the shingles on your roof a lot longer.
Once the moss spore has landed an attached itself to a roof it spreads like dandelions. A roof has food, limestone in asphalt shingles and wood particles in cedar roofs that moss seem to love. Moss usually can only be found under the shade of a tree or on the north side of the roof because direct sunlight will not allow the moss to grow, so given the right conditions, moss will spread and cause serious structural damage to any roof.
To most home owners to idea of climbing up on the roof to clean the moss off seems quite unnerving to say the least, which is probably the reason most people let it go so long that replacement is their only choice but with the right roof cleaning product and few common tools it can be easily accomplished without even stepping foot onto the roof.
A general mistake made when cleaning moss from a roof is to clean it off with straight water or a cleaning agent that does not target moss, although the surface may look clean the roots will remain intact and soon the moss will be back.
The use of chlorine bleach on your roof can cause more problems than it may seem to solve. Chlorine bleach severely dries out any surface it comes in contact with, when left on clothes to long it will burn a hole through the clothing, similar damage can occur on roofing material, making the roofing material brittle and susceptible to wind damage. Chlorine bleach can also permanently alter the color of your roofing material.
An option if you want your roof cleaned completely that day and don't mind spending $600-1,000 dollars is to hire a roof cleaning company, they are professionals and can safely remove the moss.
A second option that is very successful is to do it yourself, the right moss removing chemicals can just be sprayed on the roof moss, causing it to turn brown and dry up. Then with Mother Nature's help, the wind and the rain will rinse the dry moss from the roof. The only downfall, if you can call it one is that it takes about 90 days to see the final results but you are saving hundreds of dollars and getting basically the same results. - 16463
Once the moss spore has landed an attached itself to a roof it spreads like dandelions. A roof has food, limestone in asphalt shingles and wood particles in cedar roofs that moss seem to love. Moss usually can only be found under the shade of a tree or on the north side of the roof because direct sunlight will not allow the moss to grow, so given the right conditions, moss will spread and cause serious structural damage to any roof.
To most home owners to idea of climbing up on the roof to clean the moss off seems quite unnerving to say the least, which is probably the reason most people let it go so long that replacement is their only choice but with the right roof cleaning product and few common tools it can be easily accomplished without even stepping foot onto the roof.
A general mistake made when cleaning moss from a roof is to clean it off with straight water or a cleaning agent that does not target moss, although the surface may look clean the roots will remain intact and soon the moss will be back.
The use of chlorine bleach on your roof can cause more problems than it may seem to solve. Chlorine bleach severely dries out any surface it comes in contact with, when left on clothes to long it will burn a hole through the clothing, similar damage can occur on roofing material, making the roofing material brittle and susceptible to wind damage. Chlorine bleach can also permanently alter the color of your roofing material.
An option if you want your roof cleaned completely that day and don't mind spending $600-1,000 dollars is to hire a roof cleaning company, they are professionals and can safely remove the moss.
A second option that is very successful is to do it yourself, the right moss removing chemicals can just be sprayed on the roof moss, causing it to turn brown and dry up. Then with Mother Nature's help, the wind and the rain will rinse the dry moss from the roof. The only downfall, if you can call it one is that it takes about 90 days to see the final results but you are saving hundreds of dollars and getting basically the same results. - 16463
About the Author:
all roof moss removal products are not created equally, John Redihan is the founder of Wash Safe Industries of Harwich, Ma. Wash Safe formulates unique eco-safe cleaning agents that target mold and fungus around the home.
