Roof Cleaning

Why does my roof have these Black Streaks?

What’s eating your roof? It’s just cosmetic right? Well actually Gloeocapsa Magma, Mold, Moss, Lichens, and Mildew can cut the life of you roof in half or more. Just ask a roofing contractor, or general contractor (or check out the info below). They’ll tell you. Why is this the case? Simply put shingle manufactures in an effort to “save money” have continued to add more and more limestone to the shingle mix. This is great for them since it is cheaper. It is also great for the Roof Algae (or Gloeocapsa Magma), as this stuff literally feeds on the limestone, literally eating your roof. This however is bad for you and your roof.

In recent years (the last 20 years or so) black streaks on your roof have become an issue for us in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. Previously the Gloeocapsa Magma, was confined more to area’s like Florida.

So how can you remove the black streaks from your roof?

We can help you. We can treat the infection and save your roof.

We use the method recommended by both the Roofing Association Of America and the method recommended by the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA) to safely treat your roof and protect it.

When you have us come and use our non-pressure method to clean your roof you will automatically get a full warranty against its return for 2 years. You can upgrade to a 4 year warranty if you choose.  (Many companies offer a  prorated 5 year warranty just so they can lock you into using them when it comes back and charge you almost full price again. We think this prorated warranty is a little shady personally.)

With just one treatment we can protect your investment and extend the life of your roof greatly. Not to mention your roof will look great too. It’ll even help your curb appeal if you are trying to sell your home.

Check out the pdf’s an videos below for more info on what’s eating your roof.

Give us a call today for a free consultation and free estimate.

Click to read Angies List Roof Cleaning PDF 1

Washington Post Article on Roof Cleaning

Click to read Angies List Roof Cleaning PDF 2

We are in the danger zone of Gloeocapsa Magma.

Some questions people have about Roof Cleaning:

How long will the roof algae, moss, mold and lichens stay gone?

Well this depends. Say you have a beautiful home in Potomac Maryland, but it’s on a shaded very tree covered spot that doesn’t get much sun. Well the Black streaks could potentially start returning in about 5 years.  However lets say you have a home up in Gaithersburg, and your lot gets lots of sun to all side of the roof, then you can expect 7 years or so before the black streaks start you reappear.

If you lived in the south, rather than Maryland, you could expect to see them back in about 3 years.

Can’t I just pressure wash my roof?

Simply put No.  You could technically pressure wash your roof and it would look improved from the roof algae, mold, mildew, moss, and lichens, however you would also be tearing up your roof, and shortening the life of it tremendously.  You should never let anyone pressure wash you shingles.

Here is an example of a roof we cleaned. The before and afters are 3 months apart. Lichen and moss take time to get on the roof, they will take time to decompose, loosing their roots from your roof, and then rinse away in the rain.  If we would have used pressure this roof would probably have been destroyed instead of saved for some more years of use.

We recommended not doing the roof cleaning but replacing the roof. We asked them to check with a roofing contractor since we didn’t want to take their money for cleaning it if it needed replaced. They said they had already talked to a contractor and that he thought if they got it cleaned they could get another 5 to 7 years out of it. So we cleaned if for Mr. Bulkin. The before and afters are 3 months apart since we do not use pressure to clean a roof. As it rains and the sun beats on it, the remaining organic material should also wash down. The roots were deep on this roof. So much easier to prevent this early, and stop it when it is just black streaks.

I’ve been told that another company uses a cleaning solution that won’t hurt my plants to clean my roof, do you do that?

We protect your plants and have yet to kill one.  Regarding what we use, reason on this. If the solution used won’t kill the plants on the ground how will it kill the plants (roof algae – Gloeocapsa Magma, Mold, Mildew, Moss, and Lichen) on your roof?

Some companies use a cleaning compound that foams up,  and puts on a show, but doesn’t work. They then “rinse” the roof, but actually use pressure to remove the black streaks and other things that make your roof ugly. These roof shampoo guys show images and video on there website of using pressure on roofs. This is a big no no. It will look good when they are done, but will cost you in the long run.

We’ve even heard of some companies using degreasers  on roofs. Your shingles are made of asphalt, and oil based substance. Putting a degreaser on them is one of the worse things you can possible do.

We follow the method that all of the asphalt shingle manufactures recommend to clean your roof. We can even send you their documents to show you what they recommend.

Our Soft wash method, cleans your roof and kills the plants growing on your roof. So how do we protect your plants on the ground. First we always have an extra ground man whose job it is to protect your plants. ( Many companies send just one person out, there is no way to properly do the job with just one person.) He pre-soaks your plants using a plant wash which fortifies the healthy bacteria in the soil that the plants need to make their food. This plant wash also neutralizes the cleaning solution we use. Additionally the person applying the treatment to the roof has been trained to do so in a way that it creates almost no overspray or runoff. So the ground man is purely a precaution against an accidental mis spray. Throughout the job the ground man continues to rise the area under where the roof is being treated,  just in case there are any drips. At the end the ground man then re rinses with the plant wash.

With this method we have never lost a plant, nor damaged any landscaping.

Is your method of cleaning my roof environmentally friendly?

Why yes it is.  When we are done  all that will rinse off your roof  is a low concentration of  salt, salt water.

If your solutions are safe and environmentally friendly why do you wear a protection suit, safety glasses, and a respirator when you clean roofs?

We believe in safety. All of our employees are a minimum of OSHA 10 trained. The solutions we use are safe, however you wouldn’t want to get it on your cloths, or in your eyes. Regarding the respirator many companies who treat roofs just like we do don’t use them. However, over a very long term level, the solutions are not the best to be breathing in. So in the interest of long term health, since we are exposed to these vapors 40 plus hours a week we have chosen to add a respirator to our safety gear. The old guys from Florida who have been treating roofs like this for 30 years laugh at us for using them, but hey we’d rather be safe than sorry.

Steve Hamming it up for the camera in some of the safety gear we use. Safety First. Hamming it up Second… Apparently

We had a Roofing Company tell us we needed to replace our roof, but our shingles look okay, just black from roof algae, should we replace?

While we are not roofing contractors, we have found many people are convinced to replace their roof when all that is needed is cleaning. We would be happy to come out and look at it for you and give our expert opinion. Our owner Mike Goeller has installed roofs years ago and has a good background in the industry.  Also we have several trusted partners of companies that install roofs, that we trust to give an honest evaluation. We would be happy to have Mike, or one or our trusted partner companies take a look for you and give you a second opinion for free, so you don’t get suckered in to replacing a roof that may still have many many years of life left.

So what are you waiting for? Give us a call today to stop what’s eating your roof tomorrow!

Apartment Roof Cleaning Before and After satellite view.

Notice the replaced tile in the before picture, and how you can’t even see them in the after.

Slate roof cleaning by brightview cleaning, potomac maryland