Roof Tile cleaning

50Twuncle

We have our house windows cleaned once every 3 months by a local company who do a good job
They have recently added Roof cleaning to their repertoire
My question is just how vital is it to keep a roof free from moss ?
Surely moss is a natural substance that will return ?
They clean it using a Sodium Hypochlorite solution that they drip down the roof from hoses/pipes that they push on to the roof using long poles.
They then spray a chemical that they claim prevents more growth - antifungicide ?
Surely - the first rain will wash this off ?

They charge around £300 to carry this out

PasturesNew

In my unqualified opinion ... it's a con, you don't need it. You might even cause damage having it done.

For hundreds of years people have had a roof and nobody's had to clamber up there to get moss off.

Take yourself off on holiday with that money instead, it's better that YOU have a holiday with your £300 than your window cleaner.

Doozergirl

Roof cleaning is not a thing!

50Twuncle

Doozergirl wrote: »

Roof cleaning is not a thing!

Sorry - but it IS

Doozergirl

50Twuncle wrote: »

Sorry - but it IS

Let me rephrase that.

It is a thing, but there is literally no need for it to be. Forget about it. It's snake oil.

50Twuncle

Doozergirl wrote: »

Let me rephrase that.

It is a thing, but there is literally no need for it to be. Forget about it. It's snake oil.

Thanks - thought as much !
just the gutters

bouicca21

OTH every time it rains I get lumps of moss on my patio. I can’t help but wonder if cleaning the roof would be a good idea!

Ectophile

bouicca21 wrote: »

OTH every time it rains I get lumps of moss on my patio. I can’t help but wonder if cleaning the roof would be a good idea!

It sounds like the rain is doing it for you.

shaun_from_Africa

bouicca21 wrote: »

OTH every time it rains I get lumps of moss on my patio. I can’t help but wonder if cleaning the roof would be a good idea!

That's the reason I had my roof cleaned a few months ago.
There was so much moss that the gutters and downpipes were getting clogged up on a regular basis and although I was finding the occasional lump of cement, I couldn't see where it was coming from due to the moss build up on all of the ridge tiles.

The person that cleaned the roof for me used a low power pressure washer and after it had been cleaned, he did the repointing jobs and sealed the tiles with a clear sealant.

I know that many people see it as a pointless thing to get done but personally, I think it's made a vast improvement.

50Twuncle

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

sealed the tiles with a clear sealant.

Sealing the tiles is not advised - tiles are supposed to be slightly porous - they "breathe"
You may suffer from condensation on the underside of the tiles....

shaun_from_Africa

I don't think that condensation will be a problem as there is plenty of airflow into and around my loft area.

The reason I went for the sealant is that some of the tiles are very old and many of them were getting a bit flaky as I was often finding small slivers of roof tile in my gutters.

I will be getting the whole roof inspected and possible re-tiled in the not too distant future and the work I had carried out was simply so that I could see the condition of the roof under all of the moss and algae.