Roof Cleaning: A little bit of education for the residential home owner

Most people don’t know a lot about roof cleaning other than when the city or HOA says it is time to get  a new cleaning. Lately, there has been a lot of controversy over which cleaning process is the best: pressure cleaning or chemical cleaning.

What most homeowners are accustomed to is standard pressure cleaning–which is done with a pressure cleaning machine/wand or surface cleaner (hover). This cleaning method is proven to get the job done with great results and leave your home looking good.

Along with standard pressure cleaning, comes chemical cleaning. Chemical cleaning is also a great way to clean a roof, however there are different methods used and it is important to understand the differences.

Most pressure cleaning companies use some type of chemical along with water to get your roof clean, but it is cleaned with water after the chemical is applied in order to dilute the chemical to an acceptable rate.

There are so called “NO PRESSURE” companies out there cleaning roofs with chemical (chlorine) only and not doing a complete rinse or cleaning afterwards leaving a lot of residue on the roof. Leaving this much chemical on the roof for long periods of time can cause major damage to your roof underlayment and the nails that hold your roof together.  Such damage makes for very expensive repairs down the road.

So do your homework and ask a lot of questions instead of just going with the cheapest company, after all, if you’re going to spend thousands of dollars on a new roof it only makes sense to maintain it properly.