extra thick lichen.anything special to do??

Using and leaving a chemical on the granules that turns to a salt does what ? What are the effects if it doesn't rain for 5 days ?The longer it doesn't rain what's happening? How much degradation has been caused ? Is it better to rinse off the chemical ? How much pressure can be used to rinse ?Those are the questions I asked myself and then talked to the people who make chemicals and materials. I rinse with a 8 and 7 gallon a minute and low pressure . I charge more and it takes longer and usually get the more difficult jobs because of the results . I take care of a few properties every year for the last 20 where I use hot water and rinse the roof off in late fall . Blow off with blower first . Clean debris behind skylights rinse all dirt off roof . Very large properties . Before this maintenance plan the houses had some major issues and moss build up and leaks . A little pressure works wonders with hot water. I also just did a high pressure clean for a re- roofing . Putting a new course over the existing shingles ( severe moss ).Done a few of these in the past one with a turbo nozzle .
 
Using and leaving a chemical on the granules that turns to a salt does what ? What are the effects if it doesn't rain for 5 days ?The longer it doesn't rain what's happening? How much degradation has been caused ? Is it better to rinse off the chemical ? How much pressure can be used to rinse ?Those are the questions I asked myself and then talked to the people who make chemicals and materials. I rinse with a 8 and 7 gallon a minute and low pressure . I charge more and it takes longer and usually get the more difficult jobs because of the results . I take care of a few properties every year for the last 20 where I use hot water and rinse the roof off in late fall . Blow off with blower first . Clean debris behind skylights rinse all dirt off roof . Very large properties . Before this maintenance plan the houses had some major issues and moss build up and leaks . A little pressure works wonders with hot water. I also just did a high pressure clean for a re- roofing . Putting a new course over the existing shingles ( severe moss ).Done a few of these in the past one with a turbo nozzle .

Hey Jim,..if you believe the salt causes damage then rinse the salt away with your washer and allow the lichen to decompose.

You're selling your method and I guess that's what matters.

I also have a few customers who are proactive when it comes to moss and lichen. Educating customers on this is key,..and waaay easier to deal with as a spore than a growth.

Jeff
 
After talking to chemists who make bleach , chemical suppliers, and ARMA who recommends rinsing . More damage is done by leaving the salts behind drying out the granules . This is why I rinse . All lichen produce bald spots.

Have you every walked on a roof that been bleached a few times ? It's very dangerous because the granules are all loose .
Where are these roofs that have been bleached multiple times? A properly treated roof will only ever need to be treated once in it's life time. Maybe twice under severe circumstances.
 
Where are these roofs that have been bleached multiple times? A properly treated roof will only ever need to be treated once in it's life time. Maybe twice under severe circumstances.

could you elaborate a little please. not sure if i am on the same page.
 
Can we agree that the average age of roofs getting cleaned is 12-15 years old? If so, then a proper treatment will keep the same roof clean another 12-15 years. Another exposure to bleach will likely never again be necessary. In another 12-15 years that same homeowner will not spend the money on a 24-30 year old roof. They will use that money towards a new roof. Unless someone is selling maintenance plans and spraying bleach every other year, I'll refer to my original question of where or who is spraying roofs with bleach multiple times?
 
^^^^ agree. When I was in that area we cleaned every 1-2 years. But mostly tile. Back then it was rare to clean shingle.


Doug Rucker
Clean and Green Solutions
Pressure Washing Roof Cleaning School
Call or Text 281.883.8470
 
My unscientific reasoning would be with the idea that, the composition of a roof is a pretty tough,..it sits up there in the HOT Summer Sun for several months of the year,..I would think that would be severely drying in it's own,....the granules are there to protect the asphalt from direct Sun ,..but,..the heat and drying is still there either way. Winter it can go from freezing at night, to possibly warming up several degrees throughout the day,..that's alot of expansion and contraction of materials.

I don't think the application of a salty solution a few times throughout the life of a roof is gonna have any negative effects considering the conditions a roof is designed to handle,..especially considering it will be rinsed away at some point in the the short term future in most cases,....but even if it's not,...I don't think it's gonna hurt the roof considering my reasoning above.

*This isn't a new subject,..there was a guy on a site a long time ago who put a single shingle into a bucket of 12.5% and let it there for some period of time and claimed it didn't show any ill effects on the shingle . Sounds like something Dan Tambasco would have done,..he was good at testing things if I remember right.


Jeff
 
When the roof manufacturers recommend chemicals and a process after their research for the products they make so that you get the most life out of their products, I would tend to belive them, especially if you use versions of their recommended cleaning chemicals and no damage happens.

When you have a plant that has roots in the ground and yank it up by the stem you get the root ball out and see the little hole left behind I think you might probably have something similar on a much smaller scale happening when physically removing the lichen on the roof.

I have cleaned lichen in the past (don't see much lichen around here anymore) by spraying and then spraying another time or two and letting them decompose and wind blow them away along with the rain washing it off of the roof. Later on going back to see the roof and if another application is needed you see everything gone and no cracking shingles, no salt damage whatsoever or anything to tell the homeowner about, most of the time they get up there with you to see what it looks like and to see with their own eyes if there is damage to see if they need to make an insurance claim or blame you for damage but when there is no damage after spraying the roof multiple times and the owner is happy, job is done then all is good.

I would like to see where salt has made asphalt shingles crack, that would be interesting to see, I have heard these rumors over the years on the various bbs's but nobody has ever shown a cracked shingle, not one time to back up their claims of salt causing damage.

I have seen shingles where people used strong degreaser and caused the shingle to break down and most of the granules came off because they were almost liquifying the shingles with the hot caustic degreasers and hot water pressure washing (all not recommended cleaning procedures for roofs but guys out there with no clue still doing damage to customer's property to make some quick dollars) and once that damage is done not much you can do about it with the granules in the gutters and on the ground by the gutter downspouts.

I have seen where guys up on the roof blasting away with pressure washer guns and you see large amounts of granules on the ground around the gutter downspouts because they want to make money cleaning roofs but don't take the time to learn the proper methods, proper chemicals to do the job without damaging the roof.

One of these years maybe someone will post pictures of salt damage cracks in asphalt shingles, I will believe it when I see it, not just because it is repeated once in a while on the internet.

If someone was going to do some testing, do the test right, nobody is spraying straight bleach up on the roof, nobody is removing each shingle and dipping them in a bucket of 12.5% and re-installing them, they are spraying a % up there so if someone was going to do a test, spray some shingles and put them up on the roof where the temperature, sunlight, wind, freeze and thaw cycles and other factors that affect real roofs will do the same to the sprayed shingles and take them down once a year to inspect them, take pictures and document the findings so some real proof is there, not just repeating what someone out there has said in the past and is repeated or spray a section of shingles up on the roof and take notes and pictures and document the findings each year so we can see some kind of proof, not keep repeating something someone made up years ago on the internet, proof, not fiction.

Proof is what we need, not heresay.
 
I just can't believe this is even still a topic of discussion...are we back in the stone age of roof cleaning? JTFC
 
I guess when you start doing something in this business you investigate or you follow a trend. 20 years ago I had nobody to follow so I do what I usually do . Talk to people , roof manufacturers , chemist , chemical suppliers and make a decision . Based on all the info collected i concluded rinsing and low pressure was best for my method of roof cleaning. Nobody said leave it . Even talked to a few guys in the Northwest that dealt with moss who basically used 10 gallon a minute machines to rinse it off . 20 years ago !

All the roofs I did when I started doing them were severe . Demagraphics play a big roll. I Used a 2 gallon then a 3 gallon surflo with a 15 gallon cart. Bleach and tide or any soap, lite pressure, hot water sometimes ,and re applications until done.

With the over saturation of the roofing cleaning market rinsing has become my advantage . Just got 2 jobs because they didn't want there roofs to look like there neighbors . Which have been light brown since spring. What is the point of going back when you can finish the job by rinsing? Can't get rid of my bad habits !
 
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