It’s not something we see often at home, but our roof actually takes a beating from all the weather and debris that flies around on it. Be it moss growth, heavy rain, hail or storms, our roof has to protect us from a variety of different invaders and issues.
Sadly, it can easily become dull, worn and look a little nasty when we leave it for too long. No one likes the look of an ageing house, so here are a couple of ways to clean it up and make it look a little nicer.
Safety First
Before we dive into ways to clean up your roof, please remember that climbing onto your roof without assistance is incredibly dangerous and can easily lead to injuries. In order to make cleaning the roof safer, make sure you have friends or family members around to spot you on the ladder. Also, remember that your roof was not designed for people to walk over, so any extra foot traffic could damage cracked shingles further and loose ones may slide and cause you to lose balance. If possible, hire a roofing specialist such as Texas Star Roofing to do the work for you. Their experience and expertise come in handy and it’s a small price to pay versus the risk of injuring yourself.
Cleaning Moss
Don’t be silly and blast your roof with water. This essentially simulates extremely heavy rain and it can loosen tiles, flood your loft or even strip the surface granules off the shingles. There are chemicals to remove moss from your roof, but you can also just give it a wipe down and break off the clumps of moss with a brush. Moss removal chemicals also last for a while, meaning they’ll prevent moss from growing back for a while but this has to be done again within a year or two. Moss can sometimes hold water and, if you live in cold temperatures, the water can seep into your shingles, freeze, and eventually crack them. This is why removing moss is important—it’s not just for cosmetic reasons!
Replace Shingles
If you have easy access to your roof and a reliable partner to work with, then replacing shingles can be very easy to do. This is a lot of work, however, and depending on the size of your roof it’s a project that can take two people several days to finish. You’ll need to use a chisel and hammer or a knife to split damaged or old shingles so they can easily be removed. Next, you need to have a replacement ready. There are many different types of tiles and shingles, so make sure you do your research and get a proper replacement first. Depending on the type of replacement you may need to use nails to secure them or they might just slot in with no trouble.
Cleaning Stains
There are several ways to clean nasty stains on your roof. The first would be to simply reach it and wipe it off. However, stubborn stains might need to be blasted off using a pressure cleaner. Just keep in mind that high pressure can split and crack tiles if you aren’t careful, so use the lowest setting possible when using one.
n’t careful, so use the lowest setting possible when using one.
