Posted: 6/25/2013 2:55:40 PM EDT
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Just had a guy randomly knock on my door saying he was cleaning the roof of one of my neighbors and wanted to know if I was interested. Now, my roof does have some pretty bad black streaks and looks stained, but he made it out that if I didn't take care of it that I was putting the structural integrity of the shingles in jeopardy. Asphalt shingled roof approx. 13 years old.
My question is ... is this a scam? My neighbors house did have some streaking and it looks great now, but my roof is worse considering the angle in which if faces the sun. I honestly have never heard of anyone "cleaning" their shingles and I have lived in this area for over 30 years. Now for the DIY questions. Since I prefer to do things myself, anyone know if I can? What chemicals would they be using? I noticed all he did was use a garden sprayer, let it soak and then hose it off. No pressure washer. He wants $400-450 to do this himself, but I am as cheap as they come and if I can do it myself, I would rather. Before anyone asks, yes, I built a utility shed from the ground up, put up our wooden privacy fence, built many a piece of furniture, do almost all repair work on my cars, so yes I know my way around tools. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this and what chemicals people may use to do this. I have read a couple of quick internet searches of people using bleach, laundry detergent and hot water to clean shingles and if that is all this guy was using, then definitely I want to do it myself and not pay some guy $400 to do something that might cost me $50. Thoughts? |
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Quoted:
He's a traveller or casing your place. He was working on the neighbor's house. He never came inside ... Also, thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to do some more research on the deck cleaner and the "wet and forget." I guess my main concern should be falling off the roof. Going to have to strategize on how to constantly move and stay in a dry spot while applying. Heck it is only a single story house ... how bad can a fall from that height be? 
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It is actually algae.
Just DO NOT use a pressure washer. They knock off as many granules as years of sun and rain. A hose end sprayer from higher than the shingles should be about as hard as you want to spray. As the granules fall away the sun (UV) weakens the asphalt and the damage accelerates. |
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Its all cosmetic, it doesnt hurt the integrity of your roof.
Black algae, grows the best on the east and North sides of the roof. Does not grow below metal objects on your roof because of the run off. Most manufactures embed zinc in their shingles now to combat this. Owens Corning shingles seem to be the worse. |