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First roof clean tomorrow, what tools do i need?

TolishAPurd

Well-known member
Messages
5,294
So I was planning on taking:

Ext. ladder and roof ladder

A dutch hoe (not as good as it sounds)

Paint scraper

Guaging trowel (I figured this would work well but I'm open to suggestions)

Gutter clearing tools

Large tarpaulin

Buckets

Am I missing anything? Any roof cleaning tips would also be great.

Its a bungalow with lots of different angles to the roof, and the stuff I'm removing is mainly large lumps of moss. No pressure washing or chemicals are going to be used. I was just planning on scraping and letting it fall into the gutters and down to the tarp below, and just cleaning it all a section at a time.

 
Got any pics of the roof as sounds like it's going to be a pig to do by hand.

Those tiles in bright sunlight are going to be roasting hot too so be careful you don't burn yer hands & feet.

 
Cheers smurf. After all the hot weather we've had I have tried to avoid this job, but we're due cloud over the next week, so hopefully I've timed it just right. Most of the moss is just on one side, so touch wood and I might get it done in a day if I work hard, but as its my first I have no idea.

Still waiting for my pic to upload to my photobucket, but I'll post it up when it does in a few mins.

 
Will you be using a life line and harness too with your roof ladder as the pitch of those hip roofs looks quite steep to me?

That chimney stack may well come in handy too:rolleyes:

 
i only done one ...think i used some sort of trowel on a pole ...got it all off...was a crappy weather day too very windy but was glad i had a job i could do in that sort of weather.

..actually more are coming back into my memory...i have done a few...

...i ...kinda enjoyed it...but was glad when i had finished....the worst part...is making sure you dont knock a tile upwards as they sometimes dont want to slide back down...:)good luck let us know how you get on..

 
You got me there @Smurf, no safety harness. I'll be relying on the roof ladder for the most part. I'm hoping this is going to be ok, but if I get that gut feeling when I get up there I may have to re evaluate things. I'm going to be hi vized and hard hatted, with signage below to sort of look the part.

I don't advertise roof cleaning, but this is a regular handyman customer of mine, and a bungalow just seemed a good place to start, but I've got no intention of doing house roofs, scares the **** out of me just thinking about it. If I can do it in a day then hopefully I've made the job worth my while, but if it takes 2, then I'll just put it down to experience.

Cheers for the tip on the tile @cheapncheerful , I'll keep it in mind. I'm actually looking forward to this job, the moss is quite bad so it should be really satisfying sorting it out, not to mention that the rate goes up for roof work. ;D

 
yeh i never actually got on any roofs though as i used a long extending pole and watched it all cascade down onto the blokes porsche...serves him right parking in my way...:rolleyes:

 
yeh i never actually got on any roofs though as i used a long extending pole and watched it all cascade down onto the blokes porsche...serves him right parking in my way...:rolleyes:
LMAO.:rofl:

 
Mums ex was a roofer and loft converter..when I was young we would be walking around on house roofs

I dunno why we think we're invincible when were young

Safe to say I would still walk around on roofs but would want to take my old rock climbimg harness and rope up with me

 
How did you get on today? :rolleyes:

You got me there @Smurf, no safety harness. I'll be relying on the roof ladder for the most part. I'm hoping this is going to be ok, but if I get that gut feeling when I get up there I may have to re evaluate things. I'm going to be hi vized and hard hatted, with signage below to sort of look the part.
I don't advertise roof cleaning, but this is a regular handyman customer of mine, and a bungalow just seemed a good place to start, but I've got no intention of doing house roofs, scares the **** out of me just thinking about it. If I can do it in a day then hopefully I've made the job worth my while, but if it takes 2, then I'll just put it down to experience.

Cheers for the tip on the tile @cheapncheerful , I'll keep it in mind. I'm actually looking forward to this job, the moss is quite bad so it should be really satisfying sorting it out, not to mention that the rate goes up for roof work. ;D
 
How did you get on today? :rolleyes:
broken+leg.jpg


 
Only kidding. The job is going well in that I am doing a good job of it, but I have quoted way too low unfortunately. I'll earn a fair couple days wage out of it by tomorrow, but I really wanted to make it pay today. Its all experience, but unfortunately the risk reward ratio is wrong due to a bad quote.

 
I bet you are now thinking I should have just blasted the **** out of it with a washer /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
All finished today. Not bad at all, I finished at 3 today cheque in hand, and the ladder hire worked out nice and cheap. :thumbsup: Also generated a little interest down the street so I don't think that'll be my last, although the next ones will be a little dearer.

The pics below show about a 3rd of what I actually had to clean. :rolleyes:









 
Nice job :thumbsup:

I suppose the last few weeks of hot days helped to dry the moss out so made it easier to get off the roof

 
Cheers smurf. Yep, the weather played a good role in the job in more ways then one. It was a lot of scraping, and the end result was about 3 quarters of a large green wheelie bin. The customers happy, and the neighbours are most likely interested so we'll see. TBH though, its better on the gutters. Even the worst gutters are easier then cleaning a roof by hand.

 
thats a good job on the moss removal tolish , i done a small porch roof this week with similar moss growth , the moss came of quiet easy and the customer was happy but i also offered to clean the tiles with hypo which removed all the stains and brightened up the tile and she was very happy , now the reason i offered to clean them was i wanted the porch roof to stand out from the house roof , which it did and then out comes the husband and he asks for a quote on cleaning the house roof so ive agreed a price to do it in 2 weeks time

 
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