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Roof Cleaning Advice Needed

ECLM
WCF

Help Support WCF:

FZN097 said:
Hi, 

Thanks for your reply mate. 

Have you had a chance to use the Flexiscraper kit yet? What are your thoughts on it? 

Yeah I'm figuring out that its a lot harder, and requires more attention than I had first thought. That being said, I'm definitely capable of doing the hard work and look forward to the challenge. 
Click to expand...
I haven't had chance to use the scraper properly yet as I am trying to make my old concrete sectional garage a bit more waterproof. So everything is over to one side so I can add mastic and a new mortar fillet. So my mini diy tower is not accessible.  

I have had a good look at the components and I will say it's very well made. All the edges of the aluminium have been nicely curved and chamfered. The pole connector even has a rougher finish to enable it to clamp better. The blades look good although not perfect there are a few burrs but they are supposed to be used for scraping so that's not an issue as they will 'wear' into the perfect shape as they are used. 

Now the question about is it worth it? Well they are not really mass produced so production costs won't be that low and the earning potential created by them is high as long as you are OK with hard work. The alternative is pressure washing but that can create more issues as if you get it wrong you could be blasting water under the tiles or removing tile coatings. Just biociding is good but the customer needs to trust you when you say it takes a few months to see real results.

The other brands I have seen mentioned, one Facebook (maybe Marshal) one seems to have customer service issues in taking payments and not delivering goods for a long time. So I would say the Flexiscraper seems a great tool.

I hope to have a go scraping my roof (only flat tiles) this week. It's not a great test as it doesn't have much moss at all.

I am also considering hypo on my roof as I would like to get the tiles back to their original lighter colour as we have a 'room in the roof' that was badly built and has very little insulation so gets mega hot as the tiles are quite a dark colour.

As for getting the bio on the roof Sid did use the same pole and a brush with a backpack to pump bio. He has just bought a doestron box so can now use tap pressure to mix chemicals and brush in with wfp. 

You can also make your own spray trolley if you are OK at DIY. I can't remember who on here made one maybe @spruce or @Pjj or @Part Timer sorry if I missed the actual person who made the trolley, I would have also said @Apw1210 as he has some great DIY stuff but I don't think he does roofs. They used some ali angle iron and some roof ladder wheels then added wfp jets I think and a brush connector so it clipped on to there wfp.

 
Apw1210 said:
With regards to tower assembly I wouldn't advise timing yourself and work to a level where you feel it's safe and not a time frame.

With regards to tools, Go to poundland and in there seasonal summer stock you should see green plastic scoops. Great for gutters gullys and general clean up. If they don't have any there are available on Amazon.co.uk 

I wouldn't make any agreements to remove any waste unless the agreement is by the means of you hold a local authority waste transfer licence 

I put all my waste per job into the customers green bin or with their consent under hedgerows or behind flower beds or compost bin.

Also rubber buckets are great for waste collection, most superstores sell them. Also poundland has those 

Next you need to encompass ladder safely. Do you have a means of levelling a ladder, can you ensure it's not going to slip away. It's good practice to have a non slip mat, ladder foote, lengths of rope and even pegs to ensure the ladder doesn't slip away.

You're sounding like you've wisely done your homework and got PLi so credit to you. 

Need any further help just shout 

Take care stay alive ?

Austin 

View attachment 24261
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the replies from yourself and everyone else who has responded. I've posted on other forums in the past (I'm still waiting for a response from a VW forum I posted on haha) and haven't had this level of support/response so I really do appreciate it. 

Yeah you're right, safety is more important than speed. I just wanted to know how quickly I could get it assembled, so if I told a customer I'd start at 9, I'd know what time I'd have to get there in order to set up beforehand. 

I'll swing by poundland later today, I was thinking of trying B&M Bargains too. I'll let you guys know what tools I find. 

About the agreement, my brother rents one of those industrial unit on a farm and he has a spare biffa bin that gets collected every Monday morning. So I plan on using that for the time being, but I've also reached out to the skip company he uses and have agreed for a great price on a skip to be collected once a week (if needed).

The buckets I've got at the moment are https://www.toolstation.com/ox-pro-tough-bucket/p23407?store=SC&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6-SDBhCMARIsAGbI7UjwaLumsLnM-QK804kzQzBlaZokeDW85o4wdR6ICKVH52J4ZyQzF9MaAhuVEALw_wcB. There were cheaper buckets available but I thought Id go with the tough stuff for a few quid more. 

My ladder has a base bar at the bottom for stability but a rubber mat as well as the other things you mentioned sound like a good idea.  

Again, thanks for replying and the support/advice you have offered. It really does mean a lot. 

 
FZN097 said:
I really appreciate the replies from yourself and everyone else who has responded. I've posted on other forums in the past (I'm still waiting for a response from a VW forum I posted on haha) and haven't had this level of support/response so I really do appreciate it. 

Yeah you're right, safety is more important than speed. I just wanted to know how quickly I could get it assembled, so if I told a customer I'd start at 9, I'd know what time I'd have to get there in order to set up beforehand. 

I'll swing by poundland later today, I was thinking of trying B&M Bargains too. I'll let you guys know what tools I find. 

About the agreement, my brother rents one of those industrial unit on a farm and he has a spare biffa bin that gets collected every Monday morning. So I plan on using that for the time being, but I've also reached out to the skip company he uses and have agreed for a great price on a skip to be collected once a week (if needed).

The buckets I've got at the moment are https://www.toolstation.com/ox-pro-tough-bucket/p23407?store=SC&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6-SDBhCMARIsAGbI7UjwaLumsLnM-QK804kzQzBlaZokeDW85o4wdR6ICKVH52J4ZyQzF9MaAhuVEALw_wcB. There were cheaper buckets available but I thought Id go with the tough stuff for a few quid more. 

My ladder has a base bar at the bottom for stability but a rubber mat as well as the other things you mentioned sound like a good idea.  

Again, thanks for replying and the support/advice you have offered. It really does mean a lot. 
Click to expand...
This is a great forum, lots of helpful people and just generally a nice atmosphere ?

(if a forum can have an atmosphere) ?

 
Forgot to say - Waste transfer licence is required!!!! You might be lucky if you read the requirements I think if the waste is produced during your work then the licence is free - but double check that!!!!!

The guy who used to service our fire extinguishers told me that he 'dumped' some cardboard boxes from new fire extinguishers in a public bin on his way home once. About 2 weeks later he received a letter telling him to appear at the council offices for illegal transporting and disposing of waste. He was confused and attended, they said they emptied the bin and found his details on the cardboard etc!!! Long story short he received a £200 fine!!!

So definitely check out rules on waste transfer licences.

Who did you use for your insurance?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
ched999uk said:
I haven't had chance to use the scraper properly yet as I am trying to make my old concrete sectional garage a bit more waterproof. So everything is over to one side so I can add mastic and a new mortar fillet. So my mini diy tower is not accessible.  

I have had a good look at the components and I will say it's very well made. All the edges of the aluminium have been nicely curved and chamfered. The pole connector even has a rougher finish to enable it to clamp better. The blades look good although not perfect there are a few burrs but they are supposed to be used for scraping so that's not an issue as they will 'wear' into the perfect shape as they are used. 

Now the question about is it worth it? Well they are not really mass produced so production costs won't be that low and the earning potential created by them is high as long as you are OK with hard work. The alternative is pressure washing but that can create more issues as if you get it wrong you could be blasting water under the tiles or removing tile coatings. Just biociding is good but the customer needs to trust you when you say it takes a few months to see real results.

The other brands I have seen mentioned, one Facebook (maybe Marshal) one seems to have customer service issues in taking payments and not delivering goods for a long time. So I would say the Flexiscraper seems a great tool.

I hope to have a go scraping my roof (only flat tiles) this week. It's not a great test as it doesn't have much moss at all.

I am also considering hypo on my roof as I would like to get the tiles back to their original lighter colour as we have a 'room in the roof' that was badly built and has very little insulation so gets mega hot as the tiles are quite a dark colour.

As for getting the bio on the roof Sid did use the same pole and a brush with a backpack to pump bio. He has just bought a doestron box so can now use tap pressure to mix chemicals and brush in with wfp. 

You can also make your own spray trolley if you are OK at DIY. I can't remember who on here made one maybe @spruce or @Pjj or @Part Timer sorry if I missed the actual person who made the trolley, I would have also said @Apw1210 as he has some great DIY stuff but I don't think he does roofs. They used some ali angle iron and some roof ladder wheels then added wfp jets I think and a brush connector so it clipped on to there wfp.
Click to expand...
Give us a shout when you use it, I'd love to hear more about it! 

I was considering pressure washing, but I decided against it because of the potential damage it could do to tiles as well as the mess it makes.

So, essentially scrapping isn't really necessary? The same result can be achieved by just biociding a roof? But with just biociding a roof the same results will take longer to show? I'm not to sure a customer will trust me as I'm just starting up and haven't built that sort of relationship or regular customer base yet, maybe once I show my face around more it will be easier to convince customers of this. 

I was actually thinking "How hard would it be to make my own spray trolley?" but thats as far as it went. I'll check out the accounts u mentioned and see what I can find. 

Thanks for your reply mate. 

 
U will need to scrape most the moss off the roof and then biocide. ?

Benz softwash youtube has a timelapse video of a roof that has been biocided, it takes about 8 months until fully clean. Could show customers the video ?




 
FZN097 said:
Give us a shout when you use it, I'd love to hear more about it! 

I was considering pressure washing, but I decided against it because of the potential damage it could do to tiles as well as the mess it makes.

So, essentially scrapping isn't really necessary? The same result can be achieved by just biociding a roof? But with just biociding a roof the same results will take longer to show? I'm not to sure a customer will trust me as I'm just starting up and haven't built that sort of relationship or regular customer base yet, maybe once I show my face around more it will be easier to convince customers of this. 

I was actually thinking "How hard would it be to make my own spray trolley?" but thats as far as it went. I'll check out the accounts u mentioned and see what I can find. 

Thanks for your reply mate. 
Click to expand...
I think @scottish cleaning service just applies bio but he has lots of regular custys who trust him.

Might be a hard sell for someone they don't know. I also think some others offer to just bio and explain the longer term results and they offer to scrape then bio for instant results. That way if custy want's a cheaper job you can still make a sale. In fact you could even judge the reaction when you give a quote to scrape, if they seem too taken aback then mention just bio at lower price but results will take a few months? So probably 1/3 or the work maybe 1/2 cost?

 
FZN097 said:
I really appreciate the replies from yourself and everyone else who has responded. I've posted on other forums in the past (I'm still waiting for a response from a VW forum I posted on haha) and haven't had this level of support/response so I really do appreciate it. 

Yeah you're right, safety is more important than speed. I just wanted to know how quickly I could get it assembled, so if I told a customer I'd start at 9, I'd know what time I'd have to get there in order to set up beforehand. 

I'll swing by poundland later today, I was thinking of trying B&M Bargains too. I'll let you guys know what tools I find. 

About the agreement, my brother rents one of those industrial unit on a farm and he has a spare biffa bin that gets collected every Monday morning. So I plan on using that for the time being, but I've also reached out to the skip company he uses and have agreed for a great price on a skip to be collected once a week (if needed).

The buckets I've got at the moment are https://www.toolstation.com/ox-pro-tough-bucket/p23407?store=SC&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6-SDBhCMARIsAGbI7UjwaLumsLnM-QK804kzQzBlaZokeDW85o4wdR6ICKVH52J4ZyQzF9MaAhuVEALw_wcB. There were cheaper buckets available but I thought Id go with the tough stuff for a few quid more. 

My ladder has a base bar at the bottom for stability but a rubber mat as well as the other things you mentioned sound like a good idea.  

Again, thanks for replying and the support/advice you have offered. It really does mean a lot. 
Click to expand...
Appreciate your acknowledgement of gratitude.

I'm very concerned with regards to your waste agreement as in my believing removing any waste from it's origin of creation is waste transfer when speaking of depositing it into a bin. 

I would recommend you read through the Gov.UK guidelines and criteria to ensure the steps you wish to take are the correct ones. 

We all try our upmost to add clarity to any questions that are posed on here.

Luckily for you we are the best of the best and will type replies all day long to ensure people like yourself are correctly informed.

Austin 

 
ched999uk said:
I haven't had chance to use the scraper properly yet as I am trying to make my old concrete sectional garage a bit more waterproof. So everything is over to one side so I can add mastic and a new mortar fillet. So my mini diy tower is not accessible.  

I have had a good look at the components and I will say it's very well made. All the edges of the aluminium have been nicely curved and chamfered. The pole connector even has a rougher finish to enable it to clamp better. The blades look good although not perfect there are a few burrs but they are supposed to be used for scraping so that's not an issue as they will 'wear' into the perfect shape as they are used. 

Now the question about is it worth it? Well they are not really mass produced so production costs won't be that low and the earning potential created by them is high as long as you are OK with hard work. The alternative is pressure washing but that can create more issues as if you get it wrong you could be blasting water under the tiles or removing tile coatings. Just biociding is good but the customer needs to trust you when you say it takes a few months to see real results.

The other brands I have seen mentioned, one Facebook (maybe Marshal) one seems to have customer service issues in taking payments and not delivering goods for a long time. So I would say the Flexiscraper seems a great tool.

I hope to have a go scraping my roof (only flat tiles) this week. It's not a great test as it doesn't have much moss at all.

I am also considering hypo on my roof as I would like to get the tiles back to their original lighter colour as we have a 'room in the roof' that was badly built and has very little insulation so gets mega hot as the tiles are quite a dark colour.

As for getting the bio on the roof Sid did use the same pole and a brush with a backpack to pump bio. He has just bought a doestron box so can now use tap pressure to mix chemicals and brush in with wfp. 

You can also make your own spray trolley if you are OK at DIY. I can't remember who on here made one maybe @spruce or @Pjj or @Part Timer sorry if I missed the actual person who made the trolley, I would have also said @Apw1210 as he has some great DIY stuff but I don't think he does roofs. They used some ali angle iron and some roof ladder wheels then added wfp jets I think and a brush connector so it clipped on to there wfp.
Click to expand...
I've done a fair few roofs and use all my own templated CNC plasma cut twice the width blades 

I've also built my own roof sprayer trolley from aluminium profile and used Claber irrigation jets along with roof ladder wheels, I just don't have time to publish all I do. Very much like not having the time to film all I do 

 
ched999uk said:
I haven't had chance to use the scraper properly yet as I am trying to make my old concrete sectional garage a bit more waterproof. So everything is over to one side so I can add mastic and a new mortar fillet. So my mini diy tower is not accessible.  

I have had a good look at the components and I will say it's very well made. All the edges of the aluminium have been nicely curved and chamfered. The pole connector even has a rougher finish to enable it to clamp better. The blades look good although not perfect there are a few burrs but they are supposed to be used for scraping so that's not an issue as they will 'wear' into the perfect shape as they are used. 

Now the question about is it worth it? Well they are not really mass produced so production costs won't be that low and the earning potential created by them is high as long as you are OK with hard work. The alternative is pressure washing but that can create more issues as if you get it wrong you could be blasting water under the tiles or removing tile coatings. Just biociding is good but the customer needs to trust you when you say it takes a few months to see real results.

The other brands I have seen mentioned, one Facebook (maybe Marshal) one seems to have customer service issues in taking payments and not delivering goods for a long time. So I would say the Flexiscraper seems a great tool.

I hope to have a go scraping my roof (only flat tiles) this week. It's not a great test as it doesn't have much moss at all.

I am also considering hypo on my roof as I would like to get the tiles back to their original lighter colour as we have a 'room in the roof' that was badly built and has very little insulation so gets mega hot as the tiles are quite a dark colour.

As for getting the bio on the roof Sid did use the same pole and a brush with a backpack to pump bio. He has just bought a doestron box so can now use tap pressure to mix chemicals and brush in with wfp. 

You can also make your own spray trolley if you are OK at DIY. I can't remember who on here made one maybe @spruce or @Pjj or @Part Timer sorry if I missed the actual person who made the trolley, I would have also said @Apw1210 as he has some great DIY stuff but I don't think he does roofs. They used some ali angle iron and some roof ladder wheels then added wfp jets I think and a brush connector so it clipped on to there wfp.
Click to expand...
It was @Apw1210that built his own trolly 

 
ched999uk said:
He built his own wfp trolley but didn't you build a roof spraying wheeled device that attached to a wfp to spray bio/hypo?

This one?

View attachment 24263
Click to expand...
I've made two of these but not using casters as they are directional and add resistance when pushing and pulling.

Mine have a single rear facing axle and I have used two roof ridge ladder wheels from B&Q 

 
ched999uk said:
I think @scottish cleaning service just applies bio but he has lots of regular custys who trust him.

Might be a hard sell for someone they don't know. I also think some others offer to just bio and explain the longer term results and they offer to scrape then bio for instant results. That way if custy want's a cheaper job you can still make a sale. In fact you could even judge the reaction when you give a quote to scrape, if they seem too taken aback then mention just bio at lower price but results will take a few months? So probably 1/3 or the work maybe 1/2 cost?
Click to expand...
Biocide will take a few months to work but lasts a full year or more. Its my preferred method now because of the little mess it makes. You can make an easy £150 for 3hrs work. I charge £230 for a small roof and it costs £60 for the biocide and I clearout their gutters while I'm on the ladder spraying. Everyone is a winner.

 

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