Roof Cleaning - Scrape or Pressure Wash

[MarkyMark01]

Scrape or Pressure Wash?

What's your method of choice?

I personally have been a scrape it person, but im seeing more and more people just going straight in with the pressure washer. I was always lead to believe that pressure washing damages the roof tiles, but have i been miss informed?

 

[ched999uk]

From what I have seen it depends on the material. They seem to use low pressure and a small flat surface cleaner to try and ensure they never blast straight under the tiles. Pressure washing does produce instant results but also a lot more mess to deal with.

 

[K in Kent]

Well, tile manufacturers like Marley explicitly warn against jet washing and it could invalidate the warranty.
There are various other considerations that have been gone over many times before and after a jet wash you'll still need to soft wash / use hypo mix to get rid of the algae that jet washer won't deal with

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I just spray with biocide now unless they specifically want me to PW it.

 

[THL4KEL]

I offer scrape or pressure wash with biocide treatment.

 

[K in Kent]

I mean it depends what service you're offering. But typically customers want moss removal and tiles cleaned.
Biocide only is likely to take a long time and leave patchy results that need another treatment. But each to their own and we can all have an opinion on it but doesn't change the fact that tile manufacturers say don't pressure wash tiles. Marley :

The use of high powered jet washes is not recommended as it can damage the surface of the slate or tile, thus reducing its expected life considerably.

 

[Pjj]

I mean it depends what service you're offering. But typically customers want moss removal and tiles cleaned.
Biocide only is likely to take a long time and leave patchy results that need another treatment. But each to their own and we can all have an opinion on it but doesn't change the fact that tile manufacturers say don't pressure wash tiles. Marley :

I did my own roof which is smooth concrete tiles about a year ago there was a bit of moss and it was black with mould and covered in liken I just gave it a hypo mix 12 months later it’s totally clean looks like it’s been pressure washed looks like new tiles

 

[K in Kent]

I did my own roof which is smooth concrete tiles about a year ago there was a bit of moss and it was black with mould and covered in liken I just gave it a hypo mix 12 months later it’s totally clean looks like it’s been pressure washed looks like new tiles

As we've said before you can't beat a hypo mix for cleaning power, algae and lichen removal and lasting / residual effect as good or better than biocide - at a fraction of the cost. IMO anyway.
Products like Bio Cleanze work but do they work any better or last longer? I'm not convinced

 

[THL4KEL]

Theyre not suppose to last forever. You can offer your customers a yearly chemical treatment.

 

[Pjj]

As we've said before you can't beat a hypo mix for cleaning power, algae and lichen removal and lasting / residual effect as good or better than biocide - at a fraction of the cost. IMO anyway.
Products like Bio Cleanze work but do they work any better or last longer? I'm not convinced

Having used Benz lightning clenze which is hypo it doesn’t clean any better than stuff half the price but it’s approved!,,,,,???also their biocide I have used this extensively on my own properties done some with bio and other bits with my own hypo mix and my mix works far quicker , and lasts considerably longer than the Benz biocide , ime not knocking Benz products as they do work and they are approved , but you can get the same results or better results for half the price , I don’t pretend to be a chemist or have the technical knowledge of some on hear but can get very good results without endangering ourselves , the general public or wildlife. We have a few jobs coming up I must remember to take sone before and after shots .

 

[Pjj]

Theyre not suppose to last forever. You can offer your customers a yearly chemical treatment.

I agree but most don’t see the advantage of preventative maintenance they wait until it’s bad before having it cleaned ,I have tried selling an annual bio spray at a reasonable price but only a couple have them done , I find generally that a hypo clean will last 3-5 years before it needs re cleaning , this works out cheaper for the customer, and more profit for us so we are happy and so are they

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I offer scrape or pressure wash with biocide treatment.

I sprayed biocide on a roof and alot of moss down from velux was still there months later. So I went back and used a brush and it all came away. It was dead so had no grip, I was quite surprised how easy it was to brush off.

 

[THL4KEL]

I sprayed biocide on a roof and alot of moss down from velux was still there months later. So I went back and used a brush and it all came away. It was dead so had no grip, I was quite surprised how easy it was to brush off.

Takes a year for it to work.

 

[K in Kent]

Theyre not suppose to last forever. You can offer your customers a yearly chemical treatment.

I know they're not and Bio Cleanze has a 12 month residual effect as advertised, but my point is a hypo mix lasts as long.
I know Benz advocate the yearly maintenance clean which sounds in good in principle but as @Pjj has said that's not the reality. People generally don't want to pay for something until they can see it needs doing. Until then it's an unncecessary expense

 

[Pjj]

I know they're not and Bio Cleanze has a 12 month residual effect as advertised, but my point is a hypo mix lasts as long.
I know Benz advocate the yearly maintenance clean which sounds in good in principle but as @Pjj has said that's not the reality. People generally don't want to pay for something until they can see it needs doing. Until then it's an unncecessary expense

If you read the small print on Benz bioclenze it states if it rains within 12 hours of application it’s effectiveness can be reduced and further application may be required, if this is the case how on on earth can they claim it offers continuous killing effects for up to a year ? It’s impossible. And from my own experience on numerous jobs it doesn’t stop re growth it doesn’t Evan slow it down , hypo will give just as good a clean and lasts as long as bio .

 

[Part Timer]

I was told Hypo breaks down into salts which are what algi feeds on. Biocide needs time to get into the porous parts, that hypo can't get into, to kill the spores.

 

[Doddy111]

It doesn't damage the tiles IMO, we 'steam clean' 90% of roofs and have no issues.

We don't steam clean if the roof looks knackered (potential leaks) or if they've got newish concrete tiles (adding years of weathering to the coating)

Clay and slate are the same colour all the way through so they get steamed.

Tile manufactures are always going to advise against getting your roof cleaned as the more roofs cleaned the less tiles they'll sell

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I know they're not and Bio Cleanze has a 12 month residual effect as advertised, but my point is a hypo mix lasts as long.
I know Benz advocate the yearly maintenance clean which sounds in good in principle but as @Pjj has said that's not the reality. People generally don't want to pay for something until they can see it needs doing. Until then it's an unncecessary expense

I spray my roof every year but it is only 10 years old. It keeps it looking like new, folk ask me the reason or think its a new roof.

 

[Pjj]

I was told Hypo breaks down into salts which are what algi feeds on. Biocide needs time to get into the porous parts, that hypo can't get into, to kill the spores.

Hypo kills the spores as well hears a job we did yesterday this is less than 5 muinits after spraying hypo mix in , this isn’t the finished results but shows how quick it starts working

 

[Iron Giant]

Tile manufactures are always going to advise against getting your roof cleaned as the more roofs cleaned the less tiles they'll sell

I doubt this is the case at all, no one in their right mind is going to spend around 5k on a 2-bed semi for example and replace all tiles so tile manufacture isn't going to benefit that way by advising not to have it cleaned it will be about ensuring the best longevity out of the tiles because anyone can rock up with a pressure washer and claim to be a professional and cause damage concrete tiles have a guaranteed lifespan of 30 years but some can last 60 years various factors come into play, the cost of re-tiling or re-slating a roof these days has got quite a bit more expensive these days

 

[Part Timer]

Hypo kills the spores as well hears a job we did yesterday this is less than 5 muinits after spraying hypo mix in , this isn’t the finished results but shows how quick it starts working

I was talking about render and concrete precast tiles not slate tiles