Roof cleaning or roof moss removal — which do you need?
The two overlap, which is why the terms get used interchangeably. The practical difference is what is being dealt with.
Roof cleaning covers the general condition of the covering — dirt, algae film, staining and light growth. Moss removal deals with established, thick moss that has taken hold and is shedding into the gutters.
Which one applies to your roof
- A green or black film across the tiles with little raised growth — a roof clean
- Thick cushions of moss along tile edges and in the laps — moss removal
- Gutters filling with moss debris after heavy rain — moss removal, plus gutter clearing
- A roof that simply looks tired next to newer neighbours — a roof clean, if the covering is sound
- Visible slipped or broken tiles — a roofer should look before either
Why they are often done together
Once the bulk of the moss is off, what is left behind is the ingrained algae staining that made the tiles look dark in the first place. Dealing with only one of the two leaves a job half done.
Clearing the gutters and downpipes afterwards belongs with both. Anything taken off the roof ends up in the rainwater system.
What neither of them fixes
Cleaning does not repair a roof. It will not stop a leak, re-bed a ridge, or restore a tile whose surface has already broken down. Where that is what a roof needs, you will be told plainly.
Want it looked at properly?
Send a few photographs of the elevation along with the address, and Rob will tell you what can realistically be improved, what it will cost and when it can be done.