Do you know how to clean your roof correctly?
Based on the conditions where your house is situated, the roof of the house can be overgrown with foliage, moss, mold. Spots can appear on it because a certain flock of birds considered the ridge of your roof to be a favorite place for their gatherings.
Also, an important factor here is the slope of the roof. On higher slopes, pollution is easily washed away by rainwater and the foliage is blown by the wind.
The lower the slope, the more problematic self-cleaning occurs. On sloped roofs, the snow melts more slowly, subjecting the roof to longer tests.
If the under-roof ventilation system is not implemented on the roof, then this creates favorable conditions for the formation of mold and mildew spots. This negatively affect the entire roof structure, change the color of the roof, etc.
In this article, we will consider the methods for cleaning and maintenance of roofs.
Cleaning the roof from bird droppings.
Homeowners are faced with the problem of roof fouling by birds. This happens more often in cities. However, there are also countryside places where large birds master roof ridges as perches, leaving white spots behind them on the roofing.
This problem is often solved by itself. If the summer is rainy, and your roof is able to wash off by gravity. But if bird droppings are not washed off the roof by rain, then you have to clean your roof.
For this, special products are used that should not contain alkalis. The alkaline composition of the cleaning fluid, due to a chemical reaction, will cause the destruction of galvanized or aluminum roof parts.
It is necessary to understand that the use of such cleaning agents in high concentrations will lead to a violation of the paintwork. The advice given by DuraSealRoofing is that the use of chlorine-containing substances is also not recommended. All cleaning chemicals used must be biodegradable.
Cleaning of tiled and copper roofs.
Roofs made of ceramic tiles have appeared relatively recently, but already some of them need to be cleaned. So, in some areas, there are some formations of black spots of fungus on the tiles.
With the help of special reagents, it becomes possible to keep the roof clean to its original appearance without harm to the coating. As for copper roofs, there is no point in cleaning them. Copper patination is its advantage, and it does not need to be cleaned off.
Cleaning of roofs from bituminous tiles.
It is important to understand that cleaning the roof of shingles is necessary even in places where it is not visible to the eye. Pollution in the form of mosses and lichens gradually destroys the integrity of the roofing shingle and reduces the life of the roof.
Dirt and overgrowth trap moisture, subjecting waterproofing to increased testing. In addition, such pollution greatly worsens the appearance of the roof, thereby reducing the value of the house.
The advice given by the UK roofing firm CheckaRoof is that processing of roofing from bituminous tiles should be carried out in neutral weather – from +5 to +15 degrees, avoiding overheating and freezing of the reagent.
It is also necessary that the roof is dry before treatment. And even better, that the roof is not exposed to precipitation in the form of rain for 24 hours. When dirt and vegetation on the roof are dry, the chemicals are absorbed much better.
Another of the processing conditions is the absence of wind since the reagent must be applied to the roof and not near it.
The processing of shingles should be planned. You should not wait until the roof is covered with a thick layer of black mold or moss. If this happens, and for a long time, then it may be easier to replace the roofing.
Thus, it would be wiser if you treat your roof once every 2-3 years. It will then always maintain a healthy appearance and serve your home happily ever after.
Why do you need to clean the roof of snow and ice?
When there is a lot of snow in winter, this is good. But in some cases, it creates a lot of problems. If you do not clear snow and ice from the roof in time, then their fall can lead to several unpleasant consequences:
- Damage to human health. From the ice falling from the roof every year, many people get injured of varying complexity, and sometimes everything ends even with a fatal outcome;
- Roof damage. Although the design of the roof must take into account the characteristics of the region in which the house is located, and it is calculated for certain loads, situations may arise when the mass of snow cover exceeds the maximum allowable weight. This will damage both the roof covering and the roof truss system. It is much easier and cheaper to keep the roof clean in winter than to repair or replace the roof later;
- The roof of a high-rise building can collapse under the weight of snow damage to objects near the house;
- If a large amount of snow falls from the roof, cars standing next to the house can be seriously damaged;
- Damaged appearance. A large and uneven cover on the roof of the house does not look very attractive. It indicates how the owners are accustomed to cleanliness and order. It is much more pleasant to look at a house whose roof and the surrounding area are freed from snow and ice in time.
Basic rules for cleaning the roof
- You can’t do the job alone. You should consider a professional roofing company.
- Even if you do not go to the roof, but work from the stairs, you still need to organize insurance. The cable is fixed through the ridge of the house for reliable support. Both the support and the cable must support three times the weight of the worker;
- When working from the stairs, you need to be on the side of the place where you clean the snow;
- To move on the roof, wear shoes with corrugated soles that provide maximum grip on the surface;
- In case of malaise or fatigue, it is impossible to perform work on the roof;
- You must also not work while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.