By I find it rather interesting that many people aren’t even aware their roofs can be cleaned. Most people think when a roof gets old and covered in black streaks, it’s time to replace it and buy a new roof. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Most of the time roofs are simply dirty with algae and other organic contaminants that foul their appearance, and limit their ability to properly protect your home. A good example is my very own roof. One day we awoke to find an outside wall was actually holding water behind the paint. Upon inspection, it turns out that it was little more than leaves and debris from trees sitting on the roof. These debris allowed water to pool and back up under the roofing material, thus causing a leak. Once the debris were removed, the leak was magically resolved.
This won’t always be the case, but I’ve lived it personally, so I know it can happen. The important thing to take away is that leaves and debris can damage, not only your roof, but the rest of your home too! The roof is the largest major component responsible for the overall health of your structure. The last thing you want it to have that compromised, because with water intrusion, things can go downhill very fast.
Having regular roof cleaning helps remove algae, lichens, moss, and other debris that can shorten the life of your roof. However, having leaves and other debris regularly removed is something that should be done regardless of how dirty the actual roofing material is. Keep in mind, if you’re not regularly removing the leaves from your roof, you don’t just have leaves up there.
Regularly Clean your Roof of Debris and Leaves
It doesn’t take much thought to realize what happens to a pile of wet leaves with tons of other organic contaminants, algae, fungus, mold, even plant seeds of untold varieties sit for a while in a damp mat on your roof. The leaves and organic matter actually turns to compost, and the seeds will start to grow!
It is not uncommon for us to find plants growing on the roof when we come out for a roof cleaning. Even more frequent are the forests we find growing in gutters, but we’ll save that for another article! Needless to say, not cleaning your roof regularly can lead to very costly repairs that can balloon in price rapidly where water damage inside of walls is concerned.
The gist of the story is this. If you have leaves sitting on your roof, you need them gone NOW. The longer they sit, the more they rot. Funny thing about rotting organic matter…it destroys everything, including your roofing material.
Check out the photo below of the leaves and debris on this roof. You can see the MUD that is left behind from the leaves. In some areas you might actually be able to see the stringy white ROOTS of other plants that were starting to grow in the mat of leaves!
Removing leaves and debris is an important part of roof cleaning and roof maintenance. This much debris can cause leaks and expensive damage to your roof if left unattended.
Have a professional, certified roof cleaning expert like Ultrasoft Pressure Washing LLC help maintain your roofing system for you. Our zero pressure roof cleaning lasts for years, but many clients still need regular attention. This will ensure their roof isn’t going to rot away prematurely, or cause expensive damage to the rest of the home. If you’re in between roof cleanings, call us to keep the debris removed. If your roof needs any kind of attention where cleaning is concerned, call our Jacksonville Florida certified roof cleaning experts today. 904-304-0810
