Roof Cleaning Perth
While it is considered commonplace to hire someone to clean the interior of your home, so many people do not realise it is just as easy to organise for their roof to be professionally cleaned. Roof cleaning can be a great way to keep your home in top condition and can help improve the overall look of your property. Powerdrive Roofing’s unrivalled expertise in transforming your roof comes from many years of experience and we offer a fast, safe, and effective service, removing unsightly moss, dirt, and lichen at a surprisingly low cost.
Why Clean Your Roof?
A new roof or re-roof is probably an expensive most homeowners would prefer not to think about, so it makes sense to properly maintain the one you already have thus extended its lifespan. Indeed, there are many particularly good reasons why you should keep up with roof maintenance some of which you may not be aware of.
Firstly, the roof, covered in green moss and lichen or black algae, ruins the appearance of a house and may well detract from its market value. You can decorate the exterior of your home and spend a fortune on your grounds, but it will never really look the part if the roof is unsightly.
This moss and lichen also degrade the terracotta roof tiles and can also aid in the process of a structural defect known as chemical delignification.
Plus, Real estate agents may well recommend a roof cleaner before a property is put on the market. After all, kerb appeal and first impressions count. And the longer you leave the job the more difficult it will become and the more it is likely to cost.
Secondly, there are several reasons why you should look at roof cleaning. Moss and lichen can spread quickly and stealthily, depending on the local conditions, such as tree shade, humidity, and position in relation to the sun.
Although the lichen and moss do not actually attack roof tiles themselves, they can hold water against the surface and create an environment that leads to the roofing material becoming more porous and, hence, more susceptible to rain erosion over time.
The porosity also makes your roof frame structure more likely to develop chemical delignification, therefore instead of just having a small problem of an unsightly roof, you now have a potential major structural defect.
One of the main problems with moss is that it can accumulate in the various water channels on the roof and lead to poor drainage and overflowing gutters. The outcome of this is often water running down the walls of your home, which can lead to a whole new set of potentially expensive problems.
The mould growth also prevents the reflective quality of a roof and can lead to higher heating and cooling bills.
Roof Cleaning Perth: How the Work is Done
The roof cleaning process is done in three main stages, the first generally involves a treatment using a special, biodegradable sterilising solution or roof ripper.
Lichen algae and moss are generally spread when their spores are transferred to the roof by the wind or by birds landing on them.
Simply washing the growth off with water could fail to remove these tiny spores, they embed themselves in roof materials such as terracotta roof tiles made from natural clay and, therefore, more porous than most other types of roof construction.
The Powerdrive roofing roof cleaning solution effectively kills these spores and inhibits any future growth, it is environmentally friendly, and will not harm your pets or damage the exterior of your home.
The second stage involves pressure cleaning, which is carried out with maximum care using specialised equipment.
There is a fine line between eradicating the lichen and causing damage due to over-saturation, or damaging roof tiles by allowing large amounts of water to force its way beneath the roof tiles.
Our tradesmen are well-trained and experienced and know precisely how much pressure a roof can withstand and know how to work on a roof without damaging it during the roof cleaning process.
The third and final stage consists of rinsing down the roof and surrounding areas to remove excess chemicals, sweeping up any debris, and clearing disturbed moss and lichen. All gutters and downpipes are repaired if required and also thoroughly cleaned gutters after the roof cleaning process.
Can you Prevent Your Roof Getting Dirty?
If your home is surrounded by trees that cast a shadow on your roof, it is a good idea to have them trimmed or even thinned, if at all possible, as moss finds it almost impossible to grow in bright sunlight.
If you find you are tempted to clean the roof yourself, be aware this is a hazardous task for the amateur. Not only are wet roofs extremely slippery and potentially highly hazardous, but there is also a particularly good chance you will break tiles if you have not been trained how to walk correctly on a roof.
Then there is always the chance of flooding the roof and remember, you are not insured if anything goes wrong and you are doing it yourself.
This job is best left to the experts.
