Anyone ever had their roof cleaned?

[Milo]

Our roof has been bugging me for a while. 
 

It’s got moss and lichen and all sorts of stains and marks on it. 
 

Does anyone have any experience of having this done - If so, was it expensive and was it worth it?
 

Assume it’s not a diy job…that there’s more to it than pointing a Karcher at it?
 

 

[Spudulike]

38 minutes ago, Milo said:

Our roof has been bugging me for a while. 
 

It’s got moss and lichen and all sorts of stains and marks on it. 
 

Does anyone have any experience of having this done - If so, was it expensive and was it worth it?
 

Assume it’s not a diy job…that there’s more to it than pointing a Karcher at it?
 

 

Roof tiles? Is it an old house with overhanging trees and stuff? Just wondered how it got like that. 

[Foxdiamond]

27 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Roof tiles? Is it an old house with overhanging trees and stuff? Just wondered how it got like that. 

Lichen is a sign there is less air pollution in your locale so actually a good thing

[Milo]

31 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Roof tiles? Is it an old house with overhanging trees and stuff? Just wondered how it got like that. 

Yep - roof tiles and the house was built in 1937. 

I doubt it’s ever been cleaned, tbh. And I think it would transform it. 
 

But would rather hear others experiences before committing…

 

[Milo]

5 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Lichen is a sign there is less air pollution in your locale so actually a good thing

Well our c*nt of a Mayor has just extended the ULEZ tax area to include the area I live in from next year, so that’ll likely worsen the problem! 
 

Marvellous. 

[Foxdiamond]

1 minute ago, Milo said:

Well our c*nt of a Mayor has just extended the ULEZ tax area to include the area I live in from next year, so that’ll likely worsen the problem! 
 

Marvellous. 

Your lungs will be as thankful as the lichens though

[Big Dave]

My mate cleaned his own roof. Climbed up on a ladder, tied a rope round his waist and tied it to the chimney. 
Wouldn’t recommend doing that personally.

Looked so much better afterwards though. Think it’s definitely one of this jobs that you pay someone to do. 

[Milo]

3 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Your lungs will be as thankful as the lichens though

Oh, ULEZ has little to do with pollution. (Topic for another thread). 

[Spudulike]

12 minutes ago, Milo said:

Yep - roof tiles and the house was built in 1937. 

I doubt it’s ever been cleaned, tbh. And I think it would transform it. 
 

But would rather hear others experiences before committing…

 

If that's the original roof then it might want replacing by now? Not sure of the average lifespan of a roof but that sounds quite old to me. 

[indierich06]

1 hour ago, Milo said:

Our roof has been bugging me for a while. 
 

It’s got moss and lichen and all sorts of stains and marks on it. 
 

Does anyone have any experience of having this done - If so, was it expensive and was it worth it?
 

Assume it’s not a diy job…that there’s more to it than pointing a Karcher at it?
 

 

No idea on price, but I've seen some vids on YouTube where people have had it done and it definitely makes a big difference. The key is whether you've got nice tiles under the muck in the first place I guess!

[Molson Canadian]

I'm assuming you have a concrete tile roof?  A pressure washer will remove a majority of the moss and stains. An application of soap or chemical cleaners along with some scrubbing will give a cleaner finish.

 

Being its from 1937 it's worth going up there regardless and having a look for anything out of place, or potential leaks.  Concrete tile roofs however have an extremely long lifespan.

[Mike Oxlong]

Don’t do a Rod Hull Milo 

[Captain...]

Had ours done a few months ago, I can't remember the exact price, but it was a couple of hundred for roof, gutter and windows. Definitely felt worth it.

[FoyleFox]

Had one done 3 or 4 years ago. It was £125 ish... for 3 bed semi detached. 

No idea what they did or how but I went to inspect afterwards and it was a massive improvement. 

[Captain...]

Our guys brought a little scaffolding rig, climbed up and just scrapped all the shit off, then treated with an anti-moss spray.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

11 hours ago, Captain... said:

Had ours done a few months ago, I can't remember the exact price, but it was a couple of hundred for roof, gutter and windows. Definitely felt worth it.

That seems very reasonable tbf. 

[Daggers]

16 hours ago, Milo said:

Anyone ever had their roof cleaned?

I really struggle to keep up with the euphemisms for sexual activities these days.

 

I blame it on whomsoever came up with "Milk, milk, lemonade". Everything went downhill after that. Why can't people keep things plain and simple? Even those two girls only had one cup - and a simple plot line to the film.

[filthyfox]

I was quoted £700!!! 3 bed terrace.  Admittedly that was for gutters, windows and fascias as well.

 

Glad I didn't bother!

 

Seagulls put the seeds up there

Edited 6 December 2022 by filthyfox

[Parafox]

37 minutes ago, filthyfox said:

I was quoted £700!!! 3 bed terrace.  Admittedly that was for gutters, windows and fascias as well.

 

Glad I didn't bother!

 

Seagulls put the seeds up there

How Irish was the guy that quoted you?

[filthyfox]

2 hours ago, Parafox said:

How Irish was the guy that quoted you?

We don't get many of that type down here...

Was my normal window cleaner, who is usually quite reasonable.

[gerblod]

   

On 05/12/2022 at 18:41, Milo said:

Our roof has been bugging me for a while. 
 

It’s got moss and lichen and all sorts of stains and marks on it. 
 

Does anyone have any experience of having this done - If so, was it expensive and was it worth it?
 

Assume it’s not a diy job…that there’s more to it than pointing a Karcher at it?
 

 

Whoever you employ, whether a cleaning firm or a roofer, you're going to get charged for scaffolding - if it's a kosher firm they're obliged to - and that's dear.

 

Dependent on whether you're fit, you could do it yourself - a ladder, a crawler and a Kärcher would be all you needed. When I relaid the ridge tiles on my old place, I made a seat that rested on the ridge - more comfortable that way. You could work off the crawler as well. You just need to make sure everything's secured well.

Moss is a pain - every time there's a heavy rain it's like that Star Trek episode with the Tribbles - furry bits littering the ground. Lichen takes a bit of shifting - maybe a specific herbicide chemical wash for that.

Good luck.

 

Edited 7 December 2022 by gerblod
Had nae finished

[dsr-burnley]

On 05/12/2022 at 20:10, Spudulike said:

If that's the original roof then it might want replacing by now? Not sure of the average lifespan of a roof but that sounds quite old to me. 

I don't think tiles wear out as such.  If the roof starts to leak then it's a matter of lifting tiles and replaying them, not replacing them with new.  But if it isn't leaking, nothing needs doing until it starts!

 

(Mine was about 190 years old when I finally had to relay it.  I got an interesting patchwork effect, now fading, where some of the old sandstones had to be replaced by new stones.)

[Milo]

So I’ve just had a quote…

 

Includes repair to the chimney stack and cleaning, moss removal, etc. 

 

Three grand.      
 

I think I’ll get another quote! 

 

 

[Captain...]

3 hours ago, gerblod said:

   

Whoever you employ, whether a cleaning firm or a roofer, you're going to get charged for scaffolding - if it's a kosher firm they're obliged to - and that's dear.

 

Dependent on whether you're fit, you could do it yourself - a ladder, a crawler and a Kärcher would be all you needed. When I relaid the ridge tiles on my old place, I made a seat that rested on the ridge - more comfortable that way. You could work off the crawler as well. You just need to make sure everything's secured well.

Moss is a pain - every time there's a heavy rain it's like that Star Trek episode with the Tribbles - furry bits littering the ground. Lichen takes a bit of shifting - maybe a specific herbicide chemical wash for that.

Good luck.

 

Our guys had something like this:

 

 

But I would have said it was even smaller, so didn't need to go for full scaffolding. Assembled and disassembled in a few minutes, quite a handy bit of kit and would have kept the cost down massively compared to full on scaffolding.

[Spudulike]

They put up a scaffold to re-render and paint the upper level of my house. The cost of scaffolding alone was over £600 plus vat.