A specialist Roof Cleaning & Roof Moss Removal company based in High Wycombe, Serving Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Hertfordshire & London.
Welcome to The Roof Moss Cleaners Ltd
We’ve been in the external cleaning industry since 2013, started out as a window cleaning service, expanding to offer a complete external cleaning service and now focus solely on Roof & Gutter cleaning, even rebranding to focus solely on the service we love to provide.
Your problems pertaining to roof moss are likely the same as we hear from clients each and every week with moss falling on your patio, driveway or car. You're fed up with constantly having to clear gutters of debris or you are worried about the potential damage caused by moss on your roof.
The short answer is yes, freezing and wet moss are the factors that could damage your roof.
Moss grows into the hairline cracks in your roof tiles and when it freezes the moss expands causing the hairline cracks to expand. Eventually the tiles can crack and break.
The other problem caused by moss on your roof is related to the weight of moss on your roof. Did you know that some types of moss can hold 20-30 times its weight in water.
The reality is that although moss can cause lots of damage to your roof, it is highly unlikely to cause any damage of significance unless untouched for decades.
Our job as your specialist is to choose the correct cleaning technique for your type of roof, ensuring no damage is caused to your roof by cleaning it – not like some contractors who only use or know a single method of roof cleaning.
The most appropriate method of roof cleaning for the majority of roof’s is a manual roof scrape to remove moss from the roof tiles, before the application of a biocidal roof wash treatment.
A biocidal roof wash will kill off all remaining organic life on the roof of your property, this includes moss spores, litchen.
This method is what many refer to as the most gentle and long lasting way to remove years of dirt and organic growth from tiles and it is suitable for every tile type including concrete tiles, clay tiles and natural slate.
The one type of roof which can look worse when cleaned is artificial slate, these are man made of fibrous material and the atmospheric dirt build up on the slates covers up discolouration. When the atmospheric dirt build up is cleaned away (using any method of cleaning) the man made slates can appear white in large patches.
Steam cleaning is ideal for clients with a natural slate or modern clay tiled roof who want an instant clean. A biocide application is applied after cleaning in order to give some longevity to the clean.
Steam cleaning is carried out using our custom built, versatile 18hp petrol pressure washing systems which is capable of cleaning at upto 25ltrs per minute, 250 bar at temperatures up to 150 degrees celsius. You’ll be pleased to know that when steam cleaning your natural roof tiles we do so at a very gentle 50-60bar, using around 8 litres of water per minute heated to 150 degrees through a ceramic steam cleaning nozzle.
This is comparable in terms of pressure, water volume, temperature and cleaning nozzle to the specialist DOFF branded cleaning machines used for restoring historic listed buildings.
We never under any circumstances jet wash a roof with cold water, high pressure is used by some contractors to compensate for their lack of boiler, steam cleaning equipment or a knowledge gap.
The results can be appalling with concrete tiles being the worst affected by cold pressure washing. The worst results come from inexperienced roof cleaners using a cold water pressure washer to “clean” the roof to an even finish by effectively stripping the roof tiles of their top layer (shingle) and colouring. Water ingress is also a risk of pressure washing your rooftop, leading to water making its way inside your property and possibly damage to the interior of your home.
Biocide will kill all organic matter on your roof upon application including moss spores, algae, litchen and biofilm which is invisible to the naked eye.
The biocide applied to your roof will gently cleanse your roof tiles over a period of 12 months from application. Every time the tiles become wet through rain or dew the biocide is reactivated on the surface of the tile, washing away years of atmospheric growth.
The biocide is applied to your roof by gently spraying it onto the roof via a hose pipe, the pressure is similar to the pressure from your garden hose.
We carefully apply biocide to each face of your roof, ensuring a thorough covering.
If moss starts to regrow on your roof within 3 years we will return free of charge to reapply the biocide - giving you total peace of mind.
There are many factors that affect how long the chemicals will last for including:
Many people are unaware of the fact the moss, algae and litchen thrive on the north facing aspect of a building or rooftop. If your roof has a north facing aspect then you will notice the moss there is worse than on any other face. After a roof clean the moss will generally start its regrowth on the northern side of your roof first.
Trees create shade which keeps your roof tiles damp for longer after each rainfall, moss and algae thrive in damp conditions.
TV Aerials on your chimneys allow birds to perch above your roof, dropping their droppings on your roof tiles. The nutrients contained in bird droppings are an excellent source of feed for moss to thrive on. If you're having your roof cleaned and you do not use the Aerial then consider having it removed.
The simple answer is yes, you could. But, do you want to risk your life to clean your roof? If you choose to do so then you would need a roof scraper (ideally telescopic for reach), brush, ladders, roof ladders, possibly an access tower, a method of applying biocide (possibly a handheld sprayer) to your whole roof, time and lots of effort! Really, cleaning your roof is a job best left to a professional contractor, it's not a DIY job!
Safety is something we take seriously at The Roof Moss Cleaners Ltd - having worked in the exterior cleaning business for almost a decade we are aware of the associated risks of working at height and with chemicals. The team are IPAF trained, PASMA Trained and Fully Insured For Working At Height - and have over 10 years experience cleaning roofs for both residential and commercial clients with metal cladded buildings. Each project begins with an onsite risk assessment where our team looks at any abnormal risk factors such as close by power cables, any visibly loose ridge / hip roof tiles, where falling roof moss will land during the cleaning along with the best method of access for each face of your roof.
Some companies use cherry pickers to clean every roof, something we used to do. We now only allocate a cherry picker to a roof clean if the project requires it to access difficult to reach areas. This keeps our pricing competitive. The normal reason for needing a MEWP for your roof cleaning project would be to access a hip end with a roof pitch below it. Our team is fully trained and insured in the operation of cherry pickers including scissor lifts, boom lifts and spider lifts. We hire boom lifts for many of our roof cleaning projects, these give a fine balance between manoeuvrability in the air and outreach - something that a spider lift can not provide.
Our team has a mobile access tower on board which allows them to build a tower to rain gutter height and therefore have a safe platform from which to clean your roof from. Two PASMA trained operatives are required to assemble a mobile access tower - which unlike scaffolding is assembled on the day of your roof clean and taken away at the end of the day.
Our team is proficient in the safe use of ladders and roof ladders. Our years of experience in this industry allows us to know which types of tiles will or will not be damaged by a roof ladder. Safety harnesses and ropes are provided for our team's safety. We will always provide two quotes where requested, so if you would prefer our team to clean your roof without physically going onto it then we can certainly accommodate that by hiring a suitable cherry picker.
Experience and a sound understanding of the roofing system is required in order to provide roof repair services. We are primarily a roof cleaner but are proficient in the repair of roofs including replacing / rebedding ridge tiles, hip tiles and verge tiles along with carrying out lead flashing repairs and chimney repointing. We do not repair asphalt flat roofs. Our relationship with one of the country’s leading tile reclamation yards allows us to source exact or very close matches to some of the oldest tiles. If our team were to cause any damage on your roof while cleaning it then of course, those repairs are included.
Like in many industries, cheap and quality do not go hand in hand.
Here at The Roof Moss Cleaners Ltd we know the industry inside out and unfortunately the pricing in the industry varies wildly. Our quotes generally fall in the middle of the road when compared to other roof cleaning companies.
For example, for a large detached property that we quoted £2495 to clean, another company had quoted just £695 and another company had quoted £4500! Our price equated to approx £12.50 per square meter.
There are roof cleaning price guides online which quote a per square meter figures for roof cleaning of between £8 and £15 per square meter of roof for Hand-removal and biocide treatment.
However, the size of your roof is not the only consideration we look at when quoting your roof for moss removal and treatment.
We consider the type of roof tile, size of your roof, access to each elevation along with the location of your property.
For a manual roof scrape and biocide treatment this is our method, refined over hundreds of roofs cleaned by our team...
Upon arrival at your property our team will complete a risk assessment with you as the homeowner. This helps to keep you, visitors to your property and our team safe while we clean your roof. This is always carried out 1st, before we get set up.
We look all around the property for where moss will fall during the roof scraping . Any areas which are troublesome to clean moss from are then protected with tarpaulins. This allows us to leave your property as tidy as physically possible upon completion.
The team will then assemble the required access equipment in place before ascending to the roofline.
We don’t want any moss unnecessarily entering our gutter drainage system, all downpipes are checked to ensure that they are blocked before we commence. If they are not already blocked then we block them for the cleaning process.
We start scraping from the ridge tiles down each face of your roof. Manually scraping moss from the face and lip of each tile using telescopic poles with a range of specially designed roof cleaning scraper heads.
Once each face of your roof has been scraped we then use a leaf blower to remove loose debris from the roof tiles.
Once the roof is clear of debris we clear your entire guttering system, checking to ensure that all downpipes are clear. We also check for any obvious problems with your guttering such as gaps where guttering meets the unions or corner pieces hanging down.
Our team then gets to work with a thorough tidy up on ground level, using a leaf blower, shovel and brooms they ensure to clear up debris in each area on ground level. Including debris that has fallen into neighboring properties should go over the boundary. We always aim to leave the ground tidier than when we arrived!
Finally, we apply the biocide to complete your roof clean. The biocide is carefully applied via hose pipe and brushes using an electric pump. The pump applies the chemical at a very low pressure, comparable to that of your garden hose.
When you call us on 01494 355645 you will be speaking to Peter who will provide you with a friendly, knowledgeable service from the moment you call.
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