It’s got you covered, treat it well

• Posted on October 15, 2015
• by mikew
• in Fix It & Use It
• No Comments.

If you ever had a roof leak you understand how stressful it is to have your roof fail. If you ever had to replace your roof you know how expensive it is – $10,000 or more! If you have never had reason to notice your roof before it’s doing its job! The number one component that will protect you from house enemy number one is your roof. The entire purpose is for water protection and every component of your roof is involved in this function every time it rains.

Most roofs I see today are asphalt architectural shingles. The entry level is considered a 30 year roof if not laid over a previous layer and properly installed. That means your roof is worth about $500 per year. It’s got us covered, so how can we treat it well?

Deal with the moss. We grow green well here in the Seattle area. We call moss grass and it grows well in our yards and on our roofs. But moss will rapidly decrease the life of your roof – it could cut your roof life in half. It causes needles and leaves to build up, allows water to sit on your roof and damages the shingles as it expands and tentacles grow. Even algae and moss resistant roofing shingles can grow this soft green stuff.

(roof I mentioned)

Never use a broom or pressure washer on your roof. Just this last week I had to advise a seller to replace a roof that I estimated to be about 10 to 15 years old because there were large areas where no granules remained on the roofing shingles. The seller had simply tried to rid his roof of moss. The roof looked to be 30 years old!

My solution has been to use Tide powder detergent with bleach. These boxes are available inexpensively from Costco. I sprinkled the white powder on either side of the ridge line and let the rain do the rest of the work. This needs to happen once or twice a year to stay on top of the moss. The rain does the work and then I grab my wet dry vac to clean out the gutters. There are other gentle cleaning solutions but this is the easiest and cheapest I’ve found.

Keep branches from rubbing against the roof. I recommend at least three feet so that as they sway they do not have the opportunity to contact the roof. This will also eliminate a common entry point for rodents and squirrels getting into your attic.

Moss grows in the shady areas of the roof. The winter months provide the greatest shade on the north, west and east angles of our roofs. Rain accompanies this time of the year. So now would be a great time to treat our roofs well!