Moss has always been prevalent in rural areas but since the Clean Air Act our town and cities are becoming greener with less pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, making our rain less acidic. This is great news for the environment but also great conditions for the growth of moss. Moss on roofs left unattended can over time block gutters and drainage, if your gutters are overflowing this can cause water damage to both your walls and footings with both damp and subsidence. As well as this, the moss on your roof retains water keeping roof tiles/mortar saturated and leading to damage often with freezing. 

The method we use to clean roofs is 'scraping', we scrape the roof with metal profiled blades that match your tiles profile and wire brushes on telescopic poles (nylon blades for slate tiles). This means we can work from the ground or scaffold tower without the risk of damage from stepping on the roof, removing the majority of the visible moss and clearing the gutters out ready for biocide treatment. We don't offer other roof cleaning services such as pressure washing or steam cleaning because a lot of tile manufactures don't recommend the use of pressure and heat. Although they can provide instant aesthetic results immediately, it can severely shorten the life expectancy of the tiles as well as causing a lot of mess as far as neighborouging properties.

After scraping the majority of the moss away you are left with the stubborn embedded roots, cells and bacteria. We then treat this with a biocide using a telescopic brush, this kills off the remaining roots, algae and lichens. Over the coming months the roof will improve further in appearance as the weather washes the dead debris away. The biocide also helps delay any new growth keeping the roof cleaner for longer. How long it lasts is impossible to say, however we would hope for an average of 2-5 years depending on the properties environment, roof type, pitch etc. If caught before the scraping process is needed it reduces the scale and cost of the job when only requiring a treatment of biocide. So it can sometimes be more cost effective to keep on top of the maintenance before it gets the chance to grow. The biocide used is professional grade different to diy stores and applied by a trained applicator with PA1 & PA6A City of Guilds training. The biocide only causes harm to living organisms so there is no risk of damage to the roof materials, leadwork, fascias etc unlike acid or bleach based chemicals which can cause discolouration to the material. 

We only offer roof moss removal & biocide treatment on 1 & 2 Storey properties due to accessibility, as we only use portable scaffold towers and podium steps.

Please view our Photos page to view some of our previous work.