One of the more important aspects of ensuring that your home has a long life is regular roof maintenance.
Have you ever gone for a walk in your neighborhood and noticed that some of your neighbors roofs have moss or streaks on them? What about your roof? Does it have those same streaks as well? Are there signs of moss build up? Don’t get nervous: handling these types of problems can be easier than you think.
Moss growing on a roof is fairly typical in climates with humid summers. Those streaks are a little different, though. They’re actually a form of algae scientifically referred to as Gloeocapsa Magma. The good news is, is that the algae & moss do not do any serious damage to the roof. The bad news is, is that you have one more thing to take care of.
How To Remove Moss & Gloeocapsa Magma
(If you are combating moss, it needs to be scrubbed off with a brush first before you do any of the following steps). The easiest way to take care of this nuisance would be to wash your roof with a 50/50 mix of water and bleach. Seriously: that’s all you need to do. Do not use a pressure washer. While it may seem like a good idea to have technology on your side, it’s a likely guarantee that if you use a pressure washer you’re only going to create more work for yourself when you ruin your roofing tiles.
In the event that you have plants around the foundation of your home, make sure you get them wet first. If you were to start spraying the growing problem with the bleach-water without wetting down your plants, you will kill your plants. Wetting the plants down prior to tackling your roof helps protect them from the inevitable blowback of the bleach-water that you will be spraying up there. Just remember to give everything a good rinse off when your done. Remember: Plants like water, not bleach.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
If you’d like to prevent the return of moss & Gloeocapsa Magma, 6 inch wide strips of zinc or copper inserted underneath the shingling closest to the roof’s peak will do the trick. Just make sure that you have at least an inch of the metal exposed to the elements. The idea with doing this is that when it rains, the molecules of the exposed metals will wash down your roof and kill any of the algae that may be trying to make a return appearance.
