A Guide to Keep Your Roof Clean This Season

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The roof is part of the house that people do not tend to think much about, but having a clean and well-maintained roof is one of the best ways to protect your greatest asset, your home. Roofs serve a very important purpose in the way that they offer a critical line of defence against sun, heat, rain and snow.

No matter whether you have a concrete, synthetic, metal tile or clay tile roof, exposure and standard wear and tear can compromise your roof and possibly decrease its life. As roofing experts, such as the professionals at Roofmasters know, the regular cleaning of your roof will preserve its good condition and extend its longevity.

How to keep your roof clean

The very best advice is to engage a professional roof cleaner who has all of the required tools and equipment to thoroughly clean your roof. No matter whether you use a professional or try to clean your roof yourself, you will need to have and do the following:

1. Pressure washer

Pressure washers are needed for effective roof cleaning along with any particular nozzles designed for the type of roof tiles that you have. For example, small pores are characteristic of clay and concrete tiles, and tiles such as these need to be cleaned with a manual brushing technique or pressure washer.

2. Cleaning chemicals

To efficiently carry out the roof cleaning process, specialised chemicals and agents are required. Many professional cleaners prefer products based with sodium hydroxide as they are safe, environmentally sound and are successful degreasers. Alternatively, solutions of chlorine and water are cheap to make and effective for roof cleaning.

3. Primers, sealants and paints

Wear and tear, as well as damage to your roof can strip your tiles of their coatings and paint. So too can the roof cleaning process and cleaning agents used. As your roof is cleaned, freshly cleaned tiles can be more susceptible to dirt, moisture and damage. After cleaning, it is therefore important to add coating to your roof tiles, seal and paint to protect them as much as possible from dirt and the impacts of moss growth.

4. Replace damaged tiles

While you are cleaning the roof be on the lookout for broken, cracked or otherwise damaged tiles. It is the perfect time to carry out any small repair jobs. You should also be aware that walking on the roof can cause some unintentional damage to tiles. Tiles made from different materials can easily become brittle and fragile and it’s possible that they will crack or crumble with quite a light touch.

Not only does regular cleaning help to maintain the condition of your roof, it improves its aesthetic appearance, eliminating the appearance of moss and stains, and helping your home to look clean, fresh and appealing.

Regular roof cleaning will assist you to find and remedy damage early, often before minor problems become major issues. Added to this, regular roof cleaning will extend the life of your roof.