Cleaning your roof is an important part of its upkeep and maintenance along the way. This can provide you with a way to avoid issues like discoloration, growth, and streaking all along the roof. You need to make sure that it is cleaned off to help make it look as nice as it should, but should you use a power washer to help clean the shingle roof and make it look nice.
You should not use a pressure washer on your roof. While this may seem like a great idea to clean off the top of the roof, it can cause more damage than any good. It takes a professional to get the roof cleaned and they are not using this equipment either. If a pressure washer is used, then minimal pressure is going to be brought out. Avoid using the pressure washer to help maintain the protective coating on your shingles and avoid adding algae and more to the top of your home.
Let’s take a closer look at why power washing is usually not the best way to handle cleaning your shingles along with some of the other methods that you can use.
Is It OK To Power Wash a Shingle Roof?
Homeowners should not use their pressure washers to help clean off the roof. This may seem like the best tool to use to make the home look better, but it could end up damaging the shingles and will not clean them off as well as you would like. When you decide to use a power washer on your shingles, it could blast off any of the protective coatings that are there. This coating is designed to help protect against UV rays and can provide resistance to algae as well. This could mean you have to face those problems more than before.
Another issue is if you put the power washer at the wrong angle. This could make it easier for the water to just jet under the shingles, which may lead to some water damage inside the home. As all homeowners know, it is a bad thing to have water damage, especially in the roofing system because it can spread to other parts of the home and could give you some expensive repairs on the home.
Even when you hire a professional to work on your roof, you will find that they do not use a power washer to help take care of the roof. They will use some of the other methods that we talk about below to help kill off the moss and algae and to make the roof look amazing. Only when things are really stuck on will they discuss having a power washer and they keep it on one of the lowest settings the whole time.
How Can I Clean My Shingles?
Now that we know that the power washer is not the best tool to help with cleaning off your roof, you may wonder how you can get that roof looking nice and as good as new. For a roof that has discoloration and streaks along with moss or algae growth, you can still clean off the roof without the power washer. A good corrosive cleaner, such as lie, a water pump, and a garden hose will do the job. You can also use a specialized shingle cleaning tool if you suspect you will need to do the work often. Use the right safety equipment to help with this.
To clean off any moss or algae that is growing on the roof, you will need to work with a corrosive cleaner. This helps to kill off any of the growth that makes its way to the roof. You will still not need to use a power washer to get this done. Your garden hose will be strong enough, though you can use a special tool to help with this if the water pressure in your home is not that great.
For most of the work that you will want to do for cleaning the roof, a regular garden hose is going to be plenty to get it done. It is effective enough, with a pressure that is high enough, that you will be able to kill off anything that is growing on there without causing damage to the shingles and other parts of the roof.
Cleaning Your Shingles
When it comes to your home, you want everything to look nice. This includes the shingles and the roof. While a pressure washer may seem like the perfect tool to take care of the top of your home, this can often lead to a big mess that you are not going to be happy with. Hire a professional to take care of the top of the home to keep it looking as good as new.