Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

Once a year maintenance roof treatment

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

PowerShine Property Services wrote:
I have been trying to find out what the best product or chemical is to do a once a year roof treatment. I am having a hard time getting any info from anyone on this and it seems like there is a lot of people that offer it, at least around hear. There are companies that come and clean your roof once then come back every year to put a preventative algaecide on the roof. One of my customers said he has not had to have his roof cleaned in 6 years with this process. He pays them a yearly maintenance fee and they spray it once with something that is not SH. Any knowledge on this topic would be helpful. or maybe there is a thread already on this that someone could point me to.
Maybe Benzalkonium Chloride, or copper sulfate

Why not SH? Unless it's killing algae that's already forming, it's doing nothing. Just washes off with the rain. I think he may be paying for snake oil.

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Sounds like RoofACide, especially where you are located, they are from that area. Not worth it when you can just clean it once for a higher price and give a 5 year warranty. They actually clean it with their solution first and then come back every year and treat with another solution.

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

It might be rood a cide. I am considering calling a few of these companies and asking them what they use. I saw one of the trucks and the mix he had in his tank was really blue.

I have found this product.
www.ecomoldgo.com

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

Im sure a simple product like wet and forget would probably work. It is to expensive tho. I am trying to offer something to my customers to keep there roof clean. clean it once then do a maintenance spray once a year. With just a cleaning you get about 2 years and it starts to get dirty again, down hear in south FL.

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

PROPRIETARY ALGAE-CIDE FORMULA
HOMEOWNERS:
We live in a tropical paradise. The plants and humidity that make our homes so beautiful can also make our house so unattractive by producing algae and dangerous mold that grows on or roof.

Be the first in your neighborhood with a clean, algae-free roof all year long with ----------- Home Care and our patented Algae-Cide formula.

THIS PROGRAM IS FOR YOU:
The appearance of your home plays a significant role in maintaining it;s value. The cost of annual pressure cleaning and the damage to your roof tiles can be expensive.

--------- Home Care guarantees an annual application with Algae-Cide on your clean roof will keep it looking new and algae-free for one year.

Should mold appear within that time, McDonald's Home Care will clean the afected area and re-apply the Algae-Cide.

*Although rare, some areas of Florida are more prone to the growth of mold and it may take an application of Algae-Cide at a six-month interval for the first year for the treatment to take effect. This can be diagnosed early on.

The Algae Cide Treatment was developed by Jeff when we owned a Pool Shop. He wanted to develop a solution for nonchlorine pools. This discovery became very popular with the pool clients. Shortly after we had many pressure cleaning clients that complained about the chlorine damaging their plants and was very harsh on the tiles of the roof. That when Jeff began to think “non-chlorine” and began to put use the same harmless and environmentally save chemicals on the roofs to prevent the mold and mildew from growing.

It is very important that-------- Home Care clean your roof before applying the Algae-Cide treatment to prevent any reaction to other chemicals that we may not know have been previously used on your roof.

Just found this on there website I copied and pasted it hear. I removed there name. Ihis is an example. I am trying to offer the same thing so I can keep up with the competition in my area.

-- Edited by PowerShine Property Services on Saturday 7th of January 2017 05:18:06 PM

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Blue color is either just a proprietary color or more likely a copper based solution probably copper sulfate

Patrick G · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Wet and forget states it may take several applications, hell even in their video the black streaks are still there and the guy says it looks great. I have found who ever is offering a yearly maintenance by me is because 1. it will come back in a year 2. They clean with a power washer of some sort.

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Just go back every year and softwash the roof and call it a maint plan. Once you clean it once, the yearly cleaning will be easy and you could probably use a house mix, so it would be a fraction of the initial cleaning cost.

Patrick G · Approved Exterior Cleaner

ck out the roof behind the guy at the 1:30 mark. youtu.be/z9khOH4rUos

Patrick G · Approved Exterior Cleaner

and again at the 251 mark

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

lol, that is a good catch on that video. Of course I wouldn't be using this mix for the initial clean. Im pretty sure it is copper sulfate maybe with some other things in it but with no experience in this it makes it hard. Im going to keep working on it. sure I could use a 20% S/H mix once a year but it would be nice to get to a job spray it real quick and not have to worry about frying plants and so forth.

BlueRidge · Approved Exterior Cleaner

PowerShine Property Services wrote:
lol, that is a good catch on that video. Of course I wouldn't be using this mix for the initial clean. Im pretty sure it is copper sulfate maybe with some other things in it but with no experience in this it makes it hard. Im going to keep working on it. sure I could use a 20% S/H mix once a year but it would be nice to get to a job spray it real quick and not have to worry about frying plants and so forth.

Copper sulfate is much worse than any treatment using SH. Copper Sulfate Fact Sheet

It took some searching to find their website on the second page. It's interesting how they refer to what they use as a proprietary algae cide formula with no name. It's all marketing and from what I can find, any of these products saying it will kill algae has copper in them.

We have been down this road before... roof shampoo, copper sulfate and the list goes on as people try to come up with their own or something different they can sell, trying to beat out the competition. I would rather treat a roof with the knowledge it takes to clean it with SH, pretty much identical with the roof manufacturers recommendations, and know I have given them a service that will last 4 - 6 years. Selling them something they don't need is not what we do.

Their website was hard to find even using the search term, mcdonalds home care marco island fl. On the second page. With a lot of information you can find here, some money spent on SEO you can easily compete with them. Does anyone know what the special patented algae cide product is? I'll bet it isn't theirs due to the cost of getting a patent. The website has typos. If you are selling to people who can afford our services, the website needs to speak to them without typos or misspellings.

Concentrate in offering the best service with customer satisfaction as number one. There is a fact sheet from EPA here at "Recommended Safety and Information Video Library".

SH is safe. I have used the EPA fact sheet for commercial and HOA's. Having that and the knowledge got me jobs because they didn't get the information and professionalism they were looking for from the guy with a pressure washer in his pickup who pulled up and threw a number out without doing the work.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel. If you follow the procedures for roof cleaning that all of us here use, you will not have any problems. Cleaning without gutters is an issue in FL. Here is a friend of mine who has built a good business in cut throat FL!

https://www.facebook.com/Ecogreenpressure/?pnref=lhc

Michael Hickey · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I would think that the yearly spray is done using a fungicide. Have a look at this product used in the UK and Ireland. www.algoclear.com We use a similar product on tile roofs after scraping the moss off. It keeps the roofs cleaner for longer as it kills the moss spores. Some companies apply a spray of this after washing with SH and then rinsing with plenty of water. You will be able to get similar products in the States

Jeff Wible · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Copper Sulfate works very well for killing and preventing mold (AKA black streaks) on a shingled roof. It has great staying power,..it will keep a roof clean a long time. And is an alternative to SH,..if you can sell the service,..which some companies have been able to do. Heavy marketing and scare tactics.

Copper Sulfate will not get rid of black streaks on a roof in any instant form,..it takes a while,..but it does work,..I've seen home owners do it,..
But as a service, it's a hard sell due to no instant results whatsoever. It is much better if used as a preventive once every 2-4 years,..depending where you are. I get 4-6 years form an SH cleaning,.and when it does start to sneak back I get a call from the customer,.and I go hit the bad spots with heavy mix and switch to a lighter mix to do the rest of the roof with a lighter mix. So,..essentially I am doing maintenance cleaning at these longer intervals.

Copper sulfate is a PITA to prepare and is expensive,..but it does work. It will take months to get rid of the black steaks.

I could see doing maintenance cleaning every (2) years with a house wash mix,..that I believe would keep the mold at bay,..whether it's worth the cost to a customer is up to you and how you sell it. I prefer not to make the effort,..and just go back every 4-6 year and do as I stated above.

Calcium Hypochlorite will also keep black streaks away longer by far,.12 years ago or so,.. when I used it on a regular basis I got an easy 6 years and I know a few I got 8 years out of. I remember keeping my eye on them to see if it was starting back yet, Ha,Ha,...

SH aside,..If I was doing maintenance treatments,...I would choose Calcium Hypochlorite over Copper Sulfate.

Jeff

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

No matter what you spray on the roof you will need to rinse the overspray off the trim, Windows, plants, etc... So why not just retreat.

Michael Hickey · Approved Exterior Cleaner

They could be using biocide. We use it on tile roofs after scraping the moss off. It will kill the moss spores and other fungi leaving the roof cleaner for longer. Some contractors spray it on after washing walls or roofs with SH. The roof or wall would have to be rinsed well before applying the biocide. This product is widely used in the UK and Ireland. www.algoclear.com It is similar to the one we use.

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I washed the roof on my house about 5 years ago. Now every year when I wash the siding, I hit the roof with DS mix, no mold yet!

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

BlueRidge wrote:
Copper sulfate is much worse than any treatment using SH. Copper Sulfate Fact Sheet
It took some searching to find their website on the second page. It's interesting how they refer to what they use as a proprietary algae cide formula with no name. It's all marketing and from what I can find, any of these products saying it will kill algae has copper in them.
We have been down this road before... roof shampoo, copper sulfate and the list goes on as people try to come up with their own or something different they can sell, trying to beat out the competition. I would rather treat a roof with the knowledge it takes to clean it with SH, pretty much identical with the roof manufacturers recommendations, and know I have given them a service that will last 4 - 6 years. Selling them something they don't need is not what we do.
Their website was hard to find even using the search term, mcdonalds home care marco island fl. On the second page. With a lot of information you can find here, some money spent on SEO you can easily compete with them. Does anyone know what the special patented algae cide product is? I'll bet it isn't theirs due to the cost of getting a patent. The website has typos. If you are selling to people who can afford our services, the website needs to speak to them without typos or misspellings.
Concentrate in offering the best service with customer satisfaction as number one. There is a fact sheet from EPA here at "Recommended Safety and Information Video Library".
SH is safe. I have used the EPA fact sheet for commercial and HOA's. Having that and the knowledge got me jobs because they didn't get the information and professionalism they were looking for from the guy with a pressure washer in his pickup who pulled up and threw a number out without doing the work.
Don't try to reinvent the wheel. If you follow the procedures for roof cleaning that all of us here use, you will not have any problems. Cleaning without gutters is an issue in FL. Here is a friend of mine who has built a good business in cut throat FL!
https://www.facebook.com/Ecogreenpressure/?pnref=lhc

There website was hard to find because they just created it a few weeks ago. This company has most of the work in my area. There is so many customers that tell me they are very satisfied with there service of once a year (algaecide treatment). I am pretty much as far south as you can get other than then the keys. A regular cleaning hear only last about 2 years. There was a few tile roofs that I pressure washed last year (customer did not want S/H) this year they were almost black again. With the tropical climate algae grows wild down hear. Which is a good reason to offer once a year maintenance treatment.
Thank you everyone for the replies, Great ino.

Fred W · Guru

BlueRidge wrote:
Don't try to reinvent the wheel. If you follow the procedures for roof cleaning that all of us here use, you will not have any problems. Cleaning without gutters is an issue in FL.

Listen to Brett and save yourself from serious research that is better spent learning....Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Nothing wrong with wanting a better product but there is nothing "currently" out there. Meaning maybe someday someone, maybe even you, will come up with a better solution.

Last year I made the switch from a 5 year warranty to a lifetime warranty. One of the best moves for my company. No snake oil sales here, I just realized that it makes more sense, in our heavy algae infested area where we have very few rain gutters, to offer a yearly maintenance.

We need to tarp everything and spray a hot mix on the initial application and we charge accordingly. On the maintenance treatments we basically use a lighter mix and therefore we charge a fraction of the cost for re-treats.

BlueRidge · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Baton Rouge Roof Cleaner wrote:
Last year I made the switch from a 5 year warranty to a lifetime warranty. One of the best moves for my company. No snake oil sales here, I just realized that it makes more sense

Doug, would you start a post in On The Side explaining this warranty? I'm curious as I'm sure a few others might be as well.

Pinky · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I would just go back the next year and spray a light mist on it. Take your money and go for a year and do it again.

PowerShine Property Services · Veteran Member

I think I am going to take everyone's advice for now. Clean the roof once and offer a re treat in years to come. There is products out there that will do what I am talking about. The company listed above has figured it out, im sure they guard there secret tho. For now until I figure out something better I will just spray a lighter mix once a year.

Jeff Wible · Approved Exterior Cleaner

PowerShine Property Services wrote:
I think I am going to take everyone's advice for now. Clean the roof once and offer a re treat in years to come. There is products out there that will do what I am talking about. The company listed above has figured it out, im sure they guard there secret tho. For now until I figure out something better I will just spray a lighter mix once a year.

The only thing they figured out is marketing,..being able to make a roof sale once a year is their biggest accomplishment. The actual treating of a roof to keep mold growth at bay is fairly straight forward and not a tremendous feat. Anyone one of use here can do the actual work of treating roof to keep mold from spreading,...but we can't all sell that,,..or we don't try. Either way,.they figured it out and kudos to them.

It is likely something like a very light solution of copper sulfate.

When a roof is visibly clean of mold,.the instant effect from SH isn't as important. Although Copper Sulfate or even inc Sulfate doesn't work instantly,..it doesn't have to on a clean looking roof. Yet it will still take care of the spores as good as or better than SH.

Jeff