Hi, my name's Sid.
I run an exterior-cleaning business in the UK.
And today, I'm going to be taking you through
cleaning a very mossy roof.
So, this roof hasn't been cleaned for the 28 years
that the homeowners have lived here.
Here, I'm beginning to scrape the roof.
So, I'm trying to remove as much moss as possible.
This is what I'll be doing for the bulk of the day,
and this is the hardest part of the job.
I have the tool that I use.
It's basically a flat metal blade
angled to one side,
which means I can get the edge of the tile,
which usually carries a lot of the moss,
and scrape the bulk surface
of the tile at the same time.
I use sort of a side-to-side motion,
and it is very taxing on the body.
So it takes a long time to build up
the endurance and strength to do it.
So, on this roof, you'll see
a lot of brown and green.
This is the moss.
You'll also see a lot of white spots
people think is bird droppings,
but this is white lichen.
Moss is terrible for roofing and roof materials,
especially in the UK,
as we get a lot of damp weather over here.
So it just tends to grow and fester more,
and it'll grow in between the cracks of the tiles.
Now, when you have hot weather
turn into cold weather,
the moss will freeze and expand
and then end up cracking the roof tiles,
which can create holes, leaks,
and things like that in the roof.
So, this part of the job,
where I'm on the scaffolding, was the hardest.
So I use a 40-feet extendable pole
with the scraper attached on the end,
and I was almost at max extension.
So, the scraper itself is quite heavy,
and the pole itself is quite heavy.
So having that out at a near horizontal level
for a couple of hours is very difficult.
And as soon as this was done,
I was relieved and happy
to move on to the next part.
So, what I'm cleaning here
is a four-bedroomed house.
It's got big, flat concrete tiles.
So these are some of the best tiles
to come across to clean.
The surface area of them,
and because they're completely flat,
it's very easy to get the moss off.
You do not get roofs better than this.
So, it's rare that you'll actually get away with
using a broom to clean a roof,
as usually the moss is very, very stuck on,
and it's typically just used for cleaning up.
However, on this job,
the moss was coming off easy,
so in certain sections,
it can just be easier
just to try and sweep off a majority
and then sort of fine-tune it with a scraper.
So, the typical cleaning chemicals
that I use in my roof-cleaning work
is a chemical called a biocide.
What this essentially will do is destroy
any of the organic growth left on the roof,
and it has a residual cleaning effect
once I'm gone as well.
So there's no rinsing it off.
You leave it on the roof to fully dry
and soak into the tiles.
This will get anything
that we can't get to by scraping,
so anything that's left in the gaps.
Any sort of really stubborn stains and marks
that are left on the tiles also will slowly degrade.
So, the brush that I'm using here
is a basic water-fed pole
that most window cleaners would use.
That's all you need.
It's got four jets in it,
which will fire out the chemical mix
with the water onto the roof.
And the brush is just used
to agitate that chemical,
which will help it foam up, as you can see.
This helps it stick to the roof more,
as it's a natural surfactant.
So, what I'm doing here
is I'm applying the biocide solution to the roof.
Now, this is diluted at 25:1 with water.
So for every 1 liter of biocide,
I use 25 liters of water to dilute it,
ensuring I'm covering
every square inch of this roof,
making sure it's completely soaked in.
A lot of mistakes people make
is not putting enough on,
and they're left with a very patchy roof.
So it's really important to get complete coverage
and make sure all of the tiny little gaps
are completely soaked.
So if you don't fill all of the gaps
on the roof with the chemical,
then the moss will regrow with a vengeance.
The important part is making sure
anything organic on this roof
is completely absorbing this chemical.
So once the biocide completely soaks and dries in,
you would never even know it was on there.
And your results will start to come after a few weeks.
The main thing is trusting in the chemical,
because it definitely will do its job.
So, it's important to have your roof cleaned
because the buildup of moss
will over time damage the tiles on the roof,
which can lead to cracks, damp, leak.
All sorts of issues in your home
that you really don't want happening.
And if the problem is not treated early enough,
then it can lead to very expensive
roof repairs in the future.
As far as time scale on
how often should my roof be cleaned,
it is pretty much a one-time deal
for the majority of the process,
as long as it's being kept on top of.
And in future, it would just be
a light chemical treatment
just to keep anything at bay.
So the first step is getting it done,
and then it's a case of maintaining it.