Many homeowners notice when the outside of their house or building is beginning to look dirty and dingy. Whether your home or building is made of brick, wood, siding, or other material, it will eventually start to look dirty, but what about the roof of your building or house? Since it is harder to see your entire roof, you may not notice when dirt, grime, and other debris have built up on it, yet it is so important to keep your roof clean by utilizing a professional service like Imperial Power Washing. Read on to learn all of the reasons it is important for you to keep your roof clean.
As a homeowner or business owner, you are expected to keep your building or house looking its best. If you really want your house to have the best curb appeal in the neighborhood, you definitely need to keep your roof clean. While you may not notice dirt and grime building up on the roof’s surface simply by standing in front of your house looking up, your neighbors and others passing by can definitely see if there are algae and other substances growing on your roof. Not only is this unsightly, but it can also be very damaging to your roof, which means costly to you.
It’s Not Just Dirty
Your roof is exposed not only to the elements of rain, sunshine, hail, snow, and other things produced by weather, but it is also susceptible to dirt and debris collecting on top of it. While some amount of rainfall will be able to wash off the surface layer of dirt and grime, the dark stains and green areas that can appear on your roof are not going to simply go away with the rain.
Algae, moss, and other fungi can build up on your roof and cause black or green stains. Gloeocapsa magma, also referred to simply as GM, is a type of algae that can build up on your breath and will feed off of the asphalt or limestone that your roof is made of, especially in the more moist, shaded, and cooler areas of your roof. Where there is little sunlight on your roof, GM will form a blue-green color.
This type of bacteria and algae can harbor a variety of different types of molds. This can explain to you why you may notice that one area of a roof is more stained than another area. These types of algae spores can be brought to your roof not only through the wind and other weather elements but from animals as well. These algae spores can move quickly from the rooftop of one house to the rooftop of another when you live in a neighborhood, apartment complex, or an area populated with single-family homes or townhouses.
Lichens are basically a combination of fungus mixed with algae. It is a fungus that can grow along with algae, and it is a plant-like organism that can form a branching style of growth that has root-like tentacles that can grow down into your roof’s surface looking for nourishment. Lichens are tough to remove from your rooftop and can reappear when you have a lot of rain or humidity in your area.
Moss is not exactly like algae and lichens since it is an actual plant. It has a very shallow root system but does require a ton of moisture to survive. This means that moss will grow easily in areas of your roof that receive less sunlight since it will remain damp a lot longer after it rains or snows. If you have trees that hang over your rooftop, they will provide shady areas and will drop debris that can serve as a food source for moss. Similar to algae, moss spores can be carried to your roof by wind or animals and can also spread from one house to another in neighborhoods and other areas where houses are closer together.
How Are Stains Damaging to Your Roof?
The stains and areas where algae, moss, and fungus grow on your rooftop will damage your roof by breaking down the shingles or causing wood rot. Both of these issues will lead to very expensive repairs and will shorten the lifespan of your roof. This means you will be shelling out a lot of money to repair or replace your roof sooner rather than later if you do not keep your roof clean. By hiring a trusted professional company for periodic roof pressure washing to keep it clean and free of these harmful contaminants, you will save yourself a lot of money in the long run, as well as from hassles and headaches.
GM algae, as stated earlier, is a bacterium that feeds off of limestone and asphalt. This means that these types of organisms can actually eat away the shingles on your roof. It also should be noted that roofs with algae stains absorb more heat which can result in extremely high heat in the attic area of your house or building which can also reduce the lifespan of your roof, since they can bake your shingles from the inside out.
When it comes to lichens, their penetrating tentacles will cause major damage to shingles while creating pockmarks in the areas in which they have grown. This is very unsightly as well as damaging to your roof.
Moss can be even more detrimental when it comes to a shingle roof since it can cause the edges of the shingles to curl or lift up. Moss also holds a lot of moisture, which means it can freeze in the winter and cause even more damage to your shingles. All of this means that you may very well have to replace your roof sooner rather than later. Moss can also divert water to other areas of your rooftop since it holds moisture, which can then make your roof deck very susceptible to leaks as well as wood rot. The moss tends to grow in between the shingles, which is also the last place water will evaporate from a rooftop as the weather warms up.
Signs of moss growth on your roof are pretty easy for you to spot, wood rot is not very obvious to a homeowner. This means you will not know how much damage has been done to your house or building until you have it examined by a roofing company.
Contact Us
To keep your roof free of debris and those harmful substances that can grow on your roof and cause damage, turn to the power washing professionals at Imperial Power Washing. Our power washing experts have the skills and equipment to ensure that your roof is clean and free of damaging elements. Contact us today for a quote!
