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Guess what we got here
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Roof algae. What is it? Well, it's a microscopic organism that feeds off of calcium carbonate or powdered limestone
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that's in the asphalt shingles. Does it hurt the shingles? No. Does it mean you need a new roof? No
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But a lot of people have it and they want to clean it off. Some roofs also have regular green algae that comes from trees
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and things that are near the houses, well, there's a way to clean that off as well
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Here's what you do. The way to clean off roof algae is to go ahead and mix up some oxygen bleach with water
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It's a powder, it's safe, it doesn't take the color out of the shingles
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and it doesn't hurt the shingles or vegetation or anything else near your home
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What you do is put it into a pump sprayer, spray it on the roof
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and you need to keep the roof wet with a solution for about 10 or 15 minutes
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The oxygen bleach starts to go ahead and attack the roof algae and it does its best to kill it and take away the stains Take a scrub brush lightly scrub the shingles apply more solution if you have to to get
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a nice workable solution, and then once the shingles are clean, you go ahead and take a hose
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and just rinse the roof off. It's really that simple. Okay, this roof's going to need a second application, maybe even a third one, it was extra dirty
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Now there's a couple of safety tips I want to tell you about when working on a roof. of all, roofs are slippery. When you get them wet or even more slippery. And when you put
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oxygen bleach, even more slippery. So make sure you're very careful wear some good sturdy
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gym shoes that give you good traction. Also, try to work on the roofs when it's cooler. Maybe
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in the morning, on a cloudy, overcast day. Never try to work when it's extremely hot and extremely
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sunny. It makes the oxygen bleach evaporate too fast. Be careful if you're trying to clean
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roof algae off your roof. If you want to discover more home improvement tips, go to Ask the Builder.com
