Should I clean my roof?

The roof is an essential part of your home. It protects you from the elements and keeps your home safe from damp and temperature fluctuations. So it’s important to take the utmost care of it to prolong its life, especially as roof renovation or replacement is expensive. Cleaning your roof therefore has an economic purpose, as well as an aesthetic one.

Frequency of roof cleaning

How often you need to clean your roof depends on the nature of your roof, the region you live in and your immediate surroundings.

The deterioration of your roof is mainly due to the proliferation of moss, which is sensitive to the nature of the roof, which is more or less welcoming to vegetation, and to the climate of your region. You also need to take into account your surroundings, particularly the presence of trees that spread pollen, dead leaves and other plant pollution.

The main elements to focus on

Mosses and lichens are the main undesirable elements. They stick to the roof, retaining water and making it more porous. Dead leaves exacerbate this phenomenon, as do the needles of certain coniferous trees, whose acidity damages the coating of your roof elements.

You should also remove any broken branches that may get caught between the tiles or shingles.

Gutter maintenance

As well as cleaning the roof, gutters and downpipes need to be maintained to ensure that rainwater continues to drain efficiently. Dead leaves and other debris that pile up or stagnate need to be removed, especially after autumn, when the wind blows them away.

The ecological consequences

As well as the cost, the environmental impact is also a factor in calculating how often you need to clean your roof. You’ll be using a lot of water, as well as products to remove moss and encrusted dirt. Even with environmentally-friendly compositions, it’s always best to limit the use of cleaning products. So only use cleaning solutions when really necessary.

The obligation to climb on the roof

It is essential to climb onto the roof to clean it. If a service provider offers to work from the ground, your cleaning will inevitably be botched. If you don’t want to do the cleaning yourself, you need to call in a professional roofer. Depending on the configuration of your house, he’ll use a ladder, scaffolding or a cherry picker in the most complicated cases.

Precautions to take when working on the roof

Before any work is carried out on your roof, you need to check that there are no faults. These could be in the roofing itself (cracked or broken tiles, loose shingles, etc.) or your roof structure, which could give way under the weight of the roof.

How do you clean your roof?

Your equipment will consist of a sprayer or high-pressure cleaner, which should be set up carefully and used at a safe distance so as not to damage your tiles or other roofing components.

N.B. If you have a water tank to collect rainwater, don’t forget to disconnect it so as not to pollute it with your cleaning product.

• For a very dirty roof, start by manually removing large items: branches stuck in the tiles, clumps of moss, etc.
• Start at the ridge of the roof and work your way down, using your sprayer to clean in the direction of the tiles or shingles.
• Apply the spray to the more complicated areas: chimney caps, decorative elements, etc.
• Remove any debris that spills into the gutters.