[Tosh]

A customer of mine, an elderly lady, was canvassed and quoted £4000 for the cleaning of her roof.

It's a terraced house approximately 14 feet in width and the roof is covered in moss.

When she said she couldn't afford 4K, the price was dropped to 2K (sounds a bit rogue trader(ish) to me), so she declined in the face of a hard sell.  I mean I bet she could get her house re-tiled for about 6K; maybe?

So she's asked if I can do this.  I can't... yet; maybe! 

I know a little bit about the subject, the roof has to be pressure washed, and then some 'coating' has to be applied to prevent the moss growing back, but do any of you lads do roof cleaning as an add-on?

I told her I'd find a bit out about the subject and if I can't do it, try and find someone who can; someone whose not a cowboy.

What - if anything - can you tell me about the subject?

[Roy Harding]

They did a load of houses in monmouth about 8wks ago looks a good job.

But heck thats good monney.

Roy

[dave0123]

you dont pressure wash! a tiled roof : water gets underneaf the tiles and from the pressure can come through into the loft.

your sposed to use water and brush off the moss you mite think it wont come off but thats what the roofers do!! how do i know?? my brother is one

[Richy L]

i think ive seen the guys you're talking about Tosh.

It is ok to pressure wash if you know what you are doing. I've done this type of thing, but only on a low roof, and once. But i haven't painted it after.

The guys i think you are talking about do it all with a pressure washer.

If you brush it it will not get clean enough to paint.

I'd be happy to sub for you to pressure wash it, then you could paint it after me.

[dave0123]

so to use a pressure washer properly you have to get onto the roof otherwise you jet wash from the bottom of the roof all water is just going to go under the tiles

[Richy L]

yep.
using a ladder to get on the roof, then a roof ladder to move up and down the roof.


... short of that, you will need scaffolding, or a cherry picker, which will pump the price up way too much.

[Tosh]

Dave,

I assume that's the method; Wor Lass has seen this done; but not me.  I'd guess it needs to be pressure-washed from the top downwards; using the washer at an angle so the water doesn't get underneath the tiles.

Rich,

If you're confident you can do the job, I may take you up on your offer, once I find out more about what's involved to do a good job.

[Richy L]

great.

If you want to give me the address, i can have a look at it, and give you a definate price. my email is richard@leeksons.com and you know my phone number.

Let me know!

Cheers

Richy

[groundhog]

One of my customers neigboors had this done, a fair sized 4 bed detached, they paid £5000!!! 3 spotty teenagers did the work in a day! I can't remember the name of the company but they are a large double glazing business who do this as a sideline. They presure washed it and then sprayed it with some kind of anti fungal spray, looked ok but had stripped all the colour off of the tiles!

[Captain Scarlet]

I have a friend who power washes and he has some sort of roof tool that allows the washer to clean the roof with pullies or something, the nozzle of the power washer is a spinning type so it gets the whole surface area, Luke

[rosa]

my god i had my roof fixed and re tiled ( put my slates back) for 5k!!

[Captain Scarlet]

That really should be on Rogue Traders!!

[Rob_B]

http://www.mypressurewashers.com/OnlineStore/tabid/76/CategoryID/14/List/1/catpageindex/7/Level/a/ProductID/145/Default.aspx

I think you want one of these. Also, I'm sure I read somewhere that if you put copper along the top of the roof it stops moss growing back. Something to do with the copper affecting rainwater which kills off moss and stops it growing back as it runs down the roof. Not 100% on that but i think it was someone on here that offers this service to their customers. Its maybe on the pressure washing board.

http://www.pitchwitch.com/ i think this is the same one

[Captain Scarlet]

Yes, thats what my friend was talking about, Luke

[Rob_B]

http://www.copperridge.co.uk/

This is the copper thing.

This link is the post I was talking about. Its on another forum so I'm not sure it will work.
http://www.another forum.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2.2/YaBB.pl?num=1151526923

[Captain Scarlet]

links to other forums dont work, Luke

[Londoner]

I know an old lady who was quoted £80 to have her windows cleaned by some dodgy rogue trader. She lives in a typical 50s council house with the small flat windows.

There is no reason to clean moss off a roof except from the appearance. Despite what roofers and these dodgy roof cleaners tell you it doesn't cause the tiles to lift. it grows on the surface not under the tiles. 

[Davo]

So what would be a fair price  to clean moss off a full roof, done with the correct tools and safety equipment?

Anyone on here do that job for £400?


Mark

[Londoner]

The problem is getting onto the roof legally and safely. Once you are up there it probably wouldn't take much time . But even at £200 a day to hire the scaffolding its not going be four grand!

[Roy Harding]

The guys that did it in Monmouth, used ropes and absailed up and down the roof.

Roy