Why should I clean my roof? This is a very important question to consider when contemplating home maintenance. The obvious answer is for the dramatic curb appeal a clean roof can have on a home.
Our homes are a direct representation of ourselves. People do take notice. This is especially true if you are considering putting your home up for sale.
Most potential buyers take notice of the condition of the roof, as they are well aware of the cost of its replacement. A dirty roof is very easily perceived as a roof in need of replacement. This perceived cost to the buyer is often then negotiated into the price of purchase, which could mean thousands of dollars off the asking price.
Studies suggest as many as 50 precent of homeowners will determine if their roof needs to be replaced based on appearance alone. This is a bad way of deciding to replace a roof.
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The weather in Hawaii is so wet and humid, that we are very susceptible to mold, moss and many other forms of bacteria infesting our roofs and home exteriors. The most predominant form is known as Gloeocapsa Magma, aggressively spreading through the Islands and causing black streaking and darkening many roofs in Hawaii.
Mike Wedge of Envirowash Hawaii LLC, Hawaii’s only Soft Wash certified roof and exterior cleaning company said, “It’s not old, it’s mold, and it can be eradicated for a fraction of the cost of replacement.”
A second reason to wash your roof is to cut down on the amount of energy it takes to cool your home. This is a very simple concept to grasp.
The darker the roof is, the hotter the house is. Temperatures in a roof darkened by mold can rise by as much as 30 percent. This heat is then transferred into the home’s ventilation system, which travels throughout the house, making temperatures in the home rise significantly, and making the cost of cooling the home rise as well.
It also makes your air conditioning units have to work much harder, which can lead to repairs and a shorter life span for the units. Another reason for cleaning your roof is to get the most time out of your roof.
The mold on your roof is feeding on it. When roofing manufacturers replaced the asbestos used in shingles in the ’70s with limestone, they did not realize the effect it would have on the spread of mold throughout many of the more humid states in the country.
The limestone in the shingles provides a steady food source for the mold. This is a direct cause of the infestation we are seeing throughout Hawaii. The mold colonizes on your roof and lays down an extensive filament root system, which causes cracking and fissures and keeps the roof moistures at higher levels.
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This allows the more destructive mosses and lichens to settle in and further the roof deterioration. If left untreated, you could lose as much as 50 percent of your roof’s expected life span. That’s several years and thousands of dollars in premature replacement costs.
Fortunately, there is a cost effective way to combat these concerns. Wedge said, “Because we know these molds and bacterias are living organisms, we know that this is a treatment process and not a cleaning process. You cannot simply pressure wash this problem away. You must achieve a 100 percent kill ratio to eradicate the problem.”
These are a few reasons for cleaning your roof. If you are thinking of cleaning it, contact a licensed and insured, certified Soft Wash roof cleaning company that will not blast away at your fragile roof with a pressure washer.
If you are considering roof replacement, contact a third party certified roof inspector, and if they determine that your roof does not need to be replaced, contact a licensed and insured certified Soft Wash roof cleaning company.
ENVIROWASH HAWAII LLC
contact // (808) 313-9000
web // envirowashhawaii.com
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