Spring cleaning of your House Top

[your_comforting_company]

Usually the March winds are strong enough to blow any debris off your roof. Sometimes your roof has valleys or areas where debris tend to cling. This can create several problems.

Debris piles will collect sediment and dam up the waterflow. It only takes a small dam to make water back up under shingles. It doesn't have to reach the top of a shingle, only the nails, which are usually only an inch or a little more above the bottom of the shingle which covers them.

Let me stress this.. A Nail makes a HOLE in the shingle. It also makes a direct link from the outside of your roof, to the inside. I wouldn't think I need to make it any clearer how important it is, to clean your roof of any debris that may be lingering from fall.

You may think of a broom as a tool of choice for cleaning off the debris, but you are wrong! Shingles have a layer of gravel on their exposed surface. It provides color, sure, but it also reflects the UV rays of the sun which will make your shingles brittle and age more quickly. Aged shingles are more susceptible to wind damage. Sweeping your roof will loosen and likely remove a lot of the gravel. Not a good idea unless you want to have to replace your roofing at half it's age. Roofing is now more than twice the cost of what it was when I started roofing on my own several years ago.

Shingles that stay wet WILL grow fungus. I've taken off roofs that haven't been cleaned in years, and found all sorts of things growing up there. From oak trees to vines. I've seen roots growing THROUGH roofs into attic spaces. This is not going to help your roof last it's expectancy. Most shingles today are treated with chemicals to deter such activity, but there is no guarantee against such moist conditions. I've seen storage sheds, pumphouses, and workshops that were neglected literally torn apart by roots and vegetation.

A soft plastic, or spring-loaded metal yard rake is a much better option. Don't be aggressive with it, and it will remove the largest parts of debris without damaging your roof. If your hands are pretty tough, They are the BEST option, but everybody can't have hands with 1/2" thick callouses like mine, so the next best option is the rake.

I might also add that a rooftop is not the safest place for the uninitiated. I can hop around on them, even really steep ones, like a playing puppy, but I've been on housetops for as long as I can remember (Literally.. I was raised up in roofing. It's been a family business for 40+ years, probably close to 50).

If your roof is very steep, or you don't feel safe doing it, hire someone to clean your roof. One mis-step can cripple you for the rest of your life. Nobody should charge more than 25-50 bucks for removing the debris on even the largest of houses. It's a small price to pay to protect your investment.

• Places where adjacent roofs meet at angles create "valleys". Debris loves to pile up in valleys.
• Any tangent roofs, like porches at a lower pitch will have upright corners that have (or at least should have) metal flashing installed. These "dead corners" also like to collect debris.
• Roofs with a low pitch, usually less than 5/12 will not self-clean. They'll hang on to debris like grip-tape on a skateboard sticks to your shoes.
• Metal roofs are not as likely to hang on to debris, but still need to be checked around screws, valleys, and low-pitch areas for excess debris.

Normally a visual inspection from ground level is good enough. You may have to back way off to see it all. Might even have to go into your neighbors yard. March is our windiest month, and after Easter is usually when I go around, door to door and offer to clean off housetops for a very small fee. I usually get 10 bucks per roof, and can easily hit 20 houses in a day. (hopefully this year it'll get me back on my feet till steady work picks back up). As the March winds go out like a lamb and April showers move in It's important to do this visual inspection and routine maintenance.

Like my grandad always said: "Nothing under your roof can be better than what's on top of it. A leaky roof is Like a rotten floor, and even though it's the opposite of the foundation, It is part of what protects the foundation. If you don't have a good roof over your head, you really don't have anything under it that's any good, either."

Just a friendly reminder from your community roofer. Happy Homesteading!

[welderguy]

That is some good info, I bet a lot of people wouldnt think about that.

[crashdive123]

I use my leaf blower (on idle) to clean the roof.

[Badawg]

I am about ready for a new roof. I think I am going to go with metal or Polycarbonate as I have read that asphalt shingles leave a chem residue in collected rain water. So far I only use collected water for the garden, but it would be nice to use it elswhere.

[your_comforting_company]

A leafblower is a great alternative, but make sure you are blowing DOWN the roof.
Thanks for adding that bit, Crash. I forgot about those!
I've still run into some stuff that likes to stick, but a blower will get most, if not all, debris off the roof. What's left can be done by hand in most cases.

badawg, that's an excellent point. I tried to give you some rep, but I gotta spread it around. A lot of times we'll install gutter diverters to move the water into flower beds and such. I have seen folks store rainwater in barrels for use in gardens, which is also a great idea for saving a little on utilities. If you can raise the barrel so that it is gravity fed, that's another good option, but a full barrel is hard to move around. I have drip irrigation buckets set up and will just transfer the water to those from the barrel.

[Rick]

Good post, YCC, and very timely. I cleaned the gutters out yesterday and did a visual inspection on the roof. The little maple buds are dropping around here making quite the mess and those wind up in the gutters if they land on the roof.

[Winnie]

I don't have the shingle problem as my roof is Slate tiled. It's nearly that time for Winnie jnr to clear out the gutters though.