Slate Roof Washing in St. Louis, MO

On this project, we were hired to clean a slate roof that had some gloeocapsa magma (the black stuff you see on dirty roofs) starting to build up on it. Slate roofs clean up extraordinarily well and having them washed routinely will greatly extend the life of the slate shingles. This property in particular had a koi pond near the roof I was washing, so I had to be extremely careful to not let any of my roof wash chemicals enter the pond. Koi fish are extremely sensitive to the roof-wash chemicals. In order to make sure nothing leaked into the pond, I placed a tarp over it and bagged the ends of the gutter downspouts to collect and dispose of any chemical runoff. The results of this roof wash were immediate and they were instantly satisfying.

While I was there, my customer also hired me to clean out all the gutters and some stone siding that also had some organic growth built up on them. By applying the same roof wash solution to the stone and letting it break down all the growth, I was able to safely softwash the rest off with my pressure washer. When cleaning vertical surfaces, it is important to not use too much pressure because it can damage the surface and cause a costly repair. The gutters were extremely packed all the way around. There were a lot of trees on his property that were very close to the home and gutters. After cleaning them and showing him the before and after pictures, I recommended he either have me clean them on a routine basis of at least twice a year or have me install gutter guards on them to prevent such heavy buildup.

Service provided: Roof Cleaning

Location: St. Louis, MO