How To Clean Mold Off Of Roof Shingles

How to clean mold off a roof.

How to clean mold off of roof shingles.

Then use a long handled brush to scour the surface of the shingles and loosen stuck on mold while it s dry and brittle. Mold stains can form on roof shingles that are in permanent shade. Mold won t form on a roof because it s allergic to sunlight and as soon as the ambient temperature surrounding the mold becomes dry the mold dies. But once the algicide wears off your roof hosts an all you can eat buffet for the neighborhood algae spores.

These stains will discolor your roof and damage the shingles over a period of time if left alone. It should be picked up swept off or blown off regularly to avoid facilitating the growth. Mold or mildew makes black ugly streaks on a roof. To clean mold off a roof start by putting on rubber gloves a breathing mask and goggles to protect yourself from the harsh cleaning chemicals.

The debris including fallen branches and leaves provides a moist environment for moss and algae. Prevention makes stain cleaning much easier later on. Oxygen bleach lightens stains as well and is less harmful to the environment but it doesn t produce as immediate or dramatic an effect as chlorine bleach. Extensive mold growth can also expose the interior of your attic or crawlspace to mold spores carrying the problem over to the inside not to worry though because you can clean the mold off with basic household bleach and save.

Using shingles that have been treated with algicide keeps the growth at bay for about 10 years thus the 10 year algae warranty. Moss those green feathery clumps you may see forming on the roof is a different type of plant and isn t the same thing as algae or mold. Commonly found in climates with warm humid summers it does no damage to the roofing but it certainly does looks bad. Tackle the gutters too so that water drains freely.

A mixture of trisodium phosphate tsp bleach and water will also remove stains. So it pays to clean your shingles as soon as you spot algae growth. The black mold like stains and streaks that appear on roofs particularly light colored asphalt shingles is actually a blue green algae gloeocapsa magma. Algae is a single celled organism while moss is not.