Roof Cleaning in St. Clair Township

Picture a rural home set beside a woodlot in the Pine River watershed, with the back slope of the roof under the trees. That slope dries hours after the front one, and the dark streaks running down it are a colony of algae, usually Gloeocapsa magma, which is commonly said, though not settled, to feed on the limestone filler used in shingles. Rain carries its spores down the slope, so the streaks widen from the top each season. A hose or a pressure stream takes off some of the color and leaves the colony in place, which is why rinsed streaks come back along the same lines. What kills the cells is a solution left on the shingles long enough to work.

Setting decides which slope streaks. On the dense strip of river lots along M-⁠29, houses stand close together, so a side slope can spend much of the day in the next roof's shadow. In River Ridge and on the golf-course streets around St. Clair Golf Club, such as Golfside Dr and Fairway Ct, check whichever slope a tree or a neighbor shades. Across the interior, west to the Columbus Township line, a slope that faces a stand of trees gets that shade plus leaves and twigs that hold water on the shingles. A slope open to farm field dries first.

Moss is the part that does damage. It is a thicker plant than algae, and a mat wedged under the tab edges holds meltwater against the joints. Water expands as it freezes, so each freeze pries those tabs up a little more, and a winter of thaws and freezes works the gap wider. On a slope beside trees, moss is the reason to treat before the next freeze rather than wait. A treated roof typically needs a repeat every three to five years, sooner on the shaded slope. Clear gutters help, because they carry the treated runoff away.

Stripped Granules and Water Under the Laps

Under a pressure stream, asphalt shingles shed the granules that shield their mat from sunlight, which ages the roof early, and the stream drives water under the laps toward the deck. On a slope under trees, branches drop twigs and leaves that hold water on the shingles, and walking that wet, mossy surface is risky for the worker and the shingles underfoot. ARMA's guidance is against fitting zinc or copper strips to a roof already in service, and strips leave existing growth alone.

When to Book Roof Cleaning in St. Clair Township

Book roof treatment for a dry spell with a dry forecast, so the solution has hours on the shingles before rain thins it. Late spring, ahead of the summer storms, lets those storms finish the rinse. Fall works too: right after the November gutter cleaning clears the leaf drop, and before the first hard freeze, the shaded slope is bare of debris and the runoff has open gutters to carry it.