What is the first thing you think of when I say “spring cleaning”? The closet? Under your bed? Or… the garage? All totally perfect targets for a weekend spring cleaning project. But what about your roof? Does your roof need spring cleaning too? You bet!
Maintaining your roof in good shape and cleaned will help your roof do its job and live longer! So, after you’ve tackled the closet, the basement, and the garage, it’s finally time to clean your roof. What do you do?
Here is a quick checklist of points you can do to keep your roof well maintained and cleaned:
Important notice: As you’ll need to climb on a ladder in order to clean your roof, it’s important for us to ask you to take extreme caution and maintain all safety procedures while cleaning your roof. Unless you’re Spiderman, if your roof is more than 1 story high, we highly recommend calling a professional roofer out to clean your roof simply because falling from a two or three-story roof can hurt pretty bad!
The Roof Cleaning Checklist
- Clean off any debris from the top of your roof. One way to do this is to use a hose to spray down your roof. When doing this, do not stand on your roof and spray it down with water at the same time as the water can make your roof slippery. You can use your hose to spray down your roof while standing on a ladder. If you notice that your roof has some branches or some larger debris that would be too heavy to remove with water from your hose, you can use a rake or remove the bigger stuff and then spray your roof down with water.
- If you see mold or mildew on your roof, wash it down using one part water and one part bleach to clean off the mold or algae. Let the solution sit on your roof for about one hour and then rinse it off with a hose.
- Check your roof for any lost or missing shingles. If you find any shingles have gone missing we suggest calling a professional roofer to come and replace them properly so that any other signs of possible damage can be assessed and repaired in addition to the missing shingles. Also read, Should I Repair My Own Roof?
- While you are inspecting your roof for any lost or missing shingles, take a closer look at all your flashing and your chimney to ensure that nothing has come loose or that the flashing is still securely in place and not curling or bending. If you find that the flashing of your roof has been damaged, we suggest that you call a professional roofer who can come and repair it rather inexpensively.
- If a large branch has fallen on your roof, it should be removed right away. If the tree branch is very heavy, we suggest calling a professional roofer to have it removed and also to inspect the area of your roof where the branch fell to ensure it’s not been damaged.
- Check your attic for signs of water leaks or mold. Use a flashlight and ensure to inspect all the nooks and corners carefully to ensure you don’t miss anything. As mentioned in our article on How To Tell If Your Roof Needs Repair, if your attic’s temperature is much hotter than outside, this could be a sign of poor ventilation or poor roofing insulation and we suggest that you call a professional roofer to have it checked
- Lastly, check and clean the gutters and the drain pipes. A lot of leaves can build up in the gutters and drain pipes over the fall and wintertime in Florida. Especially during hurricane season. With a ladder, go up and ensure all your gutters are free of leaves and branches, and with a hose ensure water flows down your drain pipes without blockages.
Voila! Your roof is cleaned and ready for summer! As a last note, we also suggest that you walk around your house and have a look at the trees that hang over your roof and trim any branches or trees that could fall on your roof so that you don’t have to clean it again in a few months!
We hope this article has been helpful and never hesitate to call us should you need any help cleaning or repairing your roof: 727 781-7663