Here's before and after phots of my first attempt. It's my dad-in-law's house. He's 96 and living with us now, so there's nobody there and the roof is probably ten years past its useful life. The shingles are curled up and badly stained after probably thirty five or forty years. This is the ultimate test - no way we'll get it looking good, just better. A good experiment.
I don't have a regular SH supplier yet, so I got 12 gal of pool shock (12.5 percent) in gallon jugs. I added a 64 oz bottle of Arm&Hammer with Oxyclean and brought it up with water to 50 gallons in the solution drum. I sprayed a heavy coat on this side of the roof (about ten gallons) and waited 45 minutes. It looked good except for those really heavily stained areas that did not come off. I hit them again and we went to have breakfast. An hour later, they were still stained. I rinsed those areas and a lot of crap came off, but they did not come anywhere near clean. I did the whole roof again, a little lighter than the first time, and put up the equipment. That's when I took the second photo.
Three hours later the bad stains are still there. We left town, and I'll go back one day next week after it rains to see what happens. I am kind of disappointed. Am I expecting too much? Did I not wait long enough for it to "work" Or is something else wrong? What do you have to do in the case of those really, really heavily stained areas? A lot of the roofs in my area have these. They are COMPLETELY GROSS, very dark black, usually on roofs over ten years old, and every one of them on the side of the roof facing north.
I gave the aluminum siding a light covering of solution, and following Bruce Sullivan's instructions I washed it with a garden hose after ten minutes. It looks brand new. Twenty years worth of green and black mold and algae was instantly removed. Excellent!
I have been through about half the posts on the forum, so it's not like I haven't researched this. I have some ideas from all of that, but no definitive answers. Please weigh in. What did I do right, and what did I do wrong on my first roof?
Thanks so much.
I might go back in a couple days and find everything is hunky-dory, but I kind of doubt it.
Your mix seems a little weak. I would of had 15 - 18 gallons of 12.5% SH not to mention you don't know how long it was sitting on the shelf degrading in the store.
In a fifty gallon mix I use 15 gallons of 12.5% sh, well actually its about a 48 gallons I never can get it all the way full because of the soap bubbles. It works good. I buy fresh sh in 15 gallon pony kegs at a janitor store supply.
Huh. Janitor supply, 15 gal ponies. I'll check that out - there is a janitor supply place two miles from my door. I kind of wondered whether the stuff I was using might have been old. It looked amber, but smelled weak. Thanks.
Check put Univar and also google chemical suppliers in your area. You may have to do some digging but it can be found. Alright I did it for you... surf the web pages and make some calls. By the way DOW is in your area, a major manufactorer of SH.
Roof Cleaning Western Washington 360-783-2576 wrote:
In a fifty gallon mix I use 15 gallons of 12.5% sh, well actually its about a 48 gallons I never can get it all the way full because of the soap bubbles. It works good. I buy fresh sh in 15 gallon pony kegs at a janitor store supply.
Thanks for the tip in getting fresh SH at a janitor supply store. I would not have thought of that. I'll be calling the janitor tomorrow!
good to see that you are expermenting. I my self get my Sh from a comapny that sells industrial laundry equipment and dry cleaning equipment. I always get pretty feash Sh, I know the head guy there and they are excellent to us, (Helps working in the music Industry here) cause i use them also for our theatres.. any ways , when in doubt, mix a 40 gallon mix , 15 gallon sh to 25 h20 , alot of these guys are in florida on here so their Sh is a lot hotter,
Call me any time thru out the day, After 5 pm i'm usually at the theatre and wont take to many calls , we can go over a few things... dont trip to bad Neil!!! we will get you straight
dave
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Elite Roof Cleaners Roof Cleaning Missouri & Kansas City
We have had some of the same issues and always with white roofs. We started mixing stronger and adding TSP on all white roofs and have had no issues since.
Roof Cleaning Western Washington 360-783-2576 wrote:
In a fifty gallon mix I use 15 gallons of 12.5% sh, well actually its about a 48 gallons I never can get it all the way full because of the soap bubbles. It works good. I buy fresh sh in 15 gallon pony kegs at a janitor store supply.
Knock your soap bubbles down by misting them with isopropyl alchohol.
you were only at 25% SH ( or even a little less). I would have made a solution of 35%. All that stuff is dead and will come off with repeated rains, even the heavier stain on the left hand side. However a hotter mix would have made them disappear. Good luck!
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Ray Burke
Spray Wash Exterior Cleaning
850.528.3226
visit our website Soft Washing and Pressure Washing
After our conversation yesterday I am sure the new mix we talked about will cure the issue. As I have explained I have changed my mix completely and don't use any surfactant. Hardly ever have to do touchups with no run off. Your on the right track. Yes the benefits of premium membership.
Believe it or not the rain and ph levels Chris T has talked about has real truth and we had no clue until we did a nasty white tile roof, Randy worked the solution a few times, concentrated them more and more with each application. It was not working, finally he gave in, it was clean compared to before, but not the way we expected. Here are some photos during the process and when it rained , Viola! it was sparkling white. Blew him away and me too. I thought immediately about what Chris T has been saying, and needless to say it was a great thrill to see the results from the rain. The whole house pictures with the white roofs are before and after the rain the colors are eggshell white and then bright white.
Awesome to see the process finalized from the rain.
i still dont understand why the use of rubbing alchohol isnt that for cleaning out wounds on a person. I have tried it and do not see the difference except a horrible smell. i too have a totally different mix with just a pinch of surfacant but mine is under wraps.
Diamond Roof Cleaning New Jersey (1-800-Roof-Clean) wrote:
i still dont understand why the use of rubbing alchohol isnt that for cleaning out wounds on a person. I have tried it and do not see the difference except a horrible smell. i too have a totally different mix with just a pinch of surfacant but mine is under wraps.
Why is it still under wraps? It isn't cold up there right now. Wraps..Get it, get it? Oh man I crack myself up.
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Elephant Roof and Exterior Cleaning Raleigh North Carolina David Hoover 919-207-0666 Benson NC. Roof Cleaning Raleigh NC