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Ray, just add the extra time into your bid. Any large clumpy moss which will typically be on the north face needs to be carefully removed. The little stuff is much more difficult and not worth the effort. Also, if you dont remove it first, the big stuff needs to be filled with the mix or it will not kill the roots(remove it first) it will generally take 1 to 2 hours.

Thanks Eric and Chris,

Where I am we get a lot of moss on the North Side of the roof. The job I did over the weekend, had it almost an inch thick.  As I said, I hit it with the love and let mother nature take it off. I have done this now three times in the same neighborhood. I am getting work out of it!  Anyway I am hoping to continue to leave it and just spray.  Can you tell me the reason why you would take it off the roof before?  I am afraid I may damage a roof in the process of removal. By the way, what do you use to remove it?

Thanks once again,

Ray

Mother nature is sure fickle.  Sometimes she rains when I want it. This summer has been short on rain. The roofs I have done, I have told the customer it will take a few hard rains to see the moss wash off.  I explain that the moss is dead and it is safer for it to wash off with the rain.  The only problem is that the roof looks dirty until the dead moss rinses off. 

My problem is that with moss, I use much more love to kill it.  If I put enough on it turns white quickly and then it's dead. I find that I am sometimes using twice as much solution than I expected.  I guess as I get a better feel for it, I will have a better idea of what to charge. 

Any advise on this topic?

Thanks

We get TONS of moss on the roofs around the Maryland and Delaware area. The worst part is it may look bad at first, then when you hit the entire roof you see that the little specs that you were not able to see before are now covering the entire roof! If I left a roof to be finished by mother nature I would most likely not get paid. I find it better to bid the roof accordingly, and take and extra guy with you.
1st spray the roof top to bottom as you normally would,(the moss will soak up alot of the mix and you will not get much runoff)
let that sit until its nice and white,(if its still yellow hit it again)
now for the fun part.
If the roof is flat enough we will push broom inches of this moss off the sides of the roof, that makes the biggest difference. If you can't walk the roof, give one guy a hose on a ladder and another guy will run fresh water through the pump with a zero nozzle and start at the top and work your way down.. And you can charge accordingly for these jobs, as they will need a new roof very shortly if they do not go with you.

My whole thing is leaving the roof looing brand new when im done, not 3 weeks or months out.. I want it to be that way to when the neighbors home home and see my yard sign, they say wow that roof was messed up! Not, hmm they got the roof cleaned and now it looks like it snowed....

I agree. Leaving a moss or lichen covered roof to mother nature is a sure way to not get much business. The roof will look worse after the cleaning. Then, if you tell the homeowner it will take 6-8 weeks for it to die and fall off they may ask what is the difference then between what we do and what they can do with store bought wet and something. Same result. Spray it on and wait for mother nature.

Thanks guys,
We get a lot of moss up here in Rhode Island. I did another job this week with a bunch of moss and rinsed it after. I did not feel it was as good as I wanted it to be when I left the job. The customer was happy, but I thought that it should look super clean. Any experience besides scrubbing?

Eric SCHNAIBLE wrote:

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Geographical circumstances are not all the same. A knowledgeable professional in Florida has no idea what a newbie in Oregon or Washington is dealing with. That is obvious when you read some of the comments in various streams. Chris has always been aware of that which I appreciate. This is my experience ( and I guarantee nobody has more experience in my service area) Most large clumpy moss should be removed first, it comes off easy with virtually no granules. When you treat the roof, yes, any remaining moss should receive enough solution to fill the sponge like moss. After dwelling it can be rinsed for removal. The idea that all moss and lichen will go away on its own with rain etc is wishful thinking. That may be the case in the service area they serve. We have certain implements we use depending on the surface.

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 This is 100% True, because we rarely seem Moss down here in Tampa, and when we do, it is no where near as thick and hard to remove as the Moss our roof cleaning brothers see in other places.

Kevin from Peak Of Perfection Roof Cleaning lives up in Washington state www.deadmoss.com. He is active on our new forum, and deals with that crap all the time.

As you do Eric 

We just did a large house with a 12:12 slope roof this week that was covered in moss in addition to the usual algae and lichen. To make a good presentation, we rinsed the moss off the front side of the house. We explained to the HO that nature will take care of the rest of the moss given enough time. Otherwise we would be there for days just rinsing. We spent five hours on the job!

Advantage Roof Cleaning wrote:

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We just did a large house with a 12:12 slope roof this week that was covered in moss in addition to the usual algae and lichen. To make a good presentation, we rinsed the moss off the front side of the house. We explained to the HO that nature will take care of the rest of the moss given enough time. Otherwise we would be there for days just rinsing. We spent five hours on the job!

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 I went back to the house a week later after a good rain. Much to my pleasant surprise most of the moss, on the back side of the roof we did not rinse, was already gone. Given more time it will all be bye bye.