What Time of the Year Should You Clean Your Roof?
Your roof is doing a vital job all year of protecting you from the elements. This is most obvious when it’s cold, raining or windy, but even when we get a fine spell in summer, your roof is helping to keep your home cool. This makes keeping up its maintenance essential, including keeping it clean. But what is the best time of year to clean your roof?
Why Does Your Roof Need to Be Cleaned?
Whatever type of roof you have, it’s likely that you’ll find moss growing over it. This may look attractive, giving the roof an old-world feel — but don’t be fooled. It’s very dangerous for your roof if you leave moss on it.
This is because moss specialises in holding water in place and, while this is great on a mountainside, it can do a lot of damage to your roof. The water will rot and erode the roofing material, as well as pooling in the gaps between tiles. When it freezes, the ice expands and pushes the tiles apart, creating a hole for the rain to get through.
When Should You Clean Your Roof?
The short answer to the question of when to clean your roof is when it needs cleaning. Look up at your roof regularly, using binoculars if you need a closer examination, and if you see substantial patches of moss, don’t delay.
However, a particularly good time to think about cleaning is autumn. While moss can damage your roof at any time, winter is a particularly dangerous season, since that’s precisely when the pooling water is likely to freeze. So develop a habit of getting your roof cleaned in the autumn, at the very least, and then preferably in spring, too, to sort out the ravages of winter.
Don’t Forget the Guttering
Besides cleaning moss off the tiles or felt, your gutters and downpipes also need regular attention. Guttering can get clogged up with dirt, twigs and other debris, which can result in water spilling over and possibly damaging the foundations.
At the same time that you clean the main roof area, you’ll also need to clear out any material blocking your gutters and downpipes.
Get a Professional In
You might be tempted to save money and clean your roof yourself, but this can be risky. Quite apart from the dangers of working at height, we’ve too often seen amateur attempts to clean moss off actually doing more damage to the roof than the moss would.
Not only will a professional roofer do the job thoroughly, safely and efficiently, but they’ll also be able to look out for any essential repairs that might be needed. Give us a call if you want to know more about cleaning your roof. Want to know more about what forms of maintenance your roof typically needs? Find out here!
