I can't believe this is the first time I have encountered it, but I got a job last night at a house that is sided with stained cedar. It is a cape cod with multiple roof peaks and dormers. So I will have to contend with the cedar siding on the sides of the dormers and the different roof peaks. My concern is what the apple sauce will do to the siding. The people are selling the house and I need to make sure that my job is perfect. What have you guys done to protect the siding?
My initial thought was to take some kind of tarp/plastic sheeting and cover the siding on the dormers with that.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be most appreciated!
Thanks,
Brian
-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Monday 15th of June 2009 01:53:14 PM
-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Thursday 3rd of September 2009 09:48:37 AM
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104
The main body of the house is not a problem to do that with, but if I try to keep the siding wet at the dormers, the roof is going to get wet and the cleaning solution will not be effective. That is my biggest concern. There doesn't seem to be any way to really wet down the siding on the dormers without getting a lot of water on the roof.
Brian
-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Monday 15th of June 2009 09:56:58 AM
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104
If it is only that small section your concered with then it will not be a PITA. Your Roof Cleaning mix will still work on a wet Roof. Wet the siding, Spray the Roof, let it sit a minute or 2 and then rinse the siding again. You May or May not have to repeat this a couple of times but the Roof WILL come Clean and the siding will be fine. Is this a Roof that you can walk? Walking the Roof would pretty much make this problem of yours go away. Got any pics?
I do plan to walk this roof. I did not get a chance to take pics. I was on my way home from a weekend vacation when I got the call. I stopped on the way home. I had planned on using a spot cleaner all around the dormers to try to keep any overspray down. There are a total of six dormers on the front and back of this house. There is even some moss growing about 12" out from the one dormer so I will have to hit it pretty hard with the mix. I'll try keeping the siding wet and using the spot sprayer around it. I'll just take my time and be careful.
Thanks for the reply! I tend to obsess with worrying sometimes. I just don't want to have any problems when I am done. Love to see people's faces when they see their roof clean for the first time in years. I don't want to see disappointment because I messed up their siding - See how I obsess about it! Brian
-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Monday 15th of June 2009 11:45:45 AM
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104
lol good advice Larry. That cedar stain and wood would be all spotty after some love hit it with no pre-wetting. This was a good one to be concerned about Brian. You have done your due-diligance and sought out the expert advice before any mistakes were made....Good work and good luck brother!!
Bill, How are things going down in Baltimore. You seem to be my closest neighbor on the board. I'm only about 45 minutes from Baltimore.
I have this job scheduled for Sunday (Happy Father's Day to me!) I will have to make sure I post before and after pictures. This will be the worst roof I have had to do yet.
There is also a small amount of algae growing on the cedar siding about 8 inches up from the roof on a few of the dormers. I would like to get that cleaned up after the roof is done. Any suggestions for getting that off of stained cedar siding? I don't have to get it off, but I would feel better about the job appearance when I left.
Thanks for the input!
Brian
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104
Brian, do you do any actual Pressure Cleaning/Pressure Washing? If so then your familiar with down streaming. Just downstream some SH and Soap mix on the surface. The mold and algae will melt away. follow up with a lite rinse.
i used a piece of cardboard and held it up as i spot srayed with a 1.4 gpm sprayer with adjustable tip put it on fan spray kept it coverd and it turned out great
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Advanced Roof Cleaning L.L.C Nathan Johnson (859)585-0715
If you can walk that roof, then it will not be a problem at all. Use a 1515 nozzle, and take a 4x4 piece of plywood or OSB with you. Hold the plywood in one hand up against the dormer and spray the roof with the 1515 nozzle. Should take all of 1-2 minutes to completely safeguard the problem.
The roof went well yesterday. It took a lot longer than expected. The moss was much worse than it appeared from the ground. Heavy moss is a completely different animal. It all turned white and I made sure that I hit it a second time before I left. I will be curious to see how long it will take before it starts to fall off of the roof. I have never encountered moss like that before.
I wet down the siding on all of the dormers before we sprayed and I also used a very large piece of cardboard for extra protection. Everything went well. The roof was still very wet when we left because the property is so shaded so I didn't get any decent after pictures. I will get some after a few weeks when the moss starts to fall off.
I didn't even attempt to clean the moss from the siding of the dormers. When I got up on the roof, the siding was in pretty bad shape. It had quite a few rotten sections at the shingle line. I didn't want to stress the wood any more than it already was.
Thanks again Larry for your help.
Here are a few pictures. The left side of the front was the worst part. I will get some better after pictures, with a dry roof, when I go back in a few weeks.
By the way, the broom was used to sweep off the 10,000 sticks that were covering the back roof. Gotta love walking on a roof that is covered with sticks.
-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Monday 22nd of June 2009 11:25:01 AM
-- Edited by theroofcleaners on Monday 22nd of June 2009 03:31:17 PM
Great job on Cleaning that Shingle Roof Brian. You're right. That Roof did have a lot of moss on it. It WILL dry up and come off with a few good hard rains. Looks like they could have used a good House Washing with all that mold going on their. Did you try to up sell the Pressure Washing on the House? I think it's time to get rid of all that Mold on the siding before it eats all that wood up. Your welcome for the help! That's what we are all here for!
FYI...Brian,,,Try to keep a Blower around for Roofs that have a lot of Twigs and Leaves on them. It's a lot faster to blow it off and it won't damage or loosen the granules on the Shingles like a broom will.
It's funny. The people are selling that house. In fact it is sold with a contingency of the buyers selling their other house. The current home owner was only concerned with getting the roof clean so that the home inspector didn't tell the buyer that they needed a new roof.
The damage was already done on the siding. That moss had eaten away at that siding for a long time. In fact quite a bit of the siding that had moss on it was completely rotten. There were some holes where you could see right into the house wrap. That is why I didn't try to clean that siding off. I didn't want to disturb it. I was afraid it would fall apart around the dormers and the siding above the garage roof.
Blower had the day off. It was resting nicely in the garage where we forgot it. Three of us looked at it multiple times and still forgot it
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104