Here is a little background on how I started Roof Sparkle. A company that’s making cleaning products asked me if I could make a video for some of their cleaning products. Now I won’t go into details on who they are but they had a roof cleaner that involved the use of a power washer. A big red flag in my eyes. Being a contractor for years, I knew right off the bat that was a big no-no.
So the next question I asked myself what’s that black stuff on the roof. Well, it’s mold. And what kills mold, bleach right? Well, as true as that is bleach is only made up of 5-6% Sodium Hypocrite. And that’s great for your whites and around the house but not on your roof.
For the roof, you will need something a lot more powerful. Some of you may know it as pool shock. This is made up of 12% by weight “Sodium Hypochlorite”. But because it’s as thin as the water it will run right off the roof and not really have the time (five minutes) to do its job. So we have to thicken up a bit. The best way, add some liquid dish soap to the mix to help the SH stick to the roof for more than one second. You can go into any pool supply and ask for a gallon of shock, for about $4.00 per gallon. This is just a heavy-duty version of household bleach. And no Walmart does not sell this or the big box stores. This method will remove algae from a roof.
Now, of course, we buy it from the manufacturer and by the truckloads at a time.
Applying It
When we started we used a regular bug sprayer. Use a three gallon pump sprayer, use one gallon of SH and two gallons of water (H2O) add about 4 oz. of liquid dish soap and spray from the roof top working your way down.
DON’T
- clean your roof when it’s super hot out in the baking sun. It will kill the SH and dry before it’s clean.
- Don’t touch the SH with bare hands. Wear gloves and eye protection.
- Don’t spray your roof down first with water to cool it off.
Comments ( 173 )
Hi I couldn’t find the liquid form of Shock so I got the crystals form in small bags. It is called Dazzle and it is for shocking pools. Is this useable and what are the ratios for this stuff?
It must be a liquid pool shock (SH) there is no there choice. Anything else will be extremely dangerous to use.
Thanks for the great info!
Always my pleasure.
Do you rinse the solution off and how long do you wait?
You can. For the most part we don’t. However if your roof comes clean in under five minutes then it’s to strong. So then yes you would rinse it. Five minutes is a good number to go by and then you don’t need to rinse it.
I finally found the SH 12.5, but I’m TERRIFIED to get on the roof! So I thought I would get a hose-end sprayer? Now I cannot figure the calculations to keep the mixture ratio correct? The biggest I could find was a 36 oz. any ideas on how to do this, or not possible?
It’s really not, sorry.
What is the major difference between using Sodium Hypochlorite vs. Calcium Hypochlorite… other than one is sodium and the other calcium, will they have the same effect?… and you did specify using liquid , not mix your own from dry right?
Calcium comes in a dry form. SH does not. Calcium won’t do a thing as far as cleaning a roof. So yes you must use a SH.
Want to make rood cleaner I see 1 gal to 2 gallons water. I’d like to run this though a downstream chemical injector as my roof is way to tall and steep to get on it. Do you know what the ratio should be?
Same, just add a bit more soap so it will hang there longer
Thank you for the video! My fear is that the roof will stain. I am more concerned about the shingles than the grass.
What kind of dish soap is the best to use?
Thank you.
Any good thick one without bleach in it.
Dominick,
Thanks for the great information on the moss removal. There is so much information available on the net I really appreciate your straight forward approach and advice. I am trying to decide between your method or using oxygen bleach cleaners with sodium percabonate & soda ash. Have you ever used these types of cleaners? Also what do you recommend for preventing moss from coming back?
There is no option when it comes to SH and Oxygen bleach. SH is the only way. And no, I’ve tried everything. Either too dangerous or they just don’t work.
Look for my video on how to prevent moss. You would use copper flashing.
When is it advisable to rinse vs no rinse, or is it safe to never rise. Doesn’t the dry material left on roof have a chance to leach heavy amounts of product in a rainstorm to down spouts after the initial appl, and plant lawn heavy rinsing has been done. Also could you repeat a few appls during the day for stains etc with no ill effect. Thanks for your input and bty GREAT SITE
Thank you. It really depends on how dirty your roof is. The SH will die once the heat gets to it. So no worry there. With the first app if the roof is clean, leave it. Gives better protect if you leave it on.