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 )
I just did my roof today using pool chlorine 1 part and water 2 parts. Soaked the roof with pump sprayer and kept it wet with garden hose misting it. Im in FL and it is hot and sunny today. All the dark brown and black rinsed off in few minutes like you said. Quick and easy process.
Yesterday I tried Krud Kutter I bought at Lowes – $25 for two gallons. That stuff stained my shingles brown and did not work at all. Your method fixed everything. Thank you for great advice.
G
Awesome, glad I could help you out.
Great videos and Q&A info…outstanding Dominick.
Can we use a 5 gallon bucket & Wayne PC2 115-Volt 340 GPH Portable Transfer Water Pump, Bronze to send your mixed 3 gallon solution up onto the roof without having to climb up on the roof? I am not enthusiastic about climbing up on the roof.
Thank you so much. Is the pressure is there sure. However the SH will rust out the pump in no time. So make sure you clean it with water afterwards.
Was curious to know if using dishwasher dish soap would be better so you don’t have so many suds?
Sure you can. But don’t use any with bleach in it.
Thank you for your videos are very helpful! 🙌🏻
Thank you so much.
For clarification, here’s what I found at lowes:
(if you click to zoom in on the bottle’s picture, you’ll see at bottom left it lists “Sodium Hypochlorite” at 10%)
Yeah that’s only 10% and not good enough.
Try this http://amzn.to/2ENgUuy Or https://tools.askmediy.com/product/spray-forget-revolutionary-roof-cleaner-concentrate-1-gallon-bottle-1-count/
Question about clearing 2 years of moss and “stuff” from the roof…love the video… was in the mode to clean the roof 2 years ago, long story short, had cancer removal and was off my feet for about 2 years… and well… the roof needs help. I am not physically fit enough to scrub the roof, however, I an probably spray the roof … Here in Oregon, letting the rain was away the residual won’t be an issue, the question I have, this kills the moss and “over time” if left unattended.. mother nature should just “was the surface clean” right? or do I have to get someone to get up there with a broom? thanks
Hi, yes over time it will flake off. However moss can be a real bitch. A little help with a broom would be a big help. Glad to hear you’re better now.
Hi there
I am getting ready to do my shingle roof in florida and I want to know if I can use a 50/50 solution of liquid chlorine and water and then, add the dish soap. By the way, the tank I rented to mix it all up is 50 gallons. so how much dish soap should I use. any help would be great.
Thanks
Rick
Yes you could use 50/50 of SH and water. 50 gallons I use a small size to 50 gallons. Dawn works the best.
Thank you Dominick, what i meant was can you send me a link so I can purchase the machine used in the video. Not trying to bother you sir, just amazed at the results. Here in MA there are so many homes that look like this!
It’s been a few years and I don’t have those links anymore. And it’s not a machine per say. It’s a series of hoses, pumps, tanks and a gas power air compressor to power the air pump. It’s a few bucks for sure. What do you plan on doing with it? Just a roof here and there? or do you plan on doing many?
Hi, I’m in the UK and need to spray the moss on my roof (covered with rough Marley concrete roof riles).
I can only find SH in 14% (available chlorine) strength sold in 2.5 UK litre containers, so I’ve bought two.
Could you give me some help on how much SH, water and liquid dish soap to use since this is a stronger solution to mix up, for say one US gallons worth of cleaner solution at a time?
I don’t have a big capacity sprayer or containers, so will mix up smaller quantities about 2 or 4 UK litres as and when required. I’ll be able to convert to UK litres (using 1 US gallon = 3.78541 UK litres) but am unsure of the amounts since this is a higher strength.
Your website, videos and advice are really helpful.
Thanks in advance
Dave
14% very nice. Use it just the way I show. Maybe you could add a little water if you wanted to. But for the most part what I showed is for mold “black stains” So for the moss you would want something stronger anyway.
Hi Dominick, thanks for the quick reply.
I should have said before that I was referring to your video of “How to remove moss from a roof” on YouTube instead of the one on this page.
That shingle roof you cleaned in the video had a similar amount of moss as my concrete tile roof, like a carpet. In December I used a wire brush and scraped of the bulk of it so now want to spray to kill the rest off.
Would you say a third SH to two thirds water would work for my 14% SH and a squirt of dish soap? Or 50/50 mix? As you say, best to have a stronger solution so it works.
Also love your hose spray for the SH in that video, I’ve not been able to find anything similar in the UK to that.
Cheers
Dave
I would go with with a 50/50 mix. Just make sure you rinse very well. SH will kill everything in it’s path ie. plants and stuff like that. Yeah the setup my son uses is very cool. It uses air pumps with 300 feet of hose. Holds 200 gallons of SH and mixed per job right on site. And that whole system was made a designed by me. Took sometime to get it right.
What if you apply your mix to roof and get a surprise rain? What happens to plants with run off? Even if you soaked during or prior. Also, not having the gutters to bag to protect them. Here in Florida it happens a lot. Sometimes can rain in the back yard and not in the front yard.
No biggie really. As long as it’s a good rain and rinses it well you should be fine.