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We have small patches of ugly green moss or liken growing on the asphalt shingles of our roof that I would like to kill without damaging the roof.
Could you tell me how to get rid of the moss without damaging the shingles? The roof is only 10 years old and I don't want to replace it just yet.
Thanks! |
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Easy! Zinc is great for killing moss on roofs, but it won't actually remove it. Pick up zinc strips from your local home center, and carefully lift the second row of shingles down from the ridge. Slip this zinc strip and nail so it just sticks out about half way. Do this all along the roof from one end to the other. That should stop it from coming back for 10+ years. Now make a weak solution of bleach and water and spray the active moss / liken. Brush off with a stiff ish broom being carefull not to damage the shingles.
Good luck!! |
| I have been toying with different ways to remove, fungus, moss, algae, lichen and find that there a lot of people online trying to sell a product for that purpose. How they work ? Oxalic Acid seems to be a better choice than a chlorine bleach. Zinc strips supposedly prevent a come back once it is cleaned up. A Zinc Powder or a stronger liquid zinc chloride solution can pose threats to vegetation on the ground, but work much faster. A copper sulphate solution works faster than the zinc strips and supposedly is less threatening to ground vegetation. They also make a pottasium based fatty acid solution that is supposed to just affect the moss but not any other vegetation but how effective it is on the roof moss is questionable. I'm going to try a product soon this fall and will post results. |
Which product are you going to try? One of the powders, liquids or the zinc strips?
Keep us posted ! |
| The powder or the liquid. I need quick results as I am doing it for myself first and then I have a few neighbors that I willing to pay for my services to do the same fot their roofs |
So far my experiments have shown that oxalic acid does indeed kill the moss without damaging the roof shingles. I didn't rinse it off but applied it a day before it rained. It seems as time goes on that the roof moss disappears. Speeding the process up means removing the heavier moss with a nylon brush. My experiment house has been having a history kept with pictures at a site that I just started.
Of course the winter will end the experimenting for now, but I have picked up a few customers willing to give it a try. I question the possibility of using a swimming pool shock and applying it in the early morning on a predampened roof. Reason being is that bright sun breaks down the chlorine. So apply it, let it work, let the sun break down the chlorine and rinse it off the next day, unless it rains and this should protect the foliage below. WE SHALL SEE. http://www.pete-moss.com |
I was up on my roof looking at the moss on the roof and I accidentally sat down with a screwdriver in my pocket, and ripped a little hole in the flashing of my sky window.
So I went to the local home center and bought some really expensive two part filler of some sort. I was going to mix it up in my garage so that I could use it tomorrow, but somewhere in the back of my mind I remember reading on the internet (so it must be true) that you can't mix a two part resin when there is about to be a full moon. I looked out my window and there it was, a full moon. But I can't seem to find that page anymore.
Do I rememebr it right that there is a reason that the resin wouldn't work right based on there being a full moon? What if I did it during the day instead, or if it is cloudy? |
Those are good questions... maybe the pete-moss guy help if he wanders by this thread. 
Good luck. |
| Well the full moon has gone by so my reply is a bit late. I have never heard about the resin and the moon. But I have heard of the man in the moon and the cow jumping over the moon and once in a while howling at the moon. Resin is funny stuff. I think I would use a little plastic roofing cement, there are almost as many uses for it as duct tape |
That was funny!!
I agree about the plastic roofing cement. To fill a small hole it is perfect! For a larger hole make sure it is fiber reinforced so it won't crack.... |
| Remember that all these products used or at least stated above work to some degree, you must be licensed to apply outside your own residence. Also water ways for fish and habitat creates large fines… |
