Exterior Cleaning
Roof Washing in Charleston, SC
The black streaks are algae — and the roof must never be pressure washed.
The black streaks are algae — and the roof must never be pressure washed.
Quick answer: The dark streaks on Lowcountry roofs are algae, and an asphalt shingle roof should never be pressure washed: high pressure strips the mineral granules that protect the shingles from UV, permanently. The correct method is a low-pressure soft wash that kills the growth and lets rain rinse it off. Southeastern Renovation soft washes roofs in the Charleston area, including North Charleston, and York County. Call (843) 718-8177.
High pressure strips the mineral granules off asphalt shingles. Those granules are the roof’s UV protection and a large part of its life, and once they have washed off they are not coming back. A roof cleaned with pressure can look excellent and have years taken off it.
The correct method is a low-pressure soft wash that kills the growth and lets weather rinse it. It looks slower and it is the only method that does not cost you roof.
The streaks themselves are cosmetic in the short term, but the growth holds moisture against the shingle, and anything holding moisture on a roof in this climate is not doing it any favors.
We take this work across greater Charleston, from Summerville and Goose Creek to Mount Pleasant, West Ashley and the sea islands, and on the York County side around Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Lake Wylie. More on our exterior cleaning services.
No, not an asphalt shingle roof. High pressure strips the granules that protect the shingle from UV, and that is permanent.
Anyone offering to pressure wash your roof is offering to shorten its life.
An algae that thrives in humid climates and feeds on limestone filler in the shingles. It is cosmetic at first, but it holds moisture against the roof, which is not something you want in this climate.
In this climate, eventually. Treatment kills what is there; the conditions that grew it are still the conditions.
Some roofs get zinc or copper strips at the ridge, which slows regrowth.