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Cleaning roof tiles


Sheryl

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Hi, I put a new roof on 10 years ago, white tiles (concrete I think).  Now quite dirty with soot and blackish mold.

 

Can people advise best way to clean these without damaging the tiles? It's a a very large 2 story house so pressure cleaning is probably the easiest approach but how to ensure not too much pressure? 

 

Thanks in advance

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Here in Norway we use chlorine to kill moss on concrete roof tiles. Chlorine is also effective against mold. 

 

Try to use a mixture one part household bleach and 2-3 parts water and spray it on the mold when the sun isnt up. Cheap and effective, and doesnt damage concrete tiles. Be careful with the pressure washer, since the tiles might not have enough overlap to stop ingress of water. 

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10 hours ago, vaniljestang said:

Here in Norway we use chlorine to kill moss on concrete roof tiles. Chlorine is also effective against mold. 

 

Try to use a mixture one part household bleach and 2-3 parts water and spray it on the mold when the sun isnt up. Cheap and effective, and doesnt damage concrete tiles. Be careful with the pressure washer, since the tiles might not have enough overlap to stop ingress of water. 

 

thanks. I am aware of the benefit of using chlorine.

 

What I don't know is how to instruct the workers in use of the pressure washer so as to avoid cracking the tiles. (Distance? Are there settings? Etc)

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I can't imagine that a pressure washer of normal dimensions would damage roof tiles (unless they pick it up and drop it). The only things you can change on a washer are" distance from the object being cleaned and intensity of the jet. Just tell the guys to start with an open jet (not a direct, pinpoint jet) and see how it goes. It will be difficult to ensure that no water at all will penetrate between the tiles, but that applies during heavy storms anyway. 

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Just sprayed our roof ,only the downstairs roof,as cannot get on the roof too

high, sprayed it with bleach mixed with washing up liquid to make it stick,

it killed the black algae/moss or whatever it is ,

 

Just wanting it to rain now,I should have done it weeks ago when it was raining

everyday ,next month I will be getting the house painted ,so will get the workers

to clean the 2nd story roof and also paint it too ,

 

regards worgeordie

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2 hours ago, cooked said:

I can't imagine that a pressure washer of normal dimensions would damage roof tiles (unless they pick it up and drop it). The only things you can change on a washer are" distance from the object being cleaned and intensity of the jet. Just tell the guys to start with an open jet (not a direct, pinpoint jet) and see how it goes. It will be difficult to ensure that no water at all will penetrate between the tiles, but that applies during heavy storms anyway. 

Quit a bit of misinformation there.

 

Many pressure washers allow the pressure to be changed (mine normal one does), the cheapest one I have doesn’t (it was about 2,000) but then the pressure is lower. 
 

All pressure washers allow jets of different widths, I have  0 degrees to 60 degrees. I also have a rotating jet head along with a foam head for vehicle washing, and a drain cleaning head.

 

you can get heads that allow you to add bleach to the spray, this will kill off the algae so you can then clean off the roof after that with a regular pressure wash.

 

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

What I don't know is how to instruct the workers in use of the pressure washer so as to avoid cracking the tiles. (Distance? Are there settings? Etc)


if they are experienced there is no problem, but walking on the roof can damage the tiles, this is much more likely than the pressure washer damaging them. But give them some practice on your concrete walkway first 

IMG_1702.thumb.jpeg.2196cca3ccdf5914839a22070d029ce1.jpeg
 

But do be a little careful, pressure washers can clean off old paint and cut concrete, so can damage a poor condition tile.

 

Edited by sometimewoodworker
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40 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Quit a bit of misinformation there.

 

Many pressure washers allow the pressure to be changed (mine normal one does), the cheapest one I have doesn’t (it was about 2,000) but then the pressure is lower. 
 

All pressure washers allow jets of different widths, I have  0 degrees to 60 degrees. I also have a rotating jet head along with a foam head for vehicle washing, and a drain cleaning head.

 

you can get heads that allow you to add bleach to the spray, this will kill off the algae so you can then clean off the roof after that with a regular pressure wash.

 


if they are experienced there is no problem, but walking on the roof can damage the tiles, this is much more likely than the pressure washer damaging them. But give them some practice on your concrete walkway first 

IMG_1702.thumb.jpeg.2196cca3ccdf5914839a22070d029ce1.jpeg
 

But do be a little careful, pressure washers can clean off old paint and cut concrete, so can damage a poor condition tile.

 

Thank you. Can you suggest settings for:

 

1- pressure setting

2- jet width

And a brand of washer?

 

My hope was that using pressure  spray washer machine would remove need to walk on the tiles, is that not the case? 

 

Can't find any workers where I live with any exprrience doing this. I have a resident handyman who will do it with 1-2 helpers   So need to instruct them pretty clearly. 

 

Thanks!

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25 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Thank you. Can you suggest settings for:

 

1- pressure setting

2- jet width

And a brand of washer?

It very much depends on your future use caseIMG_1703.thumb.jpeg.5777703d0dbdb4a052ff0d68d33c4d07.jpeg

this will do to test the waters it will cost less than 2000 baht there are various different names on Lazada 

 

after that we spent over 20,000 with attachments for this, the base machine is about 16,000 but then there are extras.

25 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

IMG_1704.thumb.jpeg.03c1ec899e0e18f789e0fc6361fcc6e4.jpegIMG_1705.thumb.jpeg.962813d3946203f11997d98c3b1a9510.jpeg

 

25 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

My hope was that using pressure  spray washer machine would remove need to walk on the tiles, is that not the case? 

It depends on the size of the roof and the length of hose , with our 30 metre hose it’s no problem, bit the other one is 3~5 metres so not so easy 

IMG_1706.jpeg.f8717fd65bb57b1673fb231b4e7ba83a.jpeg

this is the baby one

25 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

2- jet width

Start with a 40 degree one (white) or a 65 degree one and practice on the ground first

IMG_1707.thumb.jpeg.f059710c0593565edca1f51c001a548f.jpeg
IMG_1708.thumb.jpeg.6af247db855503623cbcdb44835197b6.jpeg

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Pressure washers are great for cleaning cement tiles, the only problem is people walking on the tiles, together with moving the machine about. You must be sure you can still get hold of the tiles you have in case of breakages.

 

The pressure nozzle on most DIY machines is adjusted on the actual wand nozzle, can adjust when working, so no problem.

My washer is advertised at 150 bar, as yet, never broken anything with it...😊

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6 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

thanks. I am aware of the benefit of using chlorine.

 

What I don't know is how to instruct the workers in use of the pressure washer so as to avoid cracking the tiles. (Distance? Are there settings? Etc)

 

Before thinking of using a pressure washer, make sure that you have a secondary roof/membrane underneath the concrete tiles. Use a ladder and push up a tile to check whats underneath the tiles. Even if you instruct the workers to pressure spray downwards, and not upwards, water will always find a way through a tile based roof when high pressure is involved. 

 

Chlorine isnt harmful to your garden, its actually a macro-nutrient for plants. And it has a tendency to stay inside the concrete tile and reduce future growth. Stronger chlorine mixes are better. I use pool shock and make a mix right before I spray the roof with garden sprayer. With a strong chlorine mix, there is no need to use high pressure. And you can use this trick to clean dirty walls and outside concrete floors of growth for pennies. Sometimes household bleach is left in stores for years, and will greatly lose its potency, thats why pool shock is better value. And as other people in here have said, using a wetting agent like dish soap to reduce evaporation and increase contact time is a good idea.

 

If roof tiles get cracked from walking on them, they are very easy to replace as long as you have spare tiles on hand from the same manufacturer. Tiles dont crack because of water pressure, but the weight of a man can split them, as they are just made in a mold from sand and cement with no reinforcement. 

Edited by vaniljestang
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On 10/29/2024 at 1:30 PM, Sheryl said:

Can people advise best way to clean these without damaging the tiles? It's a a very large 2 story house so pressure cleaning is probably the easiest approach but how to ensure not too much pressure? 

Local builders are not known for their diligence. Cleaning the roof could cause you many problems.

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49 minutes ago, vaniljestang said:

 

Before thinking of using a pressure washer, make sure that you have a secondary roof/membrane underneath the concrete tiles. Use a ladder and push up a tile to check whats underneath the tiles. Even if you instruct the workers to pressure spray downwards, and not upwards, water will always find a way through a tile based roof when high pressure is involved. 

 

Chlorine isnt harmful to your garden, its actually a macro-nutrient for plants. And it has a tendency to stay inside the concrete tile and reduce future growth. Stronger chlorine mixes are better. I use pool shock and make a mix right before I spray the roof with garden sprayer. With a strong chlorine mix, there is no need to use high pressure. And you can use this trick to clean dirty walls and outside concrete floors of growth for pennies. Sometimes household bleach is left in stores for years, and will greatly lose its potency, thats why pool shock is better value. And as other people in here have said, using a wetting agent like dish soap to reduce evaporation and increase contact time is a good idea.

 

If roof tiles get cracked from walking on them, they are very easy to replace as long as you have spare tiles on hand from the same manufacturer. Tiles dont crack because of water pressure, but the weight of a man can split them, as they are just made in a mold from sand and cement with no reinforcement. 

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately there is no secondary roof or membrane. 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately there is no secondary roof or membrane. 

 

 

Are hiring a contractor or just using local guys? 

 

Do the have the washer, or are you going buy one? 

 

Most cheap washers do not have enough pressure to hurt the tiles, if they are being sprayed down on. As others have said, people walking on could cause damage. 

 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately there is no secondary roof or membrane. 

 

 

 

As you see this video, a tropical typhoon can imtate the effect of a pressure washer. The tiles in this video didnt have enough overlap and enough pitch. But even a properly laid tiled roof wont be able to stop the water from coming in if someone shoots water horisontally, or even worse, upwards against the overlapping tiles. What I would do in your situation is to use a chlorine solution in a low pressure sprayer with some dish soap. There are also ready mixed anti mold mixes in 4-liter bottles with a nozzle in my country that you attatch to a gardening hose that can easily reach 10-20 meters. If you are not comfortable standing in a ladder with a low pressure spraying system, maybe rent a lift and spray the roof yourself? And if you use high pressure instead of chemicals from a lift, some water leakage through the roof a hour or so will dry up and probably not damage your home.

 

Edited by vaniljestang
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