LESLIE: Victor in Georgia is on the line with a roof question. How can we help you?
VICTOR: I need to know what’s the best method of cleaning pine straw and oak leaves off a roof. Pull it off or rake it off?
TOM: Yeah. Well, you don’t want to rake it off because if you rake it off, you can damage the shingles. If you can blow it off or use a pressure washer to kind of wash it off, then that’s not a bad thing to do. But just keep in mind and just so you know, those pine needles and those leaves will have zero impact on the roof. I know they don’t look good. They kind of make it look dirty. But they will not cause additional wear and tear to the roof. If you’re too aggressive with your removing of those, then you could shorten your shingle life. But just having them on there doesn’t have effect on it.
Left on the roof they become food for moss.
Thanks loads i thought they could rot singles. They look like shot and bug me.
Are you sure leaves will not damage a roof. I read several places that it will rot a shingle roof.
Yes, Leaves will have no impact in asphalt shingles. And asphalt can’t “rot” as it is not organic. Wood shingles, maybe in rare circumstances but not asphalt.
Leaves, and most especially pinestraw, will hold moisture against the roof. As they breakdown and rot against the shingles, especially in the valleys where they gather in thick layers, they fill the gaps with fine material that swells when wet. Over time this rotting material keeps building getting thicker and getting deeper both underneath and between the shingles (think how ice expands then melts to destroy roofs). Find a roof with say the left half covered in long standing pinestraw and the right half without leaf or pinestraw. Remove the pinestraw and you’ll see the edges of the shingles curling from all the accumulated “dirt” and moisture unlike the unaffected side of the roof.