LESLIE: Irene in New Jersey is doing some power cleaning. What can we do for you today?
IRENE: Hi, I wanted to know what you thought about having a roof power washed. We’re going to be having the siding done and the contractor suggested we do the roof also and I guess I had never heard of that and don’t know if it’s really a good idea.
TOM: Well, what’s wrong with your roof that it needs to be washed?
IRENE: Well, it’s a light-colored roof and it’s got some black streaking.
TOM: Well …
LESLIE: So you’re seeing mold on it.
TOM: You don’t – it may not be mold; it’s probably moss. But what you should do is if you want to kind of clean up that area, you can use a mildicide or an algaecide and you could apply it to the roof and then you can gently brush it to try to get that clean. I don’t recommend you power wash the whole roof because you’re going to blast off a lot of the minerals that are on top of that roof that protect it from the sun. So you could actually shorten the life of your roof by being overaggressive with a pressure washer.
LESLIE: But you can spot treat the moss.
TOM: Correct.
IRENE: Oh, OK.
TOM: Yeah, take a look in the home center. There’s a product called Jomax – J-o-m-a-x – that works real well to clean moss off of siding and roofs.
IRENE: Oh, OK. But what about – the house is OK, though? You think that’s a good idea?
TOM: What kind of siding do you have?
IRENE: It’s vinyl.
TOM: Not a problem. It’ll do a good job. Just don’t be too aggressive; otherwise, you’ll blast holes in that siding.
IRENE: OK, great. Thanks so much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Irene. Good luck with that. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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