Spanish Tile Roof

[TNTPW 14]

I have a few questions about a spanish tile roof. The first one is can i walk on it? The second one is what chemical would clean it best? It was red at one time and you can not even see one drop of red any where. It is BLACK, real black. I will try to post pictures in the next day or two. Any help would be great. At first i thought it was that barrel tile but it is not. It is spanish tile.

[TNTPW 14]

Rick we are getting the same thing down here in the south, about 100 to 150 for a shingle roof. They are very easy to do and quick.

[Thomas 14]

Wow a hour and a half. I must be doing something wrong.

I have a diaphragm pump on 180 feet of clear 3/8 food grade tubing. The needle

sucks the chemical out of 16 galllon drums I carry on my trailor. I can shoot the chemical about 40 to 50 feet up if I need to with this. Great for pool screens.

The wand is made out of pvc pipe with a on/off valve. The tips For roofs I use are 4009 and 25009. A friend that I consider to be one of the very best in the area was nice enough to share this with me.

Heres how it went:

Get some water going into my tank.

Start watering the plants. (sprinkler)

Pull out 100 feet off the reel (high pessure hose)

Pull off 125 feet of chemical hose (not on reel)

Add water to chem mix (it was a little bit stronger than fifty 7chloro, 6h20)

and I had a backup 12 gallons of 50/50

Set my ladder up and rinse roof with h20 and get leaves and debris off.

By now Id say I am at a solid 45 mins.

Have second garden hose on roof and move sprinkler.

Put on my resperator and start rinsing roof with chem wash.

Plants,plants,plants, water the plants

Start rinsing shingles with one garden hose with no nozzle one with.

Rinse,rinse, rinse, does this stuff ever come off lol.

Hit trouble areas with chloro and rinse away.

Make a final walk around and rinse.

Jump down and get rdy to wash off any debris from roof clean.

Walk around and rinse all of the plants one last good time.

This took me 1.5 maybe 2 but no less than 1.5

Used all of first barrel and most of second.

Start up motor and clean up the house

I have to bleed my chem line so I do it on the driveway and wash it off. I had done the drive a couple of mths prior so it was clean.

Reel in the pressure hose.

Pull in the chem line.

Secure trailor/shut off fuel etc.

Knock,knock..give them the bill.

45 mins.

Well maybe not as long as I said but I Didnt answer the phone and I work hard. Am I doing it wrong? <not saying this like a smart ass>

Thomas

[Rick G 14]

It doesent sound like you wasted to much time to me. Hose reels would help save time. Heres my way. Pull up to the house, set up ladder, un roll 3/8 in shurFlow hose off the reel- up the ladder- pulling off all Im going to need and leaving it on the roof. Get customers garden hose, if its not long enough I un roll off my feed hose reel what Im going to need and hook it to the customers hose and attach the fire hose nozzle- pull it up the ladder- all im going to need- and wet down landscaping walking the edge of the roof- just on the side I am going to be doing- put that down pick up shurflow wand and apply chems. When I am done applying chems to that section I pick up the hose and wet down the lanscaping again - being VERY careful beacuse now its very slippery. Then wet down the lanscaping on the next side or section I am going to do. Repete. When Im all done, get off the ladder and flood each section with water from the ground. Sometimes when I am done I flood one section down from the roof and do the other from the ground, depending where the garden hose is hooked up. Then I replace customers hose, roll up my hoses and drive off. Idealy I try to do more than one roof on the same day and then I bring a helper to do the rinsing of the landscaping. Its just not cost effective to bring a helper when I only have one to do. Keep at it youll get it. Rick G

[Thomas 14]

you dont rinse off the house with your roof cleaning?

I have never done a roof and not have to clean up the sides of the house. I also try to leave the area around the house cleaner if not as clean as when i get there.

Maybe Im doing too much for just a roof cleaning. I just cant drive away leaving a bigger mess than when i got there. So basically my customer got a low pressure roof cleansing, mud and dirt that splattered on the house in some spots washed off with a good washdown, very good care of plants( i carry a very good survival rate with my plants:]), and no leaves debris left in teh yard. Thats what they get from me for a roof service call.

I just can even dream of doing the job I do in a hour and a half. Heck I bet ya I threw h20 on the plants for at least 30 to 45 mins. I always thought you had to saturate the roots before the chloro passed throught the soil so they wont absorb chem. Then i wash of any cchem that may have got on the plants while the wash. Im always a one man army.....sometimes I work with another local company on full services jobs(roof,pool screens,deck,all flatwork around house).

[Rick G 14]

In four years I have yet to kill a single plant doing a roof cleaning. I also leave the house and grounds just as I found them. I have shared a great deal here and I hope it helped someone but am board with this issue. Hence, my last post on this topic. Good luck to you.

[JustMe 14]

So how much wetting do you old timer pro's think is enough when it come to the vegitation. Soak em or wet em a bit.

[Thomas 14]

Thank you for the info RickG...much appreciated.

That seems to be the question JustMe....I must be over watering. I am just scared of killing plants. I still cant believe a hour and a half, almost want to say its not possible but for the arguments sake ill believe 2 hours. According to how much mold and stains are on the roof maybe I apply to much chloro? It takes forever to get all of the chloro off. I dont think my chem mix was to weak. Over 50% but under 60% is what I usually mix it. I have plaenty of experience with low pressure roof cleaning ....maybe I just over chem and over h20? I guess I feel its better to be safe and water too much than get a call after you have busted your butt and polished up a roof and it looks great butt you killed half of the homeowners plants(my nightmare). Tommorow I have a big scary tile roof to do. I have planned for it to be an all dayer.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Usually when I do a roof, I have to rinse down the drip edge/gutters (keep in mind we only have shingles here), but that doesn't take more than 5-10 extra minutes.

[paul-uk 500]

if you rinse well.....the only plants you will kill will be when you are dragging the hose around and you forget to look where you are going......

[Mike Williamson 198]

I've never killed a plant...Like Paul said, just rinse before, during, and after.

[CCPC 26]

The question still has not been answered, do you soak the ground or just wet the plants down. I have worried about this myself. If a plant is looking thirsty and you just wet the exterior of the plant that does nothing to protect the plant from sucking the contaminated water up from its roots.

Lance P.

[Mike Williamson 198]

When I'm applying chems to the roof, there isn't enough runoff to soak into the ground, but there IS enough to damage the plant's leaves, flowers, etc. When I rinse, everything is getting diluted plenty, so by the time the ground is saturated with chems and water, there isn't a high enough concentration of chlorine to hurt anything. Thus, the fact that I've never killed a plant. If this were a real concern, I'd have killed at least a few by now.

[Claude 14]

Hey Oneness I am up in Atlanta and I have a tall shingle roof to do and I definetly don't to walk it should I apply 15% thru a downstream with soap and of course rinse rinse rinse......the plants and wait....oh 15 minutes to rinse it off......the guy had the roof patched and the rest of the roof is BLACK with mildew.....??????

[Mike Williamson 198]

I don't think you'll get the strength through the downstreamer...If you're getting a 10:1 ratio, you'll be applying 15% (where do you get it this strong?) chlorine at less than 1.5%, about 1/2 of what I believe you need to get decent results. I would cut the 15% down so it is 10% (1 gallon of water for every 2 gallons of 15%) and then Xjet it on. Let it sit a bit and rinse from the ground.

[Claude 14]

Lots of places up here advertise it as that strength.....the pool store route is easy but you can get a 55 gal drum for around 70 bucks.....I also think the x jet is the way to go......I been putting off buying one cause I need everything it seems......THANKS for the input. Sounds right.

[Mike Williamson 198]

The Xjet will help you with your speed and efficiency on roofs and building washing...If you do much of either, I wouldn't put off getting one any longer. It will pay for itself in a couple weeks easily.

One thing I'd suggest is getting another 25' of hose or so and adding it to what comes with the Xjet. I set my bucket on the corner of the house, and can usually do two sides of the house before I have to move the bucket to the opposite corner. For roofs, I usually put my bucket on the edge of a roof vent and I have enough hose to cover the entire roof. That's the only drawback to Xjetting roofs...I don't get enough draw pulling chems to the roof from the ground, so I haul the 2.5 gallon containers up the ladder and fill the bucket on the roof. A typical 2000 square foot home will take 6-7 jugs of 10.5% pool chlorine. I'm paying just a hair under $1.00/gallon for the pool chlorine. Getting it in a 55 would be fine for downstreaming, but if you're using the Xjet, smaller containers would be easier, at least as I see it.

I'm still looking at the flojet setup to see if I can get a better draw with it...I found a crack in the filter cover on the inlet line, so that may be part of the problem I've been having. If I can make that work, it'll be easier than the Xjet for applying chems from the roof. For those that can't be walked, I think the Xjet from the ground would be easier.

[TNTPW 14]

As everyone can see i have before pictures some where in this thread. I will be doing this project this friday and i will take before, after, and during pictures. I have a lot of stuff i will try and i will let you know what works FOR ME and what does not. I will try walking on the roof. If i can not i will rent a lift but i will try the easy way first. I will keep all posted.

[TNTPW 14]

Here are the results of the tile roof. IT SUCKS! I used everything i have in the bag on this one and still can not get it clean unless i do it by the wand inch by inch. I haves used liquid chlorine, poweder chlorine. I have used, At 10%, 50%, and Full strength and still can not remove. I have a home made brew that i have washed other roofs and houses with and this stuff will not come off at all. Any other suggestions would be great.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Pics would help.

[TNTPW 14]

You can go to the first page of this post. There are before pictures there. I will be done today and post after pic.

[Mike Williamson 198]

If the chlorine didn't affect it, it isn't algae.

[TNTPW 14]

Here are the Before and during and after pictures.

[TNTPW 14]

more pictures

[TNTPW 14]

I know more pictures

[Claude 14]

Travis,

Did you say that you DID walk this roof or not?

Looks great.

Claude