The moss was several inches thick in some places. Ken called us out to look at his cedar shake roof for cleaning, required so he could renew his homeowners insurance. With conditions like this we normally would have told him that his roof was gone, let’s talk about getting you a roof replacement.
But this roof was special. It had a history. It was made of hand cut shakes from old growth cedar, and the shakes were almost a full one-inch thick. With the moss so thick, we really couldn’t tell how bad the damage actually was.
So we agreed to take the first step of killing the moss. Our crew of licensed applicators put the maximum allowable amount of moss treatment on the roof. Then we waited.
After about six weeks and some good spring rains we went back to inspect the roof. The moss had died, or almost all died, and a lot of it had washed off in the rains, which is what was expected.
The roof had been significantly damaged. Normal shakes would have been completely destroyed by the moss. But a close inspection showed that under the damage, there was still solid wood.
Ken asked us to proceed to the next step, which was cleaning the roof.
Back out we went to do the roof cleaning. Due to the amount of moss remaining on the roof, it was a tough job, but our proprietary oxygen-based Green Clean, and a lot of water, was up to the task. At the end of two hard days, we had the roof cleaned down to bare shakes. We didn’t pressure wash. That would have finished the roof off.
When the roof was finally clean, it was apparent that while the shakes had some life left, the hip and ridge shingles needed replaced. As CCB licensed General Contractors, we had our roof repair specialist replace all the hip and ridge.
We let the roof dry for a couple of weeks after the cleaning, so that all the water could evaporate out.
The last step was roof treatment with a 100% organic oil treatment, to restore lost oils to the shakes and help protect against the damaging effects of sun and rain.
We were able to provide a roof certification for three to five years of additional roof life. With proper follow-up care, including an annual moss treatment, and periodic roof cleaning and roof preservative, we think the roof life will actually be longer than that.
Ken was a delightful client to work with, and we are glad that we could help him save his beautiful old growth cedar roof.
See photos of this roof makeover on our Facebook page here.
We’d love to help you with maintaining your cedar shake roof, or any other services you need for your home. For a free estimate, give us a call at (503) 407-3346.