Roof cleaning is one of those jobs people leave for years and then panic about. The truth sits in the middle. Moss on a tile is not an emergency, but it is not nothing either: it holds water against the surface, it lifts in a hard frost, and every autumn a good load of it washes down into the gutters you have just had cleared.
Services
Roof cleaning in South Yorkshire
Moss keeps a tile damp, and damp is what does the damage. I take it off by hand, scraping and brushing in sections, and I do not put a pressure washer near a concrete tile. You get the photos when it is done, and an honest answer first about whether it needs doing at all.
Why I will not pressure wash your roof
A pressure washer takes moss off fast. It also takes the top surface off a concrete tile, which is the part keeping water out. The roof looks superb for a season, then goes porous, and you have bought a far bigger problem than the one you started with. Scraping is slower and costs more in labour, which is exactly why the quick version gets offered so often.
Scraped and brushed, a section at a time
I work across the roof in sections rather than going at the whole thing at once, so nothing gets skipped. The growth comes off with a scraper and a brush head, the loose material comes down the pitch, and the gutters get cleared of whatever lands in them before I leave. That last part is not an extra: a roof clean that fills your gutters and leaves them full is half a job.
Some roofs want a scaffold or a tower rather than a ladder, particularly anything steep, brittle or three storeys up. I say which when I look, so it sits in the price instead of appearing as a surprise on the day.
When roof cleaning is worth doing
- Thick growth sitting along the tile laps. The overlap is where it takes hold first.
- One pitch far greener than the other. The shaded side stays damp for longer, so it always goes first.
- Clumps on the drive or the lawn after a windy night. What lands is a fraction of what is still up there.
- Moss in the gutters again a year after clearing them. The gutter is not the problem. It is downstream of it.
- A roof gone dark and blotchy rather than one even colour. Usually growth rather than the tile itself failing.
What makes one roof dearer than the next
Pitch and access do most of it. A shallow bungalow roof reached off a tower is a different day to a steep gable three storeys up with a conservatory underneath. After that it is how much is actually up there: a light green film brushes off, while a mat knitted into the laps has to be lifted rather than swept.
Tile type counts too. Concrete takes a scrape. Older slate and clay are brittle and get handled more carefully, which takes longer.
So I come and look instead of guessing. The quote is free, and if there is less up there than the pavement suggested, you pay the lower figure.
The same bungalow, before and after
Before. Years of growth right along the laps. 
After. Same roof, same tiles, nothing replaced. 
How it comes off: scraped and brushed, never blasted.
Round here
Honest and trustworthy professional.
Before you book a roof clean
Will scraping the moss off damage my tiles?
Not on sound concrete tile, which is what most roofs round here have. Older clay and slate are more fragile and I go carefully. If a tile is already cracked or slipped I will find it, and you get a photo and a separate price rather than me quietly working round it.
Do you use a moss killer or a chemical treatment?
No. I do not offer biocide treatments, so this is physical removal and nothing sprayed on afterwards. If someone has quoted you for a treatment, that is a different job and worth comparing as one, not on price alone.
How long before it grows back?
It depends on shade and trees more than anything. A north-facing pitch under a big sycamore will green up again years before an open south-facing one. Nobody can give you a date, and I would not trust one who did.
Should I have the roof coated afterwards?
I do not do coatings, so I am not the man to sell you one. What I would say is that a coating goes on top of whatever is already there, so the tiles underneath have to be right first. Get in writing what it does and what happens if it fails.
Can it be done in winter?
Sometimes, but frost and heavy rain make a pitched roof dangerous and there is nothing to gain from pushing it. Autumn and spring are easier. If it has waited five years it can wait a fortnight for a dry week.
Where I clean roofs
Mexborough out to twenty miles, so Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley and Sheffield as well as the Dearne Valley towns on the doorstep. Much of the housing round here is concrete tile, which scrapes well. Older stone and slate terraces need a lighter touch and I price them accordingly.
If the moss off your roof is what fills the gutters every year, the two belong on one visit rather than two. That is gutter clearing. Everything else I do is listed on the services page, and there are more roof photos in my work.
Booking it in
Send a photo to 07515 154559 on WhatsApp, taken from across the road so the whole pitch is in shot rather than one corner of it. You get an honest answer back: worth doing now, worth leaving until next year, or a repair rather than a clean. No call-out fee either way. Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Want it looked at?
I come out and look before I price anything. Free quote, no call out fee.