Roof Cleaning

[Kevin7022]

Did a search on this board and more confused now than before.

I tend to lean away from chlorine anything. Not to say I don't use it in my house wash mix.

I need a roof cleaner that will only require a rinse with a soap nozzel or lightly with a 40 degree.

Tried different concentrations of of sodium percarbonate and dawn with little sucess.

Would perfer to make my own but do not want to experiment with caustics. If someone has a If someone has a sodium hydroxide mix that works could ya let me know.

 

[Mark]

I would not use caustic on the roof, however I have talked to many
people who use oxcillic acid on shake roofs.

I am sure you will get some more ideas from this board if you are patient!

 

[doug mckenzie]

use new again roof and deck cleaner .i'l tell you more i f you want
sudsmckenzie

 

[outlaw]

I would like you to tell me more.
thanks
Gav

 

[ron]

ron p

DOUG can you send me the msds on that roof cleaner?
rottie72@aol.com thanks

 

[Dan Flynn]

I don't agree with new again. All it really is ... is sodium hydroxide and I personally feel it damages the roof. You would do better with bleach mix. Anyone that tells you different is probably trying to sell you some junk from their garage.

 

[doug mckenzie]

new again comes concentrated,you can delute this 5 or 7 to 1 .
what i do and my customers do ,is down stream it.this is way more than 5 or 7 to 1.maby we should pump spray it on but it is real easy(fast too) this way, and it works. some times i pump spray on a deck or parts where i know it should be stronger.
on a roof i down stream it on, powerwash of.on natural siding i down stream it on .on some siding you see the crud (old stain)slid off.you still have to p/w. and you don't have to use that much pressure .i have my hot water 3000 psi. 5.5gpm.150temp. running wide open. i move the tip closer or further away from the work surface. i use a 40 or 25 tip . the water does alot of the work. it's suppose to be low pressure, high volume(10+gpm.) forget that. i use chlorine every day, my truck has 8,5gal. pails of 15%(i pick up at the source) in it all the time, i spend $ 5,000 on chlorine each yr. i love clorine i use it on roofs ,decks. when it comes down to my best job on almost any surface new again blows chlorine right off the street.new again will leave the wood looking like new. i work i'm one of you ,i work hard,get dirty.i don't know every mixture out there ,this works. you will have to get use to it, like anything else. talk to me suds

 

[Bill B]

Dan, would be interested in how you know that New Again is simply NaOH. I used some recently, and don't want to be using caustic where I don't need to.

 

[FROSTY]

Hey Doug

Doug, I'm in the Stratford/Bridgeport area, I did a search on the New Again Web site. They said the closest distributor to me was in Ridgefield. Where are you getting your supplies, locally?
How about your 15% chlorine, and how much a gallon?

Tom

 

[Mike Hughes]

I've never used New Again, but I've always heard that its mostly sodium hydroxide.

 

[Dan Flynn]

Bill read the bottle or call them and ask. I sampled it years ago and discoverd that's all it is. Why spend good money on something you can get for a fraction of the cost.

But that's not the point. I just don't think it goes well with tar shingles!

 

[Greg/sd]

Dans right, new again has sodium hydroxide in it ask for the msds sheet. In my opinion not good idea to put degreaser on asphalt based shingle. I buy chlorine less than .75 cents a gallon in 50 to 100 gallon bulk. I can clean a average 3000 sq ft roof for 18 dollars in material in about 1 hour. In my opinon new again is a product for do it your self types. It does work just not fast enough for me to make the profit i want.

 

[Bill B]

Dan, just grabbed a bottle and read the label - you are correct, states "contains NaOH". I will take the responsibility for not reading the label before. Frankly, the NA folks gave me some garbage indicating a more elegant chemical process was involved. I am definitely not interested in tossing caustic on roofs!

However, I am not thrilled about bleach either.

By the way, the NA did work better than strong bleach, or Chlorox (weak bleach) w/5% NaOH.

 

[doug mckenzie]

i'm the dealer in conn. for new again you other people i'm just trying to help out .you can get it from me ,or the factory.(tampa fla.)...it's not going to change my life .my income comes from doing the work,it's a side thing,if you will.
it's not only sodium hydroxide it weighs like 9 or 10 lb./gal... the stuff works......... lets say i come to a job that does not, or the people don't want the deck like brand new ,just cleaned .this is something i would use cholirine on, comes , out nice, easy ,a roof the same.you can't spray new again on and expect the same results. you have to p/w it off. n/a will clean mildew off paint ect. but you have to p/w it off ,with chlorine you can squirt it on and the mildew is gone.it did not replace my chlorine ,but ,like i said ,my best job other than a bleach and rinse on a deck ,roof, house(natural)ect.is n/a. it does not kill plants or your clothes.does not make streeks..hay use sodium hydroxide powder, and deal with that evil s.
talk to me suds mckenzie
sudsmck@aol.com
ridgefield,conn.
to greg i do the same (maby) but i don't go and p/w after chlorine.... we washed an asphlat roof this week with n/a .there's no damage to the tar...i have done this before there is no oil in the rinse water just crud .and a lot less sand...
dan you don't even know me, and you want to insult me. i don'thave a garage.and my gagbage goes in the dumpster thank you very much...i started in 1987 and am still learning....

 

[Dan Flynn]

Doug I had no idea you were a dealer and my statement had nothing to do with you. All you said was use new again!!!!

My opinion was just that. It was a statement made from experience. I appreciate your opinions and look forward to them in the future.

Have a great night.

 

[FROSTY]

If I recall correctly off the top of my head, bleach (strong or weak) is a chemical makeup of chlorine and sod hydroxide.

Therefore, bleach= sodium hypochlorite= chlorine + sodium hydroxide.

Now, those who prefer to use bleach on roof, if New Again works better, what would you use.

However, I am neither endorsing, nor putting down, one method or the other as long as it works and makes me money. That's what we do it for. No? Not because we have nothing better to do.

So, to play devil's advocate, (with the understanding that what is on this board, or in a classroom, is often different than what we do to achieve results in the field--the real world) it would not make sense to use a degreaser on petroleum-based asphalt shingles.

And, would you rather remove the mold(shit-on-a-shingle){excuse the lame form of humor} from an asphalt roof by taking the chance of using a degreaser and shortening the life of the shingle, or let the mold stay, have it look like shit, and, perhaps, shorten the life of a shingle.

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for taking the time to read the whole damn, babbling thing. Just my thoughts. And like everyone else, I have my own opinions (which I did not neccessarily express here).

Later.

 

[Greg/sd]

I was just stating what works for me. when you use low pressure 12 volt pumps no sand/granules come off the roof. thats the reason people dont what their roofs pressure washed in the first place. the sand/granules are there for a reason. I do use sodium hydroxide on surfaces that i feel need it, not roofs. In my opinion N/A does not work better than chlorine.

 

[Richard R.]

As most of you know, I've only been in this business for a few years, but I feel like I have read this bbs from front to back cover, including all the way back to the beginning, when Dan created this board.
Although I can't claim I'm anywhere close to an expert in this field, I can say (like many others), that I have learned many things about some of the chemicals offered to us by the cleaning industry.

First Off, everyone knows what Sodium (Salt) is.

Hydroxide= (is a strong alkaline compound, NaOH, used in the manufacture of chemicals and soaps and in petroleum refining. Also called caustic soda, lye.

Hypochlorite= is a ( an unstable salt NaOCl produced usually in aqueous solution and used as a bleaching and disinfecting agent discovered I think about 1885, also known as ester of hypochlorous acid.

Chlorine=a halogen element that is isolated and is used especially as a bleach, oxidizing agent, and disinfectant in water purification --

With all this said, I just want to say that I don't understand why some don't like Chlorine, Hypochlorite (if you will)
We drink it, wash with it, disinfect with it and use it for all sorts of things in our everyday lives.
When mixed right, it will make the best cleaning substance there is on the planet.
So far, I have had my greatest results from chlorine and bleach.
The way I mix and use it seems to cause me the least bit of pain
when cleaning.
I haven't done many roofs yet, but I would imagine when I do, you'll find a lot of it in my cleaner.

Take Care
Richard R

 

[Bill B]

Doug, my opinion is that it can't be a GOOD thing to spray caustic on an asphalt based product - unless the value of cleaning the non-vascular (mold, moss, etc) outweighs the possible degradation of the roofing material.

My more significant problem is that I was lead (not on the boards) to believe that a technical marvel was at work, not simply treatment with NaOH! I won't make that mistake again.

On the other hand, I think that some of the dark stuff on the roofs I have been seeing is not all mold based; it may be tree sap, etc. Theoretically, caustic should be a good chem for removal?

Just for technical info, have you ever pre-treated with bleach, then come back with NA?

 

[ron]

ron p

as long as we are talking about degreasers and pool chems to clean roofs, anyone have any thoughts on QUATS? QUATS is used to control alge growth and POLYQUATS is used to kill mold. It even kills some molds that chlorine cant. Nothing in polyquats to hurt the shingles or the plant life.