Roof Cleaning in Woking

Moss cushions sitting in the bottom courses, green staining down the north pitch and a gutter that overflows in every heavy Woking downpour: that is the same roof we get called to week after week, usually a concrete interlocking tile roof that has not been touched in twenty years.

Family-run, our own local roofers on every job, 36 years of Scott's time spent on Surrey roofs, a 25-year written workmanship guarantee handed over before we leave, and the same real person answering the phone whether you need a roof clean or emergency roofing in Woking.

Call 07428 300474 for a free survey and a fixed price in writing.

Roof Moss Removal Methods

Moss removal on a Woking roof means taking the growth off the tile surface and out of the laps without breaking the tile or shifting it off its nib, then clearing the debris that comes down with it.

Most of the roofs around Woking are concrete interlocking tiles from the estate building of the sixties and seventies, with older clay plain tiles and natural slate on the Victorian and Edwardian streets nearer the centre. Moss sits thickest on the north pitch and in the bottom two courses where the tile stays damp. Lichen bonds harder and needs different handling to moss. Algae is a surface film and washes.

The methods that work are hand scraping and low-pressure soft washing. Nothing else is needed on a domestic pitch.

• Hand scraping for thick moss cushions sitting in the tile channels and in the laps.
• Soft washing at low pressure to lift algae film and loosen lichen without stripping the tile face.
• Gutter and valley clearance afterwards, because everything that comes off the roof lands somewhere.

We do not pressure wash roofs. High pressure drives water up under the laps, blasts the granular surface off concrete tiles and can lift a slate off its nails. Once that surface is gone the tile holds water and the moss comes back faster than it left. Nor do we push a roof coating afterwards. If the tiles are sound after cleaning, they are sound.

Manual Scraping and Soft Washing in Woking

A tile that has carried moss for fifteen years often has hairline cracks under the growth, and the moss has been holding water against them. That is what a survey looks for before any cleaning starts, because a roof with twenty broken tiles wants repair work, not a wash.

Survey and method decision

Scott looks at the tile profile, the fixings and the condition of the mortar bedding at ridge and verge, with a drone view where the pitch is steep or the access is tight. Clay plain tiles and old slate are handled gently. Concrete tiles take a firmer scrape. The method follows the roof, not a price list.

Hand scraping the pitch

Moss comes off by hand with a scraper, working up the pitch course by course so the debris falls clear rather than packing into the course below. Loose and cracked tiles are noted as we go and swapped where a match can be found.

Soft wash and rinse

Low-pressure soft washing follows the scrape, taking off the algae stain and the lichen that would not come away dry. Water goes down the pitch, not across it, so nothing is forced under a lap.

Clearing down and checking

Gutters, valleys and the downpipe outlets get cleared of everything the roof shed. Flashings and ridge bedding are checked on the way down. Any repair we think it needs goes in writing with a fixed price, and if a small repair will do we say so.

Safety, Access and Property Protection

Woking has a lot of semi-detached and detached houses with narrow side passages, block paving, borders planted right up to the wall and conservatories tucked against the rear elevation. That shapes the access before anything else. Scaffold or a tower goes where the ground takes it, sheeting protects the paving and the planting, and conservatory glass gets covered before a scraper touches the pitch above it.

If you are looking for roof cleaning close to home in Woking, our own roofers are working across the town and the villages around it most weeks, so a survey is rarely far off. Whether you need roof cleaning in Woking or roof cleaning in Guildford, we cover the whole area, and the same soft wash and hand scrape method travels with us.

Old cast iron gutters, painted fascias and timber soffits take a knock if debris is dropped down the eaves without care, which is why the clearing down is done by hand into buckets. Where the boards behind the gutter are already soft, we say so on the quote rather than covering it back up. Work is done to BS 5534 where tiles or fixings are disturbed, and the site is swept before the van leaves.

Every job carries the 25-year written workmanship guarantee, handed over before the team goes. Same for a clean as for a new roof. Thirty-six years on Surrey roofs, all of it with our own men, fully insured with public liability cover.

Done once, done properly.