Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Roof Care 101: Help Your Roof Live a Long, Happy Life

Roofs, not unlike people, can have a wide range of lifespans. Some roofs go on to have full, useful lives while others, sadly, must be replaced before their time. And when that happens, the price to replace your dead roof is enough to make any homeowner cry. Thankfully, there are preventative measures to ensure you get the most time and use out of your roof.

According to the National Roofing Contractors Association, the typical roof is designed to last about twenty years. Some, of course, can last much longer or shorter depending on where you live, the type of roof you have, weather conditions in your area and even the slope of your roof. However, maintenance can add a full ten years onto the life of your roof.

Here in Washington, our roofs suffer from an algae and moss malady. Moss eats away at the shingles of your roof, leaving holes that weaken it until the only solution is to have it replaced. Once it has been eaten away, even the best pressure washer will not be able to resuscitate it. Johnny was out working on such a roof this past week and saw some very extensive and irreversible damage. We hope the following images (though traumatizing) will help other homeowners prevent other such tragedies from occurring.


The holes are where the moss has eaten extensively at the shingles.

Even cleaned, the damage to the roof is very apparent.

This roof will need to be replaced in the near future. If only they had called on Johnny Tsunami before it came to this!

Thankfully, we don't see too many roofs at that point. Maintenance is key in preventing an early roof death and Johnny Tsunami Wash is certainly the best pressure washer for the job! Since we don't want to end this post on a sad (though informative) note, we'll end with some photos of folks who know the importance of good roof maintenance.

This is a before shot of a roof in the Kitsap area.

Same roof after Johnny got to it-- it looks brand new! Having your roof cleaned can actually raise the value of your home and after seeing this picture, you might have an idea of why that is.

Of course, metal roofs need to be maintained as well. Here is a before shot of a metal roof Johnny worked on.

The metal roof after, looking much improved!
Johnny Tsunami Wash even offers annual maintenance programs to ensure your roof stays clean and healthy for as long as possible. Like the old cliche' says, "A roof cleaning a year keeps the replacement... not near?" Or something to that effect.  And don't forget to check out our website at www.johnnytsunamiwash.com for additional information.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Johnny Tsunami is THE Bremerton Roof Cleaner!

Johnny had two jobs out in Bremerton the past week, doing roof cleanings and sidings and since pictures say so much more than words in the business of roof cleaning...


Before Roof Cleaning
After Roof Cleaning

Before Roof Cleaning
After Roof Cleaning

Before Siding

After Siding

This is a different Bremerton home Johnny did, showing the zinc sulfate treatment Johnny offers after the initial cleaning is done if you want that extra protection from moss and algae. You might have to click the picture to see it, but the white snowy looking stuff on the roof is the zinc sulfate treatment.

 For those of you wondering, here's a little bit about what we do procedurally:

First, Johnny treats the roof with a pre-soak of peroxide based solution, which helps loosen the moss for the non-damaging low pressure treatment. A lot of times, pressure washers will ignorantly blast away at the clingy moss using higher pressure, unknowingly damaging the delicate roofs they're working on. With Johnny Tsunami's peroxide pre-soak, moss is loosened up just enough so that Johnny can remove it with a low pressure spray that's easy on your roof and because the active ingredient in this eco-friendly solution is only active for a short time, it won't damage your trees or natural wildlife that we in the Northwest take pride in.

After Johnny removes the moss and algae from your roof, if you desire the extra protection, he can put down a zinc sulfate treatment which keeps that roof gunk from coming back, as seen in the last picture. Because after all that cleaning, you wouldn't want that moss and algae creeping back, now would you?