Old timer told me to stop power washing my roof back in '09

Guy named Hank who lived three streets over in Decatur swore I'd wreck my shingles by blasting them with a pressure washer. I shrugged it off and kept doing it for years, figured he was just old and paranoid. Last month my roofer pointed out I've basically stripped the granules off half my roof and now I'm looking at $4,800 to replace it - anyone else get bad advice from a well meaning neighbor they wish they'd listened to?

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3 Comments

brooket432mo ago

Respectfully gotta disagree, a gentle hose rinse won't touch established moss or algae and that stuff can ruin your shingles just as fast. Low pressure with the right tip and keeping the wand angled down worked fine on my last two roofs for years without any granule loss.

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sean_barnes242mo ago

Fair point @brooket43, but what about the gutter guards getting clogged in the process?

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grace_knight192mo ago

Oh man, that stings. I've seen this exact mess with a few clients who went too hard with a pressure washer on their asphalt shingles. You really only need a gentle rinse with a garden hose and some soft brush work for moss, anything more aggressive just blasts the protective layer right off. The granules are what keep the sun from cooking your shingles and making them crack, so now you've got no buffer left. I'd say check if your homeowner's insurance covers any of this, sometimes they'll chip in for stuff like this if it's gradual damage. Lesson learned for sure, but at least you'll know better next time.

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