Roof Cleaning – Colorfast Test
If you have a grey, white, tan or other light colored shingle roof and are planning a DIY roof cleaning project be certain that your roof can handle the cleaning product.
So before cleaning your entire roof, try your roof cleaning product on a discrete area (probably on the back or side of the house) and test the cleaner to ensure that the Roof Color is not altered by the roof cleaning process. This is called a roof cleaning colorfast test. Just like any cleaning process, you should always be sure that the product will not make the situation worse.
A colorfast test is not necessary on dark roofs
Why ColorFast test your roof?
Why should I bother with a colorfast test? It’s easy and can avoid a making a ugly roof ulgier.
Roof Cleaning Professionals check for ColorFastness
Keep in mind that a roof cleaning professional will always check your roof for colorfastness the day your roof is going to be cleaned. If your dirty roof shingles are not colorfast, the roof cleaner may adjust the roof cleaning product strength, reduce rinsing pressures or in most cases will advise the homeowner that the roof is too far gone to be cleaned using standard roof cleaning techniques. At this point, before continuing a roof cleaning professional will usually have the homeowner sign a release form acknowledging that proceeding could make things worse.
DIY Roof Cleaning ColorFast Check
As a DIY Roof Cleaning project, you should perform a color fast test. Just use the Roof Cleaning product need to do the same things a roof cleaning professional would do.
How to perform a Roof Shingle ColorFast Test
The idea behind the colorfast test is basically to try a mini-cleaning project on a un-noticeable area of your roof. You are not looking for Improvement, you are specifically looking to see if the roof cleaning technique does not remove the stains or makes the stains darker.
- Pick a discrete 2ft x 2ft section of roof
- Apply the Roof Cleaning Product first at half strength
- Rinse using the correct pressure and techniques
- Allow to dry
- Inspect area to determine if stains are worse
- if stains are not worse, repeat the process with full strength roof cleaner
If the colorfast test causes the stains to appear worse, your roof may not be able to handle the roof cleaning product or process you are attempting. At this point, you probably won’t ask yourself to sign waiver paper work, but you should ask yourself Am I willing to risk making things worse?. Most homeowners at this point will stop and realize that roof replacement is the logical next step. Although some homeowners will go ahead and clean the roof knowing that it could make matters worse, but figuring that they already intend to replace the roof anyway so if it makes it worse, it won’t matter for long.
Roof Shingle Color – Its the Granules
The core of an asphalt shingle roof is a black asphalt bulked with crushed limestone with embedded roof granules pressed into the surface while hot. An asphalt shingle’s color is determined shingle granules and the specific pigment in the silicate coating of the roofing granules. Granules are very small, sized between 1/32″ and 1/16″ and are made of crushed rock (typically granite and limestone). These granules are covered in a microscopic paint-like pigment that provides the color.
Roof Cleaning that dislodges granules can cause a loss of color because of fewer granules, and some roof cleaning products may affect the painted pigment reducing the color of the roof. This is especially noticeable on light color roofs because a reduction in any amount of “light” color will allow the “dark” shingle core to appear more dominant. It’s not that the roof is changing colors, as much as the dominant color is playing tricks with our eyes causing the roof to appear darker.
Given how easy a colorfast test is, we always advise you to check first, clean second.