Roof cleaning and moss removal in Poole
Moss taken off concrete, clay and slate roofs across Poole by hand, the roof treated and the gutters cleared, with a written price after a free visit.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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A proper roof clean in Poole is the moss scraped off by hand, a biocide put on to kill what is left in the tiles, and the gutters and valleys cleared of everything that came down. No pressure washer goes on your tiles. It strips the face off concrete tiles, forces water up under the laps and can lift a slate off its nail.
Maybe moss keeps landing on the drive in clumps. Maybe the gutters spill over in heavy rain because the outlets are packed with it. Or somebody has knocked, offered to jet wash the roof that afternoon, and you want a roofer's opinion first.
Thomas comes out and tells you what is growing on the roof, what it is growing on, and whether it needs doing at all. A few specks on a sound roof can wait, and we will say so. Because we are roofers as well as cleaners, a cracked tile or a loose ridge gets found and shown to you, not washed over. Render, pebbledash and block paving with black spot and algae are on our exterior cleaning page for Poole, and the full method is on the main roof cleaning page.
The method
Scraper first, then the treatment, and never the jet wash
Hand scraping. Most of the moss comes off by hand, with scrapers and stiff brushes pulled down the slope the way the water runs, starting at the ridge, so no tile edge gets levered up. Thick moss holds water in the laps, so this is the part that counts. A typical house roof is a day's work, and the quote says how long yours will take.
Why we will not pressure wash. The force strips the coloured surface and sand face off a concrete tile, so it is rougher and greens up faster next time. The lance drives water under the laps, cracks brittle tiles and blows the mortar out of ridges and verges.
Soft wash, where it helps. After the scrape, low pressure through a wide nozzle, about what a garden hose gives you, lifts the loose bits off. On old clay or slate the water can be left off altogether.
The biocide. The root threads and spores left in the tile surface are what bring the green back, and the biocide kills them. The roof carries on improving for weeks as the rain washes the dead growth off. Black lichen marks fade slowly and are not scrubbed, because scrubbing takes the surface with them. These products are regulated under the HSE biocides regime, and we apply them to the label. Ask anyone quoting what product they use.
Your roof
What the roof is made of decides how hard we work it
Poole's houses span every age, and in central Poole a third of homes are flats, so the covering changes from street to street, and so does the method.
- Concrete interlocking tiles cover most post-war houses and bungalows. Concrete is porous, so moss roots into it hardest, and it takes a firm scrape well.
- Clay plain tiles and natural slate turn up more on older terraces and villas. Old clay can have a soft face that flakes, so it gets a light hand. Slate is never walked on, and one that slides out on a rusted nail is refixed with a clip.
- Fibre cement slates are thin and brittle, and older ones may contain asbestos, so they are not scraped or washed. If we think that is what you have, we stop and tell you.
- Flat roofs over bays, garages and extensions are brushed and rinsed, never scraped, because a scraper strips felt and cuts rubber. Moss there usually means standing water, a flat roof fault of its own.
- Conservatories, rooflights, dormers and solar panels are sheeted or worked round by hand. Lifting a solar panel is a job for your installer.
Which way it faces, and what hangs over it. A north facing slope, or one under trees, greens up first, and cutting back the branches does more than anything we put on the tiles. In a conservation area the council needs six weeks notice, a section 211 notice, before most tree work, and a protected tree needs consent. Poole has more than a dozen conservation areas, from Ashley Cross and The Avenue to the Town Centre Heritage area around the old town and quay, so check the council list before you book a tree surgeon.
Gutters, repairs, coatings
What comes off the roof, and what turns up under the moss
The gutters are part of the job. The tops of the downpipes are plugged before we start and the valleys cleared first. When the roof is done, every gutter, hopper and outlet is scooped out by hand and water run through to prove it drains. A blocked valley or outlet is where moss does its real damage, backing water up under the tiles or down the wall. For the gutters on their own, see gutter cleaning in Poole.
Repairs found while cleaning. Take the moss off and you may find cracked tiles it was holding in place, ridge and hip mortar washed out, a lifted lead flashing, or a failed valley. The clean does not cause that. It was already there. We photograph it and price it in writing, and nothing is done without your say-so. The repair side is on our Poole roofing page.
Coatings, told straight. A coating is a paint or sealer sprayed onto concrete tiles after a clean. On a sound but faded roof it evens the colour back up. It fixes nothing, it wears, and it has to be redone. It is not for clay, slate or a roof that needs repairs first, and on a listed building, ask the council before anything changes how the roof looks.
How it runs
From the site visit to the swept drive
Thomas Hannen comes out to look at the roof himself. He surveys it from the ground and up a ladder, not from a satellite picture, and notes what sits under the eaves: a conservatory, a pond, a car on the drive. The site visit is free, and the written quote puts the access, the clean, the biocide and the gutters on their own lines.
Every roof clean is work at height, so HSE guidance on roof work and the work at height rules decide the access. A bungalow can often be done from a tower and a roof ladder. A taller house may want a cherry picker, or scaffold along the eaves when the roof calls for it. Tiles are worked from roof ladders and crawl boards, not walked on. On an older terrace that fronts the pavement, a scaffold on the footway needs a licence from BCP Council under section 169 of the Highways Act, priced as its own line.
On the day, planting and paths are sheeted and conservatory roofs covered before a scraper goes on. The roof is done a section at a time, then the driveway, patio and paths are swept and rinsed, and the bagged moss is taken off site. Anything extra is photographed and priced before it is touched. We do not work in high wind, frost or heavy rain.
Cost
What decides the price of a roof clean in Poole
Roof cleaning is not priced by the square metre, because two roofs the same size can be very different days. The quote is built from what you see below, and each of these moves the price.
- Access. A bungalow with room for a tower on the drive, a semi with a narrow side passage, and a flat over a shop on Poole High Street need three different set-ups.
- Size and pitch. More roof means more scraping, and a steep pitch is slower to work safely.
- How thick the growth is. A light film comes off easily. Deep cushions in every lap are not.
- The covering. Concrete takes a firm scrape. Clay and slate are slower, and fibre cement may not be cleaned at all.
- What sits below. A conservatory, pond or planted border under the eaves takes time to protect. Clearing the gutters is already in our quote.
- Repairs found. Priced separately, in writing, and only done if you agree.
If you are comparing a cheaper quote, ask five things. Will a pressure washer go on the roof? Is a biocide included, and what is it called? Are the gutters and downpipes cleared afterwards? Where does the run-off go? Will anyone walk on the tiles?
Before it gets worse
Signs the roof should not wait until next year
Moss is not an emergency, and a green tinge can sit for a season without harm. These signs say the moss has started to cause trouble, and the job should not wait:
- moss spilling over the front of the gutter, or clumps on the path after every blow
- water coming over the gutter in heavy rain, not down the pipe
- a slipped or cracked tile you can see from the garden
- moss piled up in a valley where two slopes meet
If water is already coming through a ceiling, that is a repair, not a clean, so ring 07435 839745. Scheduled work Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. Something urgent? Ring, and if we miss you we call back.
The harbour
Why the run-off matters more in Poole
Poole Harbour is a Special Protection Area for its birds, and a Ramsar wetland and an SSSI as well. The drain in your yard is often not the sewer. The government's pollution prevention guidance says surface water drains discharge directly to the environment and only clean water should go into one.
In Poole, water from a surface water drain ends up in a stream, the harbour or the bay. Washings full of moss, grit and biocide are not clean water, and the same guidance names biocides among the substances to keep out.
So before we start, we look at where your downpipes and gullies go. The downpipes are plugged at the top so the washings stay in the gutter, where we scoop them out, and the moss is bagged and taken off site, not sent down the drain. The biocide goes on a slope at a time, to the label, and is not sprayed into gutters or near an open gully. If you have a pond, tell us and it gets covered. Ask anyone quoting in Poole where their water goes. A firm that has not thought about it will struggle to answer.
Who you are dealing with
A roofing firm, from Boscombe
Bournemouth Roofing & Building covers Poole, BH12 to BH17, from a base in Boscombe. The firm is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. The owner, Thomas Hannen, looks at every roof and prices it himself. We have a verified 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The site visit is free, and so is the written itemised quote.
Questions
Roof cleaning questions from Poole
How much does roof cleaning cost in Poole?
It depends on the access, the size and pitch of the roof, how thick the moss is, the covering and what sits under the eaves. We do not put a figure on a roof we have not seen. The visit is free, and the written quote lists each part separately so you can compare it properly.
Is it worth having moss removed from a roof?
Yes, when moss is thick in the laps, lifting tile edges, piling up in a valley or blocking the gutters. A thin green film or a few spots of lichen on a sound roof can wait, and we will tell you which you have.
What is the best time of year for roof cleaning?
The scraping can be done most of the year. The biocide needs a dry roof and a dry spell after, so that day moves with the forecast. If gulls are nesting on your roof, the work waits until the young have left, because damaging an active nest is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Autumn and winter are the time to clear and gull-proof a roof they used.
How often does a roof need cleaning?
There is no fixed timetable, and a promise of a set number of years is a guess. Shade, trees and which way the slope faces decide it, and a treated roof stays clear longer than one only scraped. When moss is standing proud in the laps again, it is due.
What is the best way to get moss off a roof?
A hand scraper and a stiff brush worked down the slope, then a biocide to kill what is left in the surface. A pressure washer is faster but damages the tiles, which is why we do not use one.
I own a flat in Poole. Can I book the roof clean myself?
Usually not on your own. The roof normally belongs to the freeholder, so the freeholder or managing agent instructs the work. Ring us anyway: we can photograph the roof and gutters and send one written quote for the building to whoever will instruct and pay.
Nearby, and next door
Roof and exterior cleaning around Poole
Roof, wall and drive cleaning in the places around Poole, with straight-line distances from Poole town centre, and the other roofing and roofline work we quote for on Poole houses.
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Free quote
Send us a photo of the roof and the gutter
A picture of the roof from the garden, and one of the gutter if moss is dropping into it, is plenty to start. Thomas comes out, looks at the covering and the access, and puts a written itemised price in front of you.