Can this roof be saved?

dsnorrod

New member
I quoted this guy last year for a roof cleaning. He jumped on it and gave me the go ahead. Three days later, his wife made him call me and cancel because I was too expensive. Last week, he pays some hack a fraction of what I asked for and this is what he got. The owner called me to come take a look to see if I could save it. He says insurance has already denied him for a new roof since he hired an unlicensed "contractor". When asked what the guy sprayed up there, the owner showed me a bottle of pool chlorine (CALCIUM Hypochlorite) and says it was mixed with water and sprayed on there. My thinking is that it is just a calcium deposit that is left on the roof, and will wash off after a few good rains. The catch is, there are still significant black streaks so he still wants it to be cleaned. Can this be saved or do I need to run away as fast as possible??
 

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WOW!!! What a mess. Looks like calcium and or soap residue to me. Re-spray the roof with the right mix to finish cleaning the leftover black mold. The rain will rinse it all off and he will be fine. Gotta Love customers trying to save a buck. It just amazes me that they try to do it on such a high dollar ticket item. Roofs are not cheap!!!!
 
My advice is have him sign a waiver that you are not responsible for the condition of his roof and will attempt to restore it, no guarentee's
(Hey Larry! Friday or Sat River Roos?)
 
Some poor slob who believed the hype found out the hard way how bad of an idea it is to use calcium hypochlorite for roof cleaning.
 
Probably some dumbazz that wanted to jump out there and start cleaning roofs without taking time to read how to do it, read how the pro's out there do it and wanted to be as cheap as possible getting cheap equipment all trying to save a buck and ended up just looking like a real dumbazz which could have been prevented with some time learning and using the right chemicals and equipment.

I guess maybe next time he will learn how things are done the right way, if there is a next time. O Well.
 
My experience tells me the CH will have to be acid washed to remove the haze left by the Calcium. I am not so sure the Rain will rinse that away, but I could be wrong. The one time I used it I could not wait for rain, had to get rid of it immediately.

Funny thing is, I have had three people call me in the last month asking me how to mix CH to clean a roof. My answer is always DON'T. I hope they are listening and they see this thread.
 
My advice is have him sign a waiver that you are not responsible for the condition of his roof and will attempt to restore it, no guarentee's
(Hey Larry! Friday or Sat River Roos?)

I agree, but make sure he and his wife signs the waiver!
 
My experience tells me the CH will have to be acid washed to remove the haze left by the Calcium. I am not so sure the Rain will rinse that away, but I could be wrong. The one time I used it I could not wait for rain, had to get rid of it immediately.

Funny thing is, I have had three people call me in the last month asking me how to mix CH to clean a roof. My answer is always DON'T. I hope they are listening and they see this thread.
I was thinking about the acid also from your first experience. Perhaps trying a demo with roof mix first and rinsing with a garden hose would be a good idea. If that doesnt work then yes, the whole thing will have to be hit with acid to resolve the issue first and then done correctly with roof mix. CAUTION : D
O NOT APPLY THE REGULAR ROOF MIX UNTIL THE ACID WASH IS RINSED OFF. BAD COMBINATION.... I also agree on the waiver. There is definitely some money to be made here to resolve the issue. Im sure he doesnt want to pay to replace the roof. Perhaps the owner has learned a lesson here....
 
I was wanting to know about it a couple on months ago. And was told not to use it, so I listened. But in my defense I thought I had a good idea lol. Appears that it has been tried before.
 
What is that old commercial? You can pay me now, or pay me later? This looks like a more expensive later. There is a surcharge for customer stupidity, isn't there? And bless his heart, he has something to hold over his wife, because she screwed up, and just like the rest of us, will never be able to use it.
 
I wonder if trying to clean up the current mess will cause leaks or other problems that you will not see for months down the road, you will be the last person they remember up there, even if you have a release, unless a good attorney made the release for you I would walk away from it.

Trying to help them or be the hero could possibly backfire badly, maybe as bad as a new roof if there is current damage that you cannot see. Maybe have a roofer inspect the roof and go inside the house to see if there are leaks currently so you don't get blamed for them later on, like stains on the walls or ceiling from the roof leaking.
 
Thanks for the input guys. When I went to look at it, I told him it may rinse off, or it may take a mild acid wash to dissolve the calcium. I told him I would look again after a few good rains. We had one, and it didn't change much. I also thought of the waiver, but I have heard that they can mean little to nothing. Would a mild acid like vinegar work or would it need to be something like oxalic to get this off? Assuming the rain doesn't rinse it off.
 
I would leave this alone keeping myself from any association of this mess. Use this as part of your advertising, evidence of the wrong way compared to the correct cleaning methods.
 
I agree with Rob, I would like to help all customers but sometimes there is a situation where the downside might cost more than the profit is worth on the job.

No idea which acid might, might work, you might have to try several until you find the right one that works.

I think that CLR and Limeaway work on hard water stains and calcium deposits but not sure what that would do to a roof, the flashing, the nails, etc.......

Not sure what shape the actual shingles are in, it might be close to the time to re-roof the house.

Just too many variables for me to get into this, the downside is too big if I was there.

Something else to think about is what if the acid you use had adverse affects on the gutters, plants, wood, siding, shingles, etc.... that nobody thought would happen and in a few months you get a letter from their attorney wanting you to replace the damaged property (part of the roof and some other minor things), would the money for the experimenting to get the previous roof cleaner residue off along with the roof cleaning pay for a new roof and replace the minor things? ? ? ?

You never know, this could be a setup for a new roof.

This is one of those bad "Gut Feeling" kind of jobs that you want to just walk away from before anything gets blamed on you.

If this was a botched up concrete job where it was just wand marks or if someone tore up some wood like used a surface cleaner on it or the wrong pressure, you can go and spend time and labor there and make it look better with your experience. It is not a critical part of the house like a roof where if a leak started, it could be easily blamed on you, there could be interior damage (walls and ceiling need to be re-painted or replaced), water leaked onto their piano, computer or other expensive household items that now need to be repaired or replaced.

I am not even in this city but have that bad gut feeling about this job.

Just my opinion.
 
They really need to call the guy back to the job that caused the mess to clean it up, he did it so he needs to clean it up.

They paid for a job, the contractor needs to finish the job or maybe they need to call a roofing contractor to get prices on replacing the shingles that have the residue on them, I would not want to even try to clean that stuff off of them if a good rain or two has not removed anything so far, it might damage the shingle removing that residue.
 
Since he tried to get his insurance to pay for it , sounds like he is looking for either a soultion or a scapegoat , its a 50/50 chance . If it were me , I would walk away from this one .
 
That is a good point and very possible.
 
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