What am I looking at here

Patricio

Patricio

New member
I'm no roof expert so once again I find myself here at the institute.
What am I looking at here? This is a 1995 ish roof that I am sure has never been cleaned. These spots will not come out with 10% SH sprayed right on it.
Black.jpg
 
Looks like an oil type substance, but I dount that is what it is. What is around it? Above it? Can you provide a wider angle shot?
 
It almost looks like oil or tar. Could be some of the granuals were stripped off to expose the layer below it. Hard to say for sure it is tough to tell from that picture.
 
To dark to get a photo now but I can try to better explain. That is one of the worst spots at the very top of the roof. In other areas on the slope of the roof it was in streaks and lighter. Mold was the worst around these areas. For the most part the roof is now clean except for some faint streaks and these dark areas at the very top.More prevalent on the N side. Now since I posted I was reading around the web and found something called Artillery Fungus. Anyone heard of this? Could it be?

Thanks for all the help.
PL
 
My $0.02

Copied it to MSoft Picture Manager sharpened and zoomed in, and it looks like those spots were heavy with moss and it also looks like the tar in the roof leached up over the granuales where it was covered with the moss heavy
 
Patricio said:
To dark to get a photo now but I can try to better explain. That is one of the worst spots at the very top of the roof. In other areas on the slope of the roof it was in streaks and lighter. Mold was the worst around these areas. For the most part the roof is now clean except for some faint streaks and these dark areas at the very top.More prevalent on the N side. Now since I posted I was reading around the web and found something called Artillery Fungus. Anyone heard of this? Could it be?

Thanks for all the help.
PL
Click to expand...

No not artillery fungus. I was thinking tar too, and it could be that, but it looks to me like above the heavily stained portion something landed on it and then it grew towards the bottom of the shingle. Looks like the shingle may have a slight curl upwards and caused what ever it is to pool. If it were me, and it's algae like Nigel is saying, I would get up there with my adjustable wand, using a soap tip and see if it budges at all using very light pressure. Start away from it and gradually get as close as you can and without causing damage. Normally I would never recommend this, using a pressure washer on a roof, but it may help to point you in the right direction. Roof Alge, gloeocapsamagma and such normally only grow vertical and upwards, This seems to be going down and spreading horizontally.
 
We had this once before. There was a huge black walnut tree hanging near the roof. When the walnuts fall into the gutter the hulls rotted into a black tar mess. Almost gum like. Use a mild degreaser warm water and low pressure. Just the ball valve half closed.
 
Thanks Guys. Interesting thought on the tar leaching up. Can that happen? Honestly when I was looking at it I was thinking this is tar but the granules still seemed to be there. It wont budge.

Anything bad about using a low pressure 40º on the roof at a good distance just to rinse? I so often hear about how bad it is to use a pressure washer on a roof but honestly the 40º has about as much pressure as a hose but a nice pattern.
 
Patricio said:
Thanks Guys. Interesting thought on the tar leaching up. Can that happen? Honestly when I was looking at it I was thinking this is tar but the granules still seemed to be there. It wont budge.

Anything bad about using a low pressure 40º on the roof at a good distance just to rinse? I so often hear about how bad it is to use a pressure washer on a roof but honestly the 40º has about as much pressure as a hose but a nice pattern.
Click to expand...



Kind of far fetched on the tar migrating to the surface , but thats what the discoloration looks like from the photo (tar, but not necessarily coming to the surface)


Whats even more interesting is that directly below, it has no matching evidence. Not even a spot. (You can still see pieces of the moss when under magnification in the spot)


I think James of Innovative is on to something, its possible that the byproduct of a near by tree fell on that spot and discolored it , ...and the tree byproduct has nutrients that promotes better growth of the moss, hence thicker in that spot.


You now going to clean the roof thinks it just a heavy concentration of moss in an area, but when in fact the biological reaction between the tree byproduct and the moss created the "spot" or just the tree byproduct

Do you have a photo of the roof before it was cleaned?
 
There is a patching material that looks like that - they could have had a leak previously and done the patch job. It's designed not to come off.
 
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