roof washing granule loss · LaGrange, GA

roof washing granule loss in LaGrange

In LaGrange, this comes up on historic-district houses, college-side streets, and the larger lots toward Vernon Road and Callaway. LaGrange clay does not rinse off a driveway with a garden hose, and shaded brick grows a green film by late summer. Older architectural roofs under trees are the ones people want cleaned most, and the ones most likely to be near the end of their granule life.

January here is gutters full of oak, a porch that needs to look right for guests, and the odd jobs that got postponed all year.

Asphalt shingles shed some granules as they age. You may already see them in the gutter before anyone visits. A soft wash is designed not to add to that. A pressure wash is designed, accidentally, to add to that. If a quote for “roof cleaning” includes a surface cleaner or a close wand, it is a quote to shorten the roof.

We look at the granule coat before we treat. Bald patches, curling tabs, and cracked mats get a no. A sound roof with algae gets a treatment. The difference is visible from the eave if you know what you are looking at, and it is why photos of the slope matter.

After a proper soft wash, do not expect the shingles to look spray-painted. Expect the streaks to die and the color of the shingle, granules included, to be what remains. If you wanted a different color, that is a roof, not a wash.

The full explanation, without the town attached, is the granules in the gutter after a roof wash article. The town does not change the chemistry. It changes the houses, the shade, and the clay.

Roof soft washing in LaGrange →