De Moss on de Roof

A rolling stone gathers no moss … what about the north side of a roof under a cover of trees. I'd say Lin's roof has gathered its share of moss and maybe a little extra. It was driving her crazy and she was looking for ways to get rid of it.

Moss (or anything else) growing on your roof is probably not a good thing. Moss does not require standing water, just a bit of moisture. Asphalt shingles don't completely "shed" water . Due to surface tension, a certain amount remains. Normally the minimal amount that remains will evaporate rather quickly, but because this roof is shaded and under cover of trees, it provided a good, healthy environment for moss to grow … especially on the north side. Once moss had started to grow the amount of moisture retained increases. Moss does require nutrients, of course, but most roofs develop a film of organic material that helps to feed the moss. Tree debris on the roof helps this process as well. The moss can work its way under shingles and eventually cause problems like leaks, for instance. No, thank you. Call in the moss patrol. She needed Moss-Busters … bad!

Lin's friend, Terry, came to the rescue. We watched him haul the ladder into place, connect up the power washer and clamber up the ladder like he knew what he was doing. After watching him for the awhile, we busied ourselves with small indoor chores (and a game of cribbage). We went outside occasionally to check his slow, but steady progress. Seeing him perched tenuously on the roof peak only made us nervous. We played another game of cribbage to calm our nerves.

A full day's effort and the roof still wasn't done. It took another full day to complete the de-mossing procedure, but it looks great and very moss-less.

While checking out websites for getting rid of green roof moss, I found one website that sells green roof moss, so you can attach it to your roof. The website touts “Mosses can add uniquely appealing colors and textures to green roof projects”. Lin could have made her fortune! Who knew?