What to do about moss on roof tiles blocking the gutters?

I had gutter guards installed in my old house as I had moss on my rear roof, it was a type of mesh which came in lengths and just sat in the gutters so any moss which came loose just dropped off onto the patio, very cheap to buy and easy to install.

We're only two stories but we had someone come with a gutter vacuum. It wasn't too expensive. That won't help with the roof but it will do the gutters.

Ours had a lot on one side but it’s only a bungalow, we got a local builder to rake it off with a garden rake, a days work £150.
It will need doing again in a few years, would be much more trouble with a taller house.

You get a roofer in who will scrape off all the moss and spray it with a proprietary anti moss chemical. You can get ones that are not a danger to wild life.

We had this done about 5 years ago and our roof is still mossfree.

Do not leave moss on a roof, it can lift and damage roof tiles, letting water into your loft or attic, the constant moisture can rot the battening under the tiles and even rafters. It can also offer a substrate for other plants and grasses to grow doing further damage to the roof and tiles.

I don’t think there is any risk of my cousin’s husband going into business or I’d recommend you should avoid him.

He decided to clean their roof and set about it with a pressure washer. He climbed up on the roof and within seconds had blasted himself off it.

What happened next resembled a scene from a Tom and Jerry cartoon. He flushed himself off the roof and broke his fall astride a large metal barrel set up to collect the rainwater!

Ouch!!

We've just had the moss cleared from our roof - we have trees around us and the moss gets very thick. We recently had a leak into the attic where moss was forcing the tiles apart - ended up with a damaged ceiling in the bedroom. The gutters were constantly overflowing and there was always a pile of moss surrounding the house. The hedgehog stuff is no good if you have trees nearby - the leaves sit on the top and the water just runs off. We had all ours taken out.

We had quotes ranging from £800 - £1200 for a 4-bed detached. The higher quotes were from roofers who all had the proper qualifications and belonged to roofing organisations and were properly insured. The others may have been okay, but I was concerned about possible damage to the roof so decided to pay the extra. None of them used scaffolding, all ladders. The moss was brushed and raked and a fungicide sprayed on.

I questioned the use of the fungicide as some say it doesn't work. Two of the roofers said the right stuff will work but it has to be sprayed when the roof is dry and above a certain temperature or it won't work. We were very lucky that the sun shone for a week before and after the job was done!

MawB

The last time the window cleaner came he cleared the gutters for me for an extra £15 - with camera photos before and after to show he had done it.
This is a normal-sized 4 bed house but 2 not 3 storeys.
I would shop around and ask your neighbours.

my lovely windowcleaner does my gutters once a year and will do odd blockages as and when needed. I don't worrk about the moss, it doesn't seem to do any harm. a couple of my neighbours had it done a few years ago and you can't tell the difference between theirs and mine.

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Your window cleaner might be able to help. We’re on 3 floors and our window cleaner uses a pressure thingy with some kind of attachment and is going to try and remove a weed growing in the corner of our gutter next time he comes.

P.S. I have a 2 storey house and they use a ladder and bucket.

I use a firm called Ben's Gutters. I think they are a national company, but they phone or text when they are in my area. I think originally they put a card through my door. I don't remember the cost, but it can't have been expensive or I wouldn't have used them. They can also do minor repairs not requiring parts.
www.bensgutters.com/residential-gutter-cleaning/

We have just had a real downpour. Gutters overflowing all round the bungalow. N,S,E&W.

All sorted - buy a bungalow and marry a man with a ladder!
He didn’t go out till the sun came out?

We have a foreign roofer and his family, living opposite us.
2/3 weeks ago he cleaned his own roof.
He was up there, brushing the tiles with a small brush, bit by bit.
I was so worried that he might fall, but he was agile and sure footed.
When he had cleaned it all, he then sprayed it with something.
Now the roof is so much cleaner than all the others nearby.

I would love to know how much he charges for such a good job, but we have solar panels, and there is not much actual roof to see, but we do get moss dropping.

Our window cleaners cleaned out the gutters too, I think for £20.
It is important to keep them clear.

I never had moss until my dad let gypsies powerhose the roof while I was out.They put a coating on and it has been a mess ever since. The yard is always full of lumps that have fallen off.Dont know how to fix it.

No, not overly huge. They scraped away for 2+ days and had a big hoover machine to suck up the bits and pieces. Then on the final day they treated it with the product. The property is on the coast so I think the roof suffers more.

4 days Ellianne? Is it a huge roof? Our houses are just bog standard 3 bed semis and the 2 men were definitely not there a full day. It was a blisteringly hot day and I remember feeling rather sorry for them whilst they were up there.

Oh yes Chewbacca, they were. Ours took 4 days!

I agree with Washerwoman's DH I am sure the moss is holding our roof tiles together and it is on both east and west facing areas.

A roofing company will sort this out for you. Whatever you do don't go risking going on the roof. Leave it to a professional.

We had a roof leak, apparently caused by moss which had pushed its way under some tiles, letting water get in.

Ellianne

Why were they robbed Chewbacca? Hiw long did the job take?

About half a day perhaps? Two men did it. And the moss on my neighbour's roof is as bad as mine now; hence "they were robbed".

I think you'd get moss whatever sort of tiles you had. We get it and we've three different sorts of tiles on the house. It dries up and falls off in hot weather.

The gutter 'hedgehog' sounds like your best option, or just be resigned to having the gutters cleaned out periodically.

The problem roof is east facing and there are no trees nearby. The house is in an open position. We have no moss on the west side funnily enough. I guess I'll just have to keep getting the gutters cleaned every few months because there's no budget for a 3 storey scaffold. I bet it'd take no time at all with a stiff brush if I could only get up there safely!

We get a lot on the north facing side of our roof and recently a company came around and did a hard sell on cleaning it off.We have rosemary tiles on the roof and although it's very sound they would break if scrubbed hard.DH was in the building trade and said it was not necessary to remove it,probably holding our roif together !Plus I hate the idea of chemicals.The birds take loads for their nests,and at times there is quite a bit on the path to sweep up,but it takes very little time.We just clean our gutters a couple of times a year.