Roof Demossing in Nanaimo, Seen From Your Driveway

A roof demoss is easier to plan for when you know what the day involves. This page walks through a visit in order, from the conversation before we arrive to what the roof looks like a month later. If you want the case for removing moss at all, and why we never put a pressure washer on shingles, that is on our roof moss removal page. Here we stick to what you will see and hear while we are at your house.

Before we arrive

A few details save time on the day. Tell us whether the side gates lock, where the dog spends the day, and whether anything is stored against the walls of the house. Firewood stacks, kayaks, garden boxes and hot tub covers all sit right where moss and grit come down, so we ask about them when we quote.

It also helps to move vehicles off the driveway the night before, particularly if they are parked under the eaves. A clump of wet moss dropping onto a windshield is harmless, but cleaning up after it is quicker if the car is not there in the first place. Patio chairs and barbecues close to the house can stay put; we cover them.

We book demoss work for dry spells. The wet season here runs roughly from October to March, and the roof needs to be dry on the surface before anyone walks it. If the forecast turns, we call you and move the visit rather than start on a slick roof.

Getting onto the roof

The first job on site is choosing where the ladders go. Each one needs firm, level footing and a solid spot against the roofline, away from flower beds, soft lawn and the edge of a deck. Hillside houses above Departure Bay often have a much taller wall at the back than at the front, so we plan around the lowest ground, not the street side.

Once up, we look at the pitch and the material before stepping out. Asphalt shingle on a moderate pitch can usually be walked with care. Steeper slopes, older brittle shingle and cedar shake get worked more slowly, sometimes from the ladder at the edge, with weight kept off the most fragile courses. Skylights, vent stacks and satellite dishes get worked around rather than leaned on. If part of the roof cannot be reached safely, you hear that before we start on it.

Covering the garden

Moss, grit and needles come off the roof and land on whatever sits beneath it. Before any scraping starts, we lay tarps over beds and shrubs along the drip line, cover ponds and rain barrels, and turn downspout outlets away from vegetable beds or cap them for the duration. Houses in Harewood and on the slopes of Mount Benson often have mature rhododendrons and hydrangeas planted hard against the foundation, and those get covered first.

On waterfront lots, we also watch the seaward side, where a bank or a retaining wall may fall away below the eave. Nothing gets swept or rinsed over the edge.

The work on the roof

We start at the ridge and work downhill, one slope at a time. Thick cushions come off in strips with a plastic scraper, and a soft brush follows to clear what the scraper leaves. Working downhill means the tool travels in the same direction as the shingles overlap, so no edge gets caught and folded up.

North-facing slopes and anything under big Douglas fir or bigleaf maple usually carry the heaviest growth and take the longest. Valleys, where two slopes meet and debris collects, are cleared by hand all the way down. Ridge caps and hips get the same attention, because moss along the cap line is easy to miss from the ground.

After the physical removal, a treatment goes on the remaining root traces. Those traces are bedded into the granules, and pulling harder would take granules with them. Treated, they die back and wash off with the rain over the following weeks.

Clean-up

When the roof is done, tarps come up carefully so nothing in them spills into the beds. Moss is bagged and leaves the property in our truck. Paths, decks, the driveway and window sills below the eaves are swept. Any moss we knocked into the gutter is lifted out of the trough and bagged.

Before we leave, we tell you what we noticed up there: shingles with lifted or cracked edges, worn granules in the valleys, loose ridge caps, flashing pulling away around a chimney. Repairs are a separate decision and we leave that with you.