7 Mistakes To Avoid When Cleaning Your Roof in Arlington, VA
When you have a house, one thing that people who are relatively new to homeownership don’t realize is that one important responsibility involves cleaning not just the interior of the house but the exterior as well — and your roof certainly counts.
The problem that comes about is that people will sometimes neglect their roof and then months later wonder why they have water pouring into their living room or an unexpected waterfall in the dining room.
With this in mind, let’s look at and consider seven mistakes to avoid when cleaning your roof in Arlington, VA.
1. Trying To Walk On The Roof To Clean
It’s entirely possible that you can clean your roof by being up on it but it’s also possible that a number of bad things that could also happen as a result.
For one, being up on your roof leaves open the possibility that you might very well fall off of it, which cannot lead to anything less than your having a trip to the hospital at best and much worse options as well.
2. Not Protecting Your Plants When Washing With Detergents
When you are cleaning your roof with some kind of detergent, you have to be careful not to do anything that would cause harm to your plants below.
Specifically, you have to bear in mind that your plants below will be the recipients of the detergent.
The best thing that you can do is to protect the plants by gently misting them with water and then putting over a plastic protector over them.
3. Not Considering A Rake
When you are up on a ladder adjacent to your home by your roof, one way that you will be able to clean the roof of debris is to take a typical rake that you would use to clean your backyard and simply pull it off.
It you are thinking that it is too simple to be effective, that is a mistake — of course you have to be gentle with the rake but it can be effective.
4. Trying To Power Wash The Roof
You see these videos online of people using a power washer and you may get yourself thinking that you will just use one to wash your roof.
This could lead to disaster — the strength of a typical power washer is so great that you might end up blowing tiles right off of the roof.
5. Getting Too High On Your Ladder
There is a certain point on your ladder past which it is no longer safe — specifically, you really should avoid the top of the ladder as well as the next to last rung if you really want to be safe.
Of course when it comes to ladder safety, one of the best things you can do is to make sure you have two people at minimum in operating the ladder — one to go up the ladder and another at the base to stabilize it and make sure the other person doesn’t fall.
6. Washing When It’s Hot
One big mistake that people make is to wash their roof when it is too hot outside — the problem with this is that you aren’t really allowing the detergent you use on the roof to do its job.
Better to clean the roof in the cooler part of the day so that the roof detergent does not evaporate in the heat.
7. Not Considering Your Gutter
When you’re up there cleaning your roof, you should think about taking the time to clean your gutters as well — your gutters are important to clean and it is a good time to clean.
The health of your gutters is important to the health of your house overall, so make sure you at least inspect your gutters while you are cleaning your roof.