Cedar Roof Cleaning
Cedar roof cleaning has many positive qualities. When installed properly and cleaned, they are extremely wind resistant. Believe it or not, they actually have twice the insulating value of standard asphalt shingles. Hail does not easily damage cedar shakes. When treated with certain chemicals, cedar shakes can be made permanently fire resistant.
Cedar roofs when property cleaned, have a certain amount of prestige as a roofing material. This explains why many of the other roofing product companies manufacture materials that simulate real cedar shakes. The texture, color, and appearance of a cedar shake roof is undeniably appealing.
However, this beauty comes with a price tag. Cedar shake roofs do require a certain amount of maintenance to maximize their useful life. The enemies of cedar shakes, as you might expect, are water and sunlight.
Many people know that cedar contains high amounts of naturally occurring chemicals which help preserve the wood. These chemicals are called extractives. They dissolve easily in water. Need I say more. In certain conditions, rainfall can leach these chemicals from the cedar shakes in less than 10 years.
The key to maintaining a cedar shake roof is to keep it dry. Yes, I realize that sounds funny. What I mean is that after a rainfall, a cedar roof needs to dry out as rapidly as possible. Roof cleaning helps with this. The shakes must be free of moss, fungus, debris (twigs, pine needles, leaves, etc.), or any other thing that can trap and hold moisture. Overhanging tree branches must be sufficiently high so as to provide good air circulation above the roof. With a proper cedar roof cleaning, the roof will dry as fast as possible.