5 Reasons To NOT Pressure Wash Your Tile Roof

28 Jun 5 Reasons To NOT Pressure Wash Your Tile Roof

If you have a tile roof, you know that it’s a popular choice among roofing contractors. Tile roofs are easy to maintain and last a long time. They’re also beautiful and offer protection from the elements. But if your tile roof is over ten years old, it’s probably time to clean it! Despite the benefits of this maintenance process, there are some drawbacks. Here are five reasons to not pressure wash your tile roof:

1. You have a stucco roof

Stucco roofs are becoming more popular in home construction. These roofs are beautiful and long-lasting, but when it’s time to pressure wash the roof, you have to take it down. This means that you have to remove all the nails and screws that hold the stucco-covered tiles in place. This is a huge project that will require a lot of time and hard work. Then, when the tile roof is back in place, you’ll have to repaint those tiles, which will take even more time. It’s just not worth it!

2. Your tile roof is cracked 

If the tiles on your tile roof are cracked or worn down, pressure washing can cause them to fall off your roof. Sometimes this isn’t a problem since you can simply replace the missing tiles. But if you need to replace a large number of tiles, it could be costly. You may also have to spend time and money repairing the existing tiles, which will take even more time and money.

3. It’s not worth the cost

Pressure washing tile roofs are expensive! So how much is this maintenance project going to cost you? Here are some examples of tile roof pressure washing costs:

• My roof was 5 years old and in good condition when I had it pressure washed. 
• The cleaning service charged $300 for this project. 
• I needed to call in a roofing contractor friend to help me remove all the skylights that had been installed on my roof. 
• This was a difficult job, and we had to buy new skylights before we were able to start removing the old ones. 
• I estimate my final costs for this project at around $1,000.
• My roof was 10 years old when I decided to pressure wash it. 
• The cost of this project was around $3,000. 
• This was a tough job since I needed to remove all the installed skylights on my roof. 
• Some of these skylights were stubborn and required more work than others. 
• It took several hours and lots of hard work to get the skylights off my roof.
• I now have a tile roof with beautiful new skylights in place, but to be honest, during the entire process, I wished I had just left my old tiles alone!

4. You might damage some of your roofing materials

Pressure washing is a powerful cleaning agent that can undo years of your roof’s protection. Sometimes it can even remove installed things on your roof such as shingles, nails, flashing, or skylights.

This can leave you with damaged roofing materials and cause leaks in your home.

5. You’ll damage your gutters

If you have skylights or solar screens on your roof, pressure washing them can damage them. Here’s why:

• Even if you don’t have skylights or solar screens on your roof, they will be damaged if they are pressure washed.
• They will be damaged because the pressure washing water will flow through the roofing materials and over the top of these solar screens and skylights.
• When this happens, these solar screens and skylights cannot protect your gutters from any rainwater that might begin to drip down the roof.
• These solar screens and skylights aren’t made to be damaged, so you need to be extra careful when pressure washing them.
• You need to take extra care when pressure washing skylights or solar screens, especially if you have children around.

Closing Notes

Although if you pressure wash your tile roof it will remove moss and mildew, it will cause more damage than good. Pressure washing your roof can damage the materials that were installed on the roof and even remove materials that were already there. If you would like to clean your roof, contact us today!