Professional Moss Removal in Lancashire

Why moss grows so well in Lancashire

Lancashire takes around a metre of rain a year and the Pennines make sure a lot of it arrives on the wind rather than straight down. Moss needs three things to thrive: moisture, shade and a surface with enough texture to grip. Most properties in this county hand it all three. North and east facing roof slopes stay damp for months, farm hedges and mature trees keep the sun off drives and patios, and the stone flags, setts and concrete tiles we all have hold water in the surface.

That is why moss removal in Lancashire is not a one-off cosmetic job in the way it might be somewhere drier. Spores are in the air everywhere, so the question is never whether moss will land on your roof, it is how long the surface stays wet after it does. Get that right with a proper clean and a biocide treatment and you buy years. Ignore it and you are back to a green roof in two or three winters.

What moss actually does to a roof

A moss cushion holds many times its own weight in water and it sits right against the tile. Every time the temperature drops below freezing that water expands, and on a concrete tile it takes the surface with it. Once the granules have gone the tile is more porous, it holds more water, and the next winter does more damage. On slate and stone slate the moss beds into the laps and lifts the tail of the slate, which lets wind-driven rain past and works the nails loose.

Then there is the drainage. Moss constantly sheds growth, and all of it washes down the slope into the gutter. We pull moss out of gutters on almost every job, and a blocked gutter or downpipe means water running down the render, into the soffit or over the wall head. A lot of the damp problems we are called about start as a roof nobody has looked at for ten years.

Why nobody should pressure wash your roof

A pressure washer will take moss off a roof quickly, and it will also take the protective granule layer off a concrete tile, blow water up under the laps into the loft and shift the ridge bedding. Plenty of roofs in Lancashire have been shortened by fifteen or twenty years by one afternoon with a petrol machine and a turbo nozzle. It looks spectacular on the day and the damage shows up two winters later.

If somebody quotes to jet wash your roof tiles, get another quote. The correct approach on a roof is mechanical removal by hand, low pressure steam where the surface suits it, and then a chemical treatment to deal with what the brush cannot reach. Slower, yes. It is also the only method that does not cost you a roof.

How we remove moss from roofs

We work from a tower, a ladder or from the ground with poles depending on the property, and we take the moss off mechanically: scraped out of the laps, off the tile faces, out of the valleys and away from the ridge. Low pressure steam is used where it helps, because heat kills the root system as well as lifting the growth, and there is no impact on the tile.

Everything that comes off the roof gets collected rather than left in the borders, the gutters are cleared and flushed so the debris is not sat in the downpipe, and then the whole roof gets a biocide treatment. We finish with photos of the roof and a note of anything a roofer should look at: slipped slates, cracked tiles, loose ridge, perished mortar or daylight visible in the loft. See roof cleaning for the full method.

Driveways, patios, paths and steps

On hard surfaces the approach changes completely, because paving will take pressure and roof tiles will not. Drives, patios, flags and paths are cleaned with a rotary surface cleaner rather than a hand lance, which is what gives an even finish with no stripes, and the pressure is set for the surface. Concrete block paving takes more than Indian sandstone, and old stone flags take less again.

Joints are the part people forget. Moss lives in the joint, so if the sand is left contaminated it grows straight back from there. We flush the joints out, re-sand block paving with kiln-dried sand and treat the whole area afterwards. Steps, thresholds and paths get treated as a priority because that is where moss becomes a genuine slip hazard in winter. See driveway and patio cleaning.

Render, walls and stonework

Moss and black algae on render is a soft washing job and nothing else. The wall is wetted with a biocide solution, it is left to work, and it is rinsed at low pressure. The growth dies and keeps dying for months, which is why a soft washed wall stays clean far longer than one that has been blasted. High pressure on render opens the surface up and you are back within a year, usually worse.

Stone and old brick with lime pointing get the gentlest treatment we have, because the face of the stone and the mortar will not survive pressure. See render cleaning for more on how we handle each wall type.

The biocide treatment is the part that keeps it off

Removing moss takes the growth away. It does not take away the spores and root fragments left in the surface, and that is why an untreated roof or drive greens over again so fast. The biocide treatment soaks into the surface and carries on killing for months, so regrowth is measured in years rather than seasons.

It is applied at low pressure with no rinse needed, it is safe around planting when applied properly, and it is included on every moss removal job we do rather than sold as an extra. On roofs it is what backs our 2-year no-moss guarantee.

How often, and the best time of year

For most Lancashire properties a proper roof moss removal and treatment lasts three to five years before it needs looking at again, and longer on a sunny, well-drained roof. Drives and patios are usually every two to three years, more often under trees. Render is typically every three to four years.

Late spring through to early autumn is the best window, because the surface dries and the biocide has time to work before the wet sets in. That said, moss is at its most visible and easiest to lift in late winter, so if it is bothering you now, ring us now. We work all year.

What moss removal costs in Lancashire

Price comes down to the area, the access and how bad it has got. A terraced roof and a large detached with three slopes and a conservatory to work around are not the same job, and neither are a tidy patio and a drive that has not been touched in fifteen years. What we will not do is quote a day rate and let it creep.

You get a fixed price before we start, with the scope written down, and it includes the clearing up, the gutter clear where the roof needs it and the biocide treatment. Send the address, a photo or two and what the moss is on, and you will usually have a price the same day. Bigger properties and anything with awkward access we come and look at first.

Questions we get asked about moss

Will the moss come back? Some growth eventually will, because the spores are in the air. What the treatment does is push that from a year or two out to several years, and roof cleans carry a 2-year no-moss guarantee.

Does scraping moss off damage the tiles? Done by hand, no. It is the pressure washing that does the damage, which is exactly why we do not do it on roofs.

Can you do the roof, the gutters and the drive in one visit? Yes, and that is usually the cheapest way to do it. One set-up, one visit, one price.