Cedar Shake Roof - Certified SoftWash Roof Cleaning

Darryl Freeman · Freshmen Member

Cedar Shake Roof

Chris Mozick · Junior Member

I wouldn't use linseed oil personally, you need to hit it with a mix and rinse, rinse rinse rinse oh did I mention rinse every single shake very time consuming hope you bid what it's with that's a lot of shake

Bob Riddick · SoftWash Systems 5-Star Professional

That's a great shake roof for softwashing, Darryl. Not very steep, which will allow your solution to dwell longer. Not too long or you could bleach out the shake.

Multiple applications, and lots of rinsing. Very time consuming with a lot of chems. Wood Restore will bring the oils back in the cedar.

Like Chris said, price accordingly!

Tim Teed · SoftWash Systems 5-Star Professional

We do a lot of cedar roofs. That looks in good condition. We are typically 3 to 4 times more expensive than cleaning an asphalt roof. We usually try to do 25 sq per day when we clean cedar. I would try a 1% mix with wood wash. You have to soak the cedar pretty good. work in sections. When done apply the wood restore. Don't use linseed oil. In my opinion it tends to reduce the ability of the cedar to breathe. It also has organics that support growth of bacteria/fungus. All you are trying to do is kill the fungus. You won't rinse 100% of growth off. The rain will wash most of growth as it dies, and the color after the wood dries will be cinnamon and it will then blend to grey. Offer to come back yearly during your slow time and do a whole house wash/freshening and then apply wood restore at no charge or real cheap.

Tim Teed · SoftWash Systems 5-Star Professional

Also check condition of the pipe boots for dry rot around stack vents. We replace/repair them on most cedar jobs.

Darryl Freeman · Freshmen Member

Nice!
Thank you Chris, Bob, and Tim, your input is sincerely appreciated!
I just responded to a private message from Chris, thought it was part of this thread, I will cut and paste below.
Two things I am unsure about here.

Pricing
Solar, would you guys attempt to treat hidden shakes beneath larger solar arrays? Maybe just beyond what is visible? Neutralizing the underside of the solar panels would require walking the roof, and also neutralize the shingles below.

cut and copied:

Thank you for this advice Chris.

My proposal is due, I did not post this with enough time to get responses.

I am concerned if application of Wood Restore would have an effect on the Linseed treatment the customer desires.

Also, unsure where to price, I can't imagine him accepting 10-15k. Also, I am competing with his established GC who has already prepared a cleaning and linseed process.

That being said, I just cleaned all his vinyl windows and glass, and soft washed a deck. He was extremely impressed with the service quality.

cut and copy end

I could ask customer how his GC proposes to clean the shingles. I'm sure it won't be Soft Washing since there are only a few of us in Hawaii with training.

Thanks again everybody!

Darryl Freeman

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Darryl, Not sure if you won the bid on this roof or not, but one more valuable piece of advise would be this: USE FALL PREVENTION ON THESE ROOFS!!!! The shakes become slicker than cat snot on a linoleum floor, and in a milli-second, you're on your butt and going over the edge. It happened to me, and I won't let that happen again! PLEASE, don't treat and walk this roof without protection!!

~ Mark