Is it safe to have moss cleaned off a house roof?

[BellissimoGecko]

Considering having the moss cleaned off our roof. It hasn’t been done for at least 20 years. But I have been reading conflicting reports about moss removal. It is better to leave it or remove it?!

I got moss removed by scraping rather than power washing. Probably better for the tiles (i hope)

We had ours done about 5 years ago and it still looks great. No issues. I think there are a few different ways to get it done. We just got a local company that was highly recommended.

At my previous home I had the moss removed.
And it was only afterwards that I read that it's actually considered better not to have it cleaned off. I wished I'd read up on the subject more before I went ahead with the work. Especially as the roofer who did it turned out to be a bit of a cowboy.
I sold the house a couple of years after the moss removal so I don't know of any resulting issues but I don't have any plans for moss removal from the house I currently own.
It is very confusing OP, especially when you are dealing with tradesmen who are giving you the hard sell and try to make out you don't know what you are talking about if you try to challenge them.

DH does ours when it gets really bad by scraping and a wire brush thing.

I must admit it is based on how bad it looks too us rather than whether it is better for the roof or not.

We have never done that as the man said it weakens the tiles

Our next door neighbour just had this done last week, only the back of the house and the bloke came round and offered us a quite while he was there. A thousand pounds. I’ll just keep the moss.

I've just seen my neighbours getting it done middle of a huge rainstorm the chap was jet washing UPWARDS 😳 apparently his loft got "damp" and they said its because of the rain and take no responsibility 🙄

Friend is a builder, he said unless a roof has a leak you never ever touch them.

We’ve just been quoted £4600 for ours doing. A neighbour was having his done and we asked for a quote.
ok it’s quite a large bungalow which means more to clean but really?! £4600?

Don't let cowboys powerwash your roof - this usually leads to dampness and damaged tiles etc

What are the benefits? I like the moss? Presumably it forms a habitat for moss-dwellers?

Just clear guttering regularly.

Indeed I had some bloke jet wash the roof. Disaster! Water got into loft and down the chimney and leaked into house. Had to have extensive repairs to roof felt.

Had it done again a few years later by bloke on hands and knees with a scraper. Much better but I made him swear he was insured! 🫣

We've done ours once in 25 years, but only the north facing side. In dry weather, with a plastic rake and brush, not a pressure washer. It's still watertight.

bad for the environment and some cash in hand teen “apprentice roofer” will have to do it so not ethical either

Neighbours of mine had theirs power washed at great expense 3 years ago. A year later, they had to replace the roof.

By all means scrape off the moss if it is causing problems but if not, leave well alone.

All my moss dries up in the summer and gets washed off in the rain. its the gutters than need cleaning.

My neighbours had this done just last week. Theirs is a 4 bed, detached house, Sth East (70miles from London) but it is straight forward in terms of their roof and is essentially a box shape- so only 4 sides of the roof to clean. No ups and downs or tricky bits to access.

2 men came and set up a scaffold tower on wheels. They scrapped the roof and also used a massive hoover pipe thing to clean the gutters. They did 1 side each day, but stopped when it rained or was windy. They told our neighbhour that it was all accessible from her own garden. On day 2 though, they asked DH is they could set up their scaffold on our side of the fence. We agreed, but asked them to cover our lawn to prevent damage because its fairly new. We've recently renovated.

The moss has gone, but I guess I thought the tiles would look newer and cleaner. You can still see marks on them from maybe lichen? It cost my neighbours £3600! Considering it was 2 men x 4 days, DH and I thought it was extremely expensive. That is £450 day per man- one of which looked under 18!

I can't comment whether its good to remove moss or not though.

I leave mine, I like watching the birds finds bugs in it to eat.

We did a few years ago with no problems, and still looks pretty good.

I let the magpies clear mine. I regularly find clumps of it all over my drive where they flick it off to get to the grubs that live underneath.

Magpies keep cleaning my roof of moss. We have to keep sweeping the garden of chunks of it! I’ll need to thank them for their services 😆

Haha, cross posted about magpies with you!

My parents got it done a year ago. The guy who did it came back a while later and put some sealant on the roof. It did move a few tiles which they did not notice but a neighbour did and he fixed them for them.

Get a super soaker filled with vinegar & do it yourself.