black streaks on roof Georgia · LaGrange, GA

black streaks on roof Georgia in LaGrange

In LaGrange, this comes up on historic-district houses, college-side streets, and the larger lots toward Vernon Road and Callaway. LaGrange clay does not rinse off a driveway with a garden hose, and shaded brick grows a green film by late summer. Pine shade and oak shade feed this. A roof in full sun on a new street can be clean while the wooded lot two streets over is striped.

January here is gutters full of oak, a porch that needs to look right for guests, and the odd jobs that got postponed all year.

Those black streaks are a colony, not dirt that blew on. Asphalt shingles stay damp just long enough, in this climate, for algae to run downhill with the rain. A roof soft wash is a treatment that kills the colony and lets it release. It is applied so we are not scouring the shingle. The granules that shed in a gutter after a pressure wash were the roof’s sunblock. They do not grow back.

The roof often looks uneven the same day and more consistent after weather finishes the release. If someone promises “white shingles before lunch” with a surface cleaner, they are promising a shorter roof. We will also say no when the shingles are already curling, cracked, or bald. A pretty treatment on a failed roof is a wasted fee.

Metal roofs, tile, and slate are not this article and not this price. They are quoted after we see the finish. We do not treat every roof as asphalt because the truck is already there.

The full explanation, without the town attached, is the black streaks on asphalt shingles are algae article. The town does not change the chemistry. It changes the houses, the shade, and the clay.

Roof soft washing in LaGrange →