Tip of the day: Copper to prevent moss

◼ Cleaning moss off your roof - A better roof cleaner, non-toxic oxygen bleach. This widely available powder is mixed with water and applied to a cool roof surface, preferably on an overcast day. If you keep the roof surface wet with the solution for just 20 minutes, and then lightly scrub the roof surface, the algae almost always comes off. Severely stained roofs may require multiple applications of the oxygen bleach solution. The solution also helps to loosen the grip of the shallow moss roots.

THEN: Here is an easy way to keep your roof shingles free from moss, algae and mildew. Once the roof is clean you can hinder moss and algae growth by introducing COPPER onto the roof surface.Visit a roofing supply company that sells tin, copper and galvanized metal products to residential roofers. Often these companies sell rolls of copper that can be cut into long strips. I like to cut strips that are 5 or 6 inches wide and are ten feet long. Using a metal brake tool, I put a 20 degree bend one-half inch in from the edge on one of the long sides of the copper strip. This bend eliminates unsightly waviness that often develops as you cut the copper with a tin snips.

Place these strips of copper near the top of the roof. Slide the unbent edge up under a row of shingles so that the bent edge and 4 inches of copper is exposed to the weather. Each time it rains some copper molecules wash down onto the roof and create a poisoned environment that both the moss and algae dislike. Be patient as the copper eventually will turn a distinctive dark brown and then the classic green color. If you getting ready to install a new asphalt shingle roof, be sure to buy shingles that have copper hidden in the colored ceramic granules.

...The copper material works far better to poison roofs than zinc. Zinc is indeed effective, but copper tends to do a better job for a longer period of time. The copper strips are easy to install and they tend to blend into the roof once the shiny copper begins to oxidize and turn the distinctive dark brown.