Tile Roof Soft Washing
Naples Heritage

Naples Heritage Golf & Country Club sits off Davis Boulevard, east of Santa Barbara Boulevard, in East Naples 34112. US Home built its 799 condominiums, villas and single-family homes on about 500 acres, more than 250 of them protected landscape, and finished the community in 1999.

Ryan Golf graded the land and built the course for US Home, finishing in 1996 after excavating about 1.5 million cubic yards of sand and rock. Many roofs now look out over its lakes and the 18 holes by Gordon Lewis that were renovated in 2015.

Recent Naples Heritage listings show tile roofs on homes built in 1997 and 1998. A roof that age has been through many seasons of algae growth, and if it hasn’t been soft washed in a few years, black streaking is likely, often with lichen in shaded spots.

Not every roof here is tile. One listing in Veranda at Southern Links, a two-story low-rise built in 1997, shows a shingle roof, so we confirm the material on each building before quoting.

For asphalt shingle, the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association recommends household bleach and water, mixed to the shingle maker’s directions, left on 15 to 20 minutes and rinsed with a gentle spray. It warns that high pressure is likely to damage asphalt roofing and that scrubbing loosens granules.

Older tile and mortar call for care. Eagle Roofing Products, a concrete tile maker, caps even plain water at 1,200 psi and says more can affect the tile’s pH and discolor it, and careless footing can crack brittle pieces. Soft wash gets the result through a mild solution and dwell time instead.

On heavily soiled tile, Eagle allows a cleaner only in the most diluted solution possible and only one compatible with concrete, since some products can change the tile’s pH or etch it. A 25-year-old roof gets more dwell time, not a harsher mix.

With hundreds of acres of preserve and lakes, many roofs face natural areas or water, where slopes dry slowly after dew. Every slope is treated, not just the dark ones, so the color evens out.

The black streaking is mostly Gloeocapsa magma, which ARMA calls probably the most common algae species behind roof discoloration and most widespread in the Gulf States. Owens Corning notes it is carried through the air, so preserve and lake lots are seeded constantly.

Lichen in shaded spots is a separate organism. It can need a second treatment, and we tell you before starting if a slope looks like it will.

A wet tile roof, in Eagle’s words, is difficult and dangerous to walk. Our crew wears fall protection, steps only on sound tile and stays back from the eaves; on aged tile, foot placement matters as much as the cleaning.

Mortared ridge and hip caps on late-1990s roofs are often weathered. The ridge cap treatment in our pricing covers cleaning along the mortar, and loose or cracked caps are photographed for you or the association.

Listings mention screened, tiled lanais and satellite community pools, and reclaimed water appears in at least one listing’s irrigation. Lanai screens and pool areas below the eaves are pre-wet and rinsed, and rust overspray on walls is handled in the house wash.

Neighborhoods such as Veranda at Southern Links, Terrace at Prestwick and Terrace at Stoneybrook are association buildings. For those, the board or manager books the roof, and we quote each building separately.

Where several owners share one roof, as on a two-story villa or condo building, the whole roof is cleaned in one visit. Cleaning only one owner’s section leaves a visible line where the next one starts.

Solution that drifts or runs off a roof can leave a film on the stucco below, which is why the lead mentions rinsing the walls. We rinse under each eave as soon as the roof is done, and again on the final walk-around.

If a shingle roof is due for replacement, Owens Corning notes that algae-resistant shingles use metals such as copper in their granules. It is worth raising with your roofer on a shaded or lake-facing lot.

Gutters and downspouts are flushed at the end of the job, so nothing loosened from the roof sits in them through the next rain.

Owens Corning’s guidance after a bleach clean is to flush the roof and surrounding greenery thoroughly. We soak beds before, rinse them after and cover pool equipment.

Single-story tile roofs start at $299 and tile with ridge cap treatment at $349. Larger buildings start at $499, and a roof with house wash at $599. More on our methods is on the tile roof cleaning page.

We are licensed and insured, confirm gate registration before each visit, and send photos with a written service record. Call 239-544-1165 to book.