How Often Should
I Clean My Home?

Answer four questions about your Naples home and get a complete recommended cleaning schedule for all six services. The schedule updates instantly based on your specific conditions.

The question we hear most often is: “My neighbor just cleaned their roof last year and it already looks dirty. Mine from two years ago still looks clean. Why?” The answer is almost always location and environment — not the quality of the cleaning.

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association names Gloeocapsa magma as probably the most prevalent of the algae species behind dark roof streaks, and says the discoloration is most widespread in the Gulf States and in places with warm, humid conditions. Within Naples, how fast it comes back depends on how long a roof stays damp. Heavy oak canopy over a roof keeps it wet long after rain. Preserve-adjacent lots receive constant airborne organic spores. Golf course irrigation mist reaches nearby rooftops before dawn.

How often a roof should be cleaned is partly a question of how it should be cleaned, and the people who make roofing materials have published plain guidance on both. Their advice is the reason the roof row in the tool reads differently from the other five services.

For asphalt shingles, the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association says not to use a power washer or any type of brush or broom to clean algae from the roof surface, and warns that high-pressure washing systems are likely to damage asphalt roofing. It says the discoloration may be lightened with a solution of liquid household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and water, and it is candid that the effect of such cleaning is only temporary and the discoloration may come back. It also points to algae-resistant shingles, which it says are designed to inhibit algae growth for extended periods.

For concrete tile, Eagle Roofing recommends using only water where possible, with pressure never exceeding 1,200 psi, and a cleaner only in the most diluted solution possible and one compatible with concrete, since some products can affect the tile’s pH or etch its surface. Eagle also says algae, mold and mildew are not harmful to the integrity of the tile, even though they look unattractive, and notes that walking on a wet roof is difficult and dangerous.

Put together, those statements explain how we schedule roofs. A low-pressure soft wash removes the streaks without the force the makers warn against. On a tile roof the reason to clean is mostly appearance, HOA standards and the condition of the home when it is shown or inspected, not a structural emergency. Growth does return in time, which is why the tool shows a range for roofs: results can last 24 to 36 months and stay clean.

The National Weather Service office in Tampa Bay, which covers Southwest Florida, puts the rainy season here at May 15 to October 15. It ties the season to Florida’s subtropical location, the surrounding oceans and the daily sea breezes that build afternoon thunderstorms, and it notes that the start varies from year to year with the onset of almost daily showers.

Those five months are when shaded roofs, north walls, lanai screens and paver joints stay wet the longest, and growth shows up first. That shapes the answers in the tool more than any other single factor. A home that is cleaned in April goes into the wet months with nothing for algae and mildew to build on. A home cleaned in late October starts the dry season clean and usually looks its best through the winter, when owners, guests and buyers are around.

For seasonal owners, that gives two sensible patterns. One is a full roof and house wash in spring before leaving, with a lighter pass on lanai, driveway and windows on return. The other is a single visit in October or early November so the home is ready for the season. Either way, a roof soft washed in one of those windows does not need to come back onto the calendar the next year just because the house wash does.

Not every mark on a Naples home is biological, and the right interval depends on what you are looking at. Dark brown to black streaks running down a roof are the typical algae pattern ARMA describes. Green or gray film on a shaded wall, a lanai floor or a pool cage frame is usually mildew or algae too, and it responds to a soft wash.

Orange or rust-colored fans on stucco, pavers or a driveway are a different problem. UF/IFAS’s Florida-Friendly Landscaping program notes that irrigation water high in iron can leave orange streaks on buildings and that most Florida well water is high in iron. It suggests having the water tested if you suspect iron, with the county extension office able to point you in the right direction, and lists water softeners, oxidizing filters and combined chlorination and filtration as treatment options. Cleaning more often will not fix that kind of stain. Rust needs its own remover, and the sprinkler or the water source needs attention, or the same fan comes back with the next rounds of watering.

When you use the tool, answer for the worst side of the house, not the best. If the back of the home faces a lake, a preserve or a fairway, that is the side that sets the schedule for the whole job.