Shingle, Metal & Tile Roof Cleaning
Stoneybrook

Stoneybrook is a gated community of about 400 homes around the Stoneybrook Golf Course, just east of I-75 on Corkscrew Road, across from Grandezza and next to Wildcat Run. Lennar developed and built it between 2000 and 2005.

Recent Stoneybrook listings we reviewed show two shingle roofs, one metal roof and one tile roof. At their age, any of them may carry black algae streaks, but each material responds differently to cleaning.

Home types include single-family homes, low-rise condominiums and attached villas, from about 1,200 to more than 3,000 square feet. That spread means everything from a small villa roof to a two-story home with several planes.

The dark streaks on all three materials are mostly Gloeocapsa magma. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association rates it as likely the most common of the algae behind roof discoloration, especially widespread in the Gulf States.

For shingle roofs, ARMA’s method is household bleach and water, mixed to the shingle maker’s directions and left on for at least 15 and no more than 20 minutes, then gently rinsed. It warns against a power washer or any brush or broom, because high pressure can damage asphalt roofing and scrubbing loosens granules.

Owens Corning’s bulletin agrees: a 1:1 bleach and water mix for about 10 to 20 minutes, no scrubbing and no high-pressure washing, then a thorough flush of the roof and surrounding greenery. Owens Corning also says it has not seen evidence that algae deposits affect shingle performance, so cleaning a shingle roof is mainly about how it looks.

Any other chemical on shingle, ARMA says, needs the shingle maker’s approval. If you know your shingle brand, tell us when you book, and we will follow its directions.

Metal roofs need a mix that will not harm the coating and a thorough rinse around fasteners and seams. If the panel maker supplied care instructions, send them and we will work to them; see our metal roof cleaning page for more.

Concrete tile has its own limits. Eagle Roofing Products recommends plain water for routine cleaning, never above 1,200 psi, as more pressure can change the tile’s pH and discolor it; for heavy growth it allows only very dilute, concrete-compatible cleaners.

Tile needs low pressure and safe footing so older tile and mortar aren’t stressed. Two-story homes, common in recent listings, are worked from safe walk zones well back from the eaves on every roof type.

Eagle calls a wet tile roof difficult and dangerous to walk, and ARMA notes that any cleaned roof is slippery and that only trained professionals should be on it. Our crew uses fall protection on two-story homes of every material.

The par-72 course, designed by Gordy Lewis and Jed Azinger, is described as one of the longest in Southwest Florida, and many homes back onto it. Slopes facing fairway trees or water stay damp longest and are the ones we look at first.

Plants are soaked before treatment, pool equipment is covered and runoff is directed away from lakes and preserve. ARMA asks that solution be applied with care to protect both the building and the landscaping, and we rinse beds again at the end.

Each roof is photographed before we start, with lifted shingles, loose fasteners or cracked tile noted. Repairs are a roofer’s job, but you will know what we saw.

Results are temporary on every material. ARMA says plainly that discoloration may recur after cleaning, so we do not promise a set number of years.

Algae-resistant shingles, Owens Corning explains, use metals such as copper in the granules. Even so, ARMA’s point that cleaning is only temporary applies to every roof, and an older shingle roof of either kind is cleaned with the same light touch.

Amenities include a renovated clubhouse with a fitness room and library, plus courts, fields, a playground and a roller hockey rink. Clubhouse and pavilion roofs belong to the association and are quoted to the board separately from private homes.

Valleys and gutters are cleared by hand before any solution goes on, and gutters and downspouts are flushed at the end. On shingle the debris is lifted out by hand rather than swept, since ARMA rules out brooms and brushes on the roof surface, and the bagged debris is carried away instead of being washed into the beds below.

Villas and low-rise condo buildings share roofs between owners. Cleaning a whole building at once avoids a clean section beside a dark one, and we quote the building to whoever maintains it.

Single-story roofs of any material start at $299, two-story roofs at $399, and tile with ridge cap treatment at $349. Adding the stucco walls to the roof job starts at $599; see roof cleaning for our method.

Crews are registered with the Stoneybrook gate ahead of each visit, and we carry a license and insurance with a certificate available to any association. Call 239-544-1165 to book your roof, whatever it is made of.