Tar streaking on roof shingles

G

General Lee

New member
The back side of my roof on my house has alot of "tar runs" from the shingles. It really makes the roof look like crap. The condition of the roof is still in good condition, only 12 years old.



Question is, is it safe to pressure wash the roof. I'm guessing no- out of the possibilty of de-grading the outer layer of the shingles. I always see advertisements for roof and shingle cleaning and wondered if it is safe or worth it, and if it will actually come clean.



Anyone have any advice?
 
You can powerwash your shingles, but it does remove some "life" from them. But, powerwashing doesn't do all that well against tar. It may be worth a shot. Start with the lowest run first and see if it will work.
 
I'm assuming we are talking asphalt shingles here. I wouldn't think that putting a pressure washer on an asphalt shingle would be a good idea. What color are your shingles (light by chance)? Any chance that it's dirt and not tar? Unless the roofer has used some additional tar to seal the tabs I would think it's unusual to have it run out. Ventalation issues can cause the roofing material to overheat and delaminate. One other thought, most shingles have a 15, 20 or 30 year warranty any chance yours falls under one of these. If you are to pursue the warranty issue you need to make sure that your attic/roof is properly ventalated (ridge vent system, roof turtles or power fans). That's one of the first thing roofing manufacturers use to get out of covering a warranty.
 
Gearhead- Yes, asphalt shingles. They are a Tan/beige color on the light side thats why the tar runs stand out. I've noticed alot of the house's in my neigborhood have the same problem. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I have 15 yr shingles, probably your normal contractor grade cheapo's. I bought the house when it was about 7 yrs old. I have been told improper ventilation can cause this (a home inspector told me) I do have a ridge vent and attic vents on both ends of the house but no attic fan. I also have vents located in the House eaves. I wouldn't know who to get a hold of concerning the warranty on them unless you are talking about Home owners Insurance? I wonder if that a possibility?
 
What you think is tar might be dark mildew stains. I've seen that a lot, and our old house had them. I bought some special cleaner for it, applied with a garden sprayer, but it didn't do much for them. I next tried some good old Clorox (applied the same way) and it took most of the stains off (I rinsed with a hose). I can't remember if I diluted it with water or not, but it's worth a try.
 
That's kind of what I was going to suggest. Assuming the shingles are on the light side I would think that Clorox applied with a pressurized weed sprayer might be worth a try.
 
I do not think it is tar. I am willing to bet it is staining from trees and mildew. Very common problem and easily fixed using Clorox, a pressure sprayer (the one you pump by hand and then spray), and a garden hose. Do not use a pressure washer on shingles.



BTW, your ridge/soffit vents are fine. We have the same setup on our house without attic fans and assuming the soffit vents are not clogged, they provide adequate ventilation.
 
TW85 HHI said:
BTW, your ridge/soffit vents are fine. We have the same setup on our house without attic fans and assuming the soffit vents are not clogged, they provide adequate ventilation.
Click to expand...



I hope it didn't come across that I was suggesting that attic fans were the only answer to a heat problem. I listed several possible solutions and there are a couple of different types of fans both powered and non powered. Ultimately what determines which system you go with is how many cubic feet of attic you have to cool. Each system has it place and sometimes a combination of systems is necessary, ridge vent systems alone aren't the system of choice when it comes to large areas in hot climates. There are formulas (though I don't have one at hand) that will help determine how much air you have to move and which system is most appropriate.



Good luck with the shingles, I will be anxious to hear how it turns out.
 
I actually was not even responding to your post. :) Agreed, some houses need a combination of vents and I'm sure our house would be more efficient with one or two fans but I really have a hard time wanting to put large holes in the roof decking considering we are hurricane prone.
 
TW85 HHI said:
........Clorox, a pressure sprayer (the one you pump by hand and then spray), and a garden hose..........
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the type of sprayer I used, not the garden type that hooks to a hose (I should have been more clear on that that).
 
TW85 HHI said:
I actually was not even responding to your post. :) Agreed, some houses need a combination of vents and I'm sure our house would be more efficient with one or two fans but I really have a hard time wanting to put large holes in the roof decking considering we are hurricane prone.
Click to expand...



I just thought that since I had brought it up, maybe the way I had worded it was giving someone the wrong impression. :p
 
I'll give the Clorox a try. It may very well be mildew only. I don't have any trees near by and now that mildew was mentioned... I just cleaned the siding on the entire back of the house the other day due to mildew.



TW85 & Eloit- did you guys agitate w/ a soft brush or just spray clorox and rinse?



Thank you all for the advice, Hopefully some cleaning will do the trick, I really don't want to get a new roof just for this reason.
 
I have never had to clean our shingles (not even a year old yet) but my neighbor has used the Clorox/water solution several times to clean his roof. All he did was spray the solution on, let it sit, and spray off with a strong jet of water. No agitation was needed.



I found this picture from our construction process. This is the neighbor's house I spoke of and the "mess" completely disappeared using the Clorox/water solution:



DSC00069.jpg
 
TW85 HHI said:
........my neighbor has used the Clorox/water solution several times to clean his roof. All he did was spray the solution on, let it sit, and spray off with a strong jet of water. No agitation was needed...........
Click to expand...

Same here, and that's a very good picture of what mine looked like too. Give it a try General, I think it'll do the trick for you.
 
MongooseGA said:
I had heard that stains like this also come from feul being dumped by planes. Any truth in this?
Click to expand...



I have never heard that. There are too many myths regarding planes dumping their fuel and holding tanks while in the air.



Here are a few articles regarding the algae growth:



http://www.askthebuilder.com/082_Black_Algae_Stains_On_Asphalt_Shingles.shtml



http://www.msbuilder.com/lib/ms053.shtml



http://www.hometeaminspection.com/resources/aroundthehouse/Aug04ATH.pdf
 
That pic is exactly the way my roof looks except a little worse. Sunday or Monday I'm going to try to clean it the ways you guys suggested. If I can even lighten the stains some I will be happy.



Thanks for the links as well:up
 
I had great luck with straight bleach. When we bought our house--I was a young 18yrs old, didnt know a thing about houses. Trial and error: bleach works wonders.



The whole west side is covered by a very large oak, The mildew from the oak turned the roof black on one side and looked like white trash. Several gallons later it looked brand new.



I then got a new roof put on a year later since the old one was at least 20 years old. I got black shingles, mildew resistant, with the "3d" look to them. 2 years later, still looks brand new...
 
UPDATE:



well guys I tested a few spots with straight bleach and and rinsed with water straight from my hose nozzle. The spots that *want* to come clean will, however the really bad dark areas take some agitation with a soft bristle brush and a couple applications of bleach, and even then doesn't come out perfect, but a nice improvement.



Its going to take some time and and a little elbow grease but it should make a nice improvement to where I can tolerate looking at it for a while. Thanks again for the tips and advice.



Jason
 
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