Roof cleaning and moss removal in Leeds

On your street

Why Leeds roofs green up on one side

Moss wants shade and damp, so it takes the north-facing slope first. In practice that means the roofs that green up worst here are the ones backing onto mature trees and the ones sitting low in the valleys: Meanwood, the wooded edges of Roundhay and Adel, Weetwood, and the streets running down towards Kirkstall and the river. Two identical houses on opposite sides of the same street can be ten years apart in how bad it gets.

Tile type decides how much damage it does. The concrete interlocking tiles on the postwar and 1960s estates around Cookridge, Tinshill, Whinmoor and Seacroft are porous once their surface has weathered, and moss roots into that surface and holds water in it. Natural slate on the older terraces sheds moss more readily but suffers more when somebody attacks it with a pressure washer.

That is the local warning worth repeating. There is a steady trade in Leeds of jet washing roofs cheaply, and on a forty-year-old concrete tile it strips the remaining surface off, takes years off the roof and looks excellent for about one summer. Soft washing and a biocide is slower, costs about the same, and does not sell you a re-roof three years early.

There is a longer answer on the method, including when the right thing to do is leave the moss alone. the guide to moss on a roof, what roof moss removal costs, gutter repairs and cleaning and the best time of year to do it.