Roof soft washing in Loveladies

What tends to get noticed

• Moss or lichen sitting in the shingle courses on a shaded roof
• A neighbour's roof cleaned last year that still looks clean, next to yours that does not
• Black streaks running down the shingles, usually worst below a chimney or a vent

Why this comes up in Loveladies

Lots here are deep and many of them are genuinely wooded, with pine, cedar and bayberry between the houses. That shade is the difference: it holds moisture against the siding long after the rest of the island has dried, and it drops organic debris into gutters and onto decks year round. That is the context any crew working in Loveladies is dealing with.

The most architecturally distinctive stock on the island: large contemporary houses, many of them from the rebuilding that followed the 1962 storm, clad in cedar shake or vertical cedar board with very large areas of glass and multi-level decking.

Practicalities in Loveladies

The largest lots on the island, with room to work — but the houses sit well back, decks wrap several elevations, and the bay side of a bayfront lot is often only reachable through the property.

Coating work needs a permit through Long Beach Township, and no municipality in New Jersey will issue one to an unregistered contractor.

What happens on site

The black streaking is a cyanobacteria, Gloeocapsa magma, that feeds on limestone filler in asphalt shingles. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association's guidance is low pressure and a cleaning solution; pressure washing strips granules and is excluded under most shingle warranties. Ask what pressure the crew works at and what they do to protect the gutters, plantings and the run-off path before they start.