Hello,
Can anyone tell me if there is a cure for black fungus problems on asphalt shingles? I live in northern AL where it is a big problem. Seems I heard on TV that there is nothing to do but live with it or get a new roof preferably metal.
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We use zinc strips here, under the top course of shingles. Seems to work good.
It may or may not work for you. I don't live in Alabama so my advice might be worthless.
<I don't live in Alabama so my advice might be worthless.>
I think we can all learn something from that statement.
Forrest
You should all know by now my advice is worthless. You didn't need me to spell it out for you.
rockleah,
Don't know about black fungus , but was told recently by a roofer in my area(oregon) that he has used a powdered laundry detergent sprinkled over his roof once a year to stop our everpresent moss.
I will try to get which brand from him again because he said it was a specific brand.
(Oregon too) I don't think that's powdered laundry det. I think that's "moss-b-gone" or whatever else they call it. Comes in a tall cannister looks like laundry det. on the roof--white powder--but it's Zinc.
Shake it down on the ridges, rain washes it down over shingles and like the strips, zinc kills the moss.
I think it's environmentally pretty safe too as it's just zinc--concentrated right on your roof but diluted out to the street or in the yard.
Waters,
No , he was quite explicit. I questioned him about where he had learned it from and he told me his wife had read it somewhere so they tried it themselves and it worked.
I will get ahold of him tomorrow and ask him the brand name. I am familiar with Moss-B-Gone, the Zink strips and copper. I have (when copper wasn't worth a fortune in scrap ) strung common house wire stripped of it's insulation across a roof just below the ridge as a moss deterent. Used fencing staples into the ridge to hold it in place.
I wonder what it is in the laundry det that works?
Let me /us know the brand would ya?
rock.... zinc strips work great, copper works better
most shingle mfrs offer copper granules mixed in with the color granules now to control algae & moss
in your case, i'd make up some 2"copper strips with a 1/8 kick at the bottom for turbulence... install them 1" under the bottom edge of the top course ( not the cap course )
the rain will leech out the copper and kill all the algae over about one season
I am curious to hear if there is an answer to this too. I can drive down the street of our neighborhood and see 25 year old roofs that are "clean" and two year old ones that have the ugly black streaks. All of them are on the same side of the street and in the same condition as far as sunlight etc.
I am getting ready to do my own roof and wonder what has changed in the roofing to cause this. Mine is 29 years old, and although it is starting to fail, it does not have any streaks. I will be pretty PO'd if I spend a lot of time and energy doing the roof, only to have the problem in a couple of years.
Do different colors make a difference ? Manufacturer ?
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Edited 4/15/2007 11:55 am ET by MrBill
Generally this is algae, not fungus, though both can be problems (as can be moss, in rarer cases). Near-term solution is to treat the roof with a chlorine bleach solution (be sure to use FRESH bleach -- don't recall the proportion). Bleach will eliminate the algae or fungus instantly, though moss is a bit harder to kill.
Long term solution is zinc or copper strips, installed under the edge of the ridge cap. The metal slowly dissolves and kills any new growth. (If you don't believe this, note how the black staining is absent below any zinc-coated hardware on your roof.)
You can buy shingles which incorporate zinc or copper into the granules, but they aren't available in the lighter colors where they're most needed.
If you don't believe this, note how the black staining is absent below any zinc-coated hardware on your roof.
Wish I could find a pic BobWalker posted here a while back of I think it was chimney flashing which showed that perfectly.
(That's a hint Bob if you're reading this.)
Parolee # 53804
Edited 4/15/2007 3:28 pm ET by rez
bump
Parolee # 53804
>>>>>>>>>>You can buy shingles which incorporate zinc or copper into the granules, but they aren't available in the lighter colors where they're most needed.Not so - just the opposite is true. They don't put the copper flakes in the dark colors. All light colors sold here are available in AR (algae resistant) models.http://grantlogan.net/
Well, I may be wrong, but I was given to understand that the metals impart a color, making it impossible (or maybe just expensive) to achieve a pure white.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I've never seen a pure white shingle. The purest that I've seen, lean a little toward the gray side or have a slight sprinkling of red or green aggregate mixed with the white. May be that the product you get is different due to the colder climate. We've just been getting AR shingles for about 10-12 years, but now there's no choice. Everything but the blacks and near blacks are AR.http://grantlogan.net/
The dry detergent they use sround here on roofs(pacific northwest) is Tide brand
Vikingvood,
I thought that might be it , but wanted check with the roofer to be sure before posting it. Thanks for the confirmation.
Does it actually work?
Slightly off topic but readers may be interested to learn that houses near whisky distilleries often have a fungal coating on the roof and walls, apparently caused by the evaporation from the barrels of whisky.
Seems to me there was a discussion of this problem, maybe 10 years ago, in the JLC,(I think), part of the discussion centered around the fact that this black "pluming" was caused by a mineral used in the makeup of the shingles themselves, I don't recall if it was related to fiberglass or organic mat shingles or both.
Maybe some one recalls this article? or has heard of this discussion?
I know for sure it was not related to algi or fungus growth but was a "spot" that started somewhere mid-roof that "plumed" downward and out ward (like an up-side down cone). Supposedly, that spot was a piece of this mineral being exposed and causing the plumage.
Geoff
You have just described excactly what is on my 8 year old roof (I thought it was from the
80 ft. oak trees at first but the pattern does not follow the tree spread.) Any answers would be helpful. Thanks.