Questions homeowners ask before hiring a roof cleaner.

Not the way you might be picturing it. Most roofs get a combination of hand brushing and low-pressure washing — never a high-pressure blast, which strips granules and shortens shingle life. Which technique we lean on depends on the moss and the shingle: low pressure is gentler and removes fewer granules, but brushing alone won't lift stains or black algae, so most jobs use both. (Pressure washing elsewhere on your property — a deck, driveway, or siding — is a separate, surface-specific service; see our Pressure Washing page for how we handle that.)

Yes. It's an OMRI-listed organic treatment, US-made — no zinc, bleach, or peroxide. The active ingredient is potassium salts of fatty acids, essentially a plant-based soap, and it's labeled safe for waterways, fish, gardens, plants, and animals. Compare that to zinc sulfate, the other product you'll see recommended for moss: it's genuinely toxic to breathe and rough on plants and animals. We don't use it, and we don't use bleach or peroxide either.

Moss retains water, roots into the shingles, and holds moisture against them — in bad cases it works its way all the way through the shingle into the wood underneath, and it grows in the cracks and lifts and separates shingles as it spreads. It matters for reasons beyond damage, too — getting a roof ready to sell, meeting an insurance company's requirements, or just keeping the place looking cared for. The one exception is a roof that's already near the end of its life: if cleaning won't buy it meaningful years, we'll tell you that instead of taking the job.

We use a safe, US-made treatment — no zinc, bleach, or peroxide. We can install zinc strips if a customer specifically wants them, but we don't recommend it: they mean nail holes in your roof, which are leak hazards, they don't look great, and in our experience they're not as effective as an actual treatment. If you'd still like them installed, pricing runs roughly $2 per foot on a non-steep roof and $5 per foot on a steep one.

OMRI stands for Organic Materials Review Institute, the third-party body that verifies a product meets organic standards. In our treatment, that means potassium salts of fatty acids blended with biodegradable surfactants — the surfactants are what let it bond to the roof and keep working instead of rinsing off in the first hard rain, which is part of why it holds up better than a mainstream sulfate-based product.

If you want extra reassurance around food-safe planting beds, there's a Worry Free–branded alternative made from vinegar and citric acid instead of our standard treatment. It typically costs more, since it takes roughly three times the product to do the same job, but it's there if you want it.

It depends on the size, pitch, and condition of your roof — we'll give you an exact number before any work starts, not a range.

In the past, Jesse has matched pricing against other companies — but only if that competitor could show active CCB registration, workers' comp insurance, and Department of Agriculture chemical-applicator licensing. It's a way of making sure a price comparison is apples-to-apples, not us against an unlicensed operation underbidding on purpose.

Using satellite imagery and Google's measuring tools, we can put together an accurate bid without driving out to look — it saves gas, time, and unnecessary emissions. If you'd rather we walk the roof with you first, just say so.

Three things: that the company is licensed with the Oregon CCB (check at oregon.gov/CCB), that whoever's applying treatment is licensed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and that they carry workers' comp if they have employees on your roof. We're covered on all three — CCB# 214684, Commercial Chemical Operator #AG-L1007486CPO, and workers' comp.

Because finding a leak can take real time. A cleaning estimate is something we can size up from photos or satellite imagery — the cause is usually plainly visible. A leak can take an hour or more of climbing around and testing before we know what's actually causing it, and if we hand that diagnosis over for free, there's nothing stopping someone from taking it to a cheaper bidder. We charge for the investigative work, not for guessing. We stand behind the repairs themselves with photo documentation of what we found and what we did.

Usually a week or two, though we'll always try to work in something urgent. Either way, you'll have your estimate and report back the same day or the next business day.

Yes — CCB #214684 with the Oregon Construction Contractors Board, and licensed with the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture — Commercial Chemical Operator #AG-L1007486CPO — for anyone applying roof treatment, plus workers' comp coverage on the crew. All three matter for different reasons: the CCB license covers the contracting work itself, the chemical-operator license covers the treatment application (Oregon requires it), and workers' comp protects you if someone's hurt on your property.

Oregon requires anyone applying moss prevention or treatment to be licensed by the Department of Agriculture — it's not optional paperwork, it's a customer protection. An unlicensed applicator isn't accountable to that state oversight if something goes wrong, and you have little real recourse. Checking that license, along with CCB registration and workers' comp, is the fastest way to tell a legitimate company from a truck-and-a-hose operation.

Yes, and we think every roofing company should. They're safer for whoever's on the roof, they mean we're not poking new holes and resealing your shingles on every visit, and they cut down on wear at the ridge. Installed anchors typically run around $150 each, going in under the ridge cap. We don't let other contractors use ours on a roof we've installed them on — once we've put our name on the install, we're responsible for it.

No — we're licensed, bonded, and insured to work in Oregon only (CCB #214684, Commercial Chemical Operator #AG-L1007486CPO, workers' comp), and we stick to that license. We serve the Portland metro on the Oregon side, including Portland, West Linn, Clackamas, Happy Valley, Milwaukie, Lake Oswego, Oregon City, Sandy, and Gresham.

We guarantee our work and our workmanship — we don't guarantee what nature does. Materials and labor, we stand behind. Weather, moss regrowth, and how a roof ages are outside anyone's control, and we won't pretend otherwise.

Both, in different ways. Moss removal itself is immediate — the moss physically comes off the shingle the day we're there. But the organic treatment that keeps it from coming back needs about a month to fully soak in and kill the spores at the root, rather than just knocking back what's visible on the surface. That's a deliberate trade-off: a slower-acting treatment that actually kills at the root beats a fast one that just scrapes the surface and lets moss grow back sooner.

With our treatment — and an optional maintenance plan — far longer than a one-time scrub. The goal is to keep moss from re-establishing, not just knock it back for a season.

It varies by roof — how much shade it gets, what's growing nearby, which way it faces. Most roofs do well with treatment once a year; roofs under heavy tree cover, or catching up after years without treatment, sometimes start on a twice-a-year schedule before dropping back to annual. We'll tell you what your roof actually needs, not a one-size answer.

We don't put a specific timeframe on it, and we're skeptical of companies that do — that's usually a newer outfit that hasn't seen enough roofs yet to know better. What we guarantee is that we'll do the treatment we said we'd do. What we recommend is staying ahead of it: if you see green starting to come back, call us and we'll treat it before it turns into moss again.

Two separate things. If freezing temperatures or heavy rain are forecast for your appointment day, we'd rather move the date than apply treatment under conditions that compromise it — Portland weather gets a vote in scheduling. Once treatment is properly applied, a little rain afterward isn't necessarily a problem.

Moss removal sized to what your roof needs, the OMRI-listed organic treatment, standard gutter cleaning (clearing the tops of gutter guards and making sure spouts run clear), a full photo-documented roof inspection, and hard-surface cleanup around the house afterward — all at no extra charge beyond the quoted price. Guard removal/reinstallation, raking debris out of grass or planting beds, and repairs beyond small spot-fixes are the main things outside the standard bid; we'll flag those separately before we start.

Both. Every cleaning includes a full inspection, and we handle the repairs we find so small issues don't turn into expensive ones.

A full roof inspection with photos, emailed directly to you — so you can see exactly what we saw, with nothing left to guesswork.

Yes, standard gutter cleaning is part of the job — we'll clean the tops of gutter guards and make sure the spouts are running clear at no extra charge. If guards need to actually come off and go back on, that's a separate job, so let us know ahead of time if that applies to you.

Yes — we clean all the hard surfaces around your house with a blower, a pressure washer, and a broom, and leave the property cleaner than we found it. Raking debris out of grass or planting beds is outside the standard bid, so ask if you'd like that included.

If they're glass, yes — using your Windex and paper towels, billed at our labor rate starting at a half hour. We don't touch plastic skylights. We also work close to the roof surface on purpose to keep overspray off your skylights in the first place; if we ever do get one dirty during a job, we'll clean it at no charge.

A short checklist: unlock any gates so we can reach the roof and gutters, have your front water spigot open and accessible (we use it for the treatment and cleanup), close all windows before we start, bring pet dishes inside and keep pets — especially dogs — inside while we're working, and take care of any bee hive on the property beforehand. Let us know ahead of time if you have gutter guards installed or more bees around than usual, since it changes the bid.

A scheduled yearly — sometimes twice-yearly for heavily shaded roofs — treatment, gutter cleaning, and photo-documented inspection, so you're never guessing when moss is coming back; we're already on the schedule to treat it before it's a problem again. A standard annual visit starts around $190 total for service and product, with gutter cleaning included on most homes.