Soft washing man-made artificial roof slates requires a deeper understanding of the roofing materials than does soft washing natural slate roof tiles. 

Treating man-made artificial roof slates with Benz Bio Cleanze is also a very different process to just hitting them with dangerously strong hypo mixes.

Watch the video below in which Ben explains the process step-by-step: 

Can damage to fibre-cement artificial roof slates be repaired?

The coating on artificial roof slates breaks down over time and exposes the white cement base of the slate. There's nothing anyone can do about this, it's just the nature of artificial slates. 

Fortunately the damage will usually only be to the surface coating, which can be repainted. Most of the time the slates themselves will remain sound.

Skilled soft washing does not damage artificial fibre-cement roof slates. This can be proven by looking at any recently replaced slates and comparing them to older slates. The damage will be inconsistent; the more recently replaced slates will have the coating intact but on the older slates it may be missing.

Quick tips:

1) Always take "before" close-up photos of every soft washing contract, so you have clear photographic evidence of any pre-existing damage that soft wash cleaning may reveal after the bio-film of algae, lichen and moss growth has been removed.

2) A competent contractor will inform their customer in advance of what they can expect to see following soft washing of their roof.

Then, when the algae, moss and lichen is removed and the underlying, already existing, condition of the tiles revealed, customers will be prepared and will not blame the contractor for causing the damage.

3) Even with the coating degraded the tiles themselves will usually still be structurally sound. But as the smooth coating wears, away the tile will become more susceptible to algae, lichen and moss growth. This is a strong selling point for regular "Clean & Maintain" treatments.

Click the links below to learn more about soft washing man-made artificial fibre-cement roof slates:

• Part 1 of a two-part Trade Tips post coving the treatment of man-made, artificial composite fibre-cement roof slates
  
• Part 2 of this two-part Trade Tips post

 
We hope this information is helpful and sincerely wish you great success in your soft washing business,

Ben, Leo, Fiona, Stevie & Anthony

Click here to get more practical soft washing how-to tips

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Order Benz Softwash chemicals & equipment online or by phone:

GB (England, Scotland, Wales)

Phone: 0800 70 74 222 

Online: www.benzsoftwash.co.uk

Ireland and other countries

Phone: 00353 214 622 978

Online: www.benzsoftwash.com

Lines open Monday - Friday, 9am – 5pm

Please note: The above numbers are for orders only (click here for tech support)

PS: Click here to set up your "Clean & Maintain" programme. After completing an initial soft wash treatment, put your customer on a "Clean & Maintain" ongoing maintenance programme. Your customers will enjoy a permanently clean property and you will enjoy a steady stream of repeat business.

This is clearly a win-win arrangement for you and your customers.

Click here to explore the extensive range of Benz softwash cleaning chemicals & equipment