Moss Removal for Lantzville Roofs, Shops and Paths

In Lantzville, moss follows the trees and the slope of the land. Many lots are big enough that the Douglas fir and western red cedar were left standing when the house went in, and those trees now shade the roof for most of the day between October and March. A shaded roof stays wet after every rain, and a roof that never dries is where moss takes hold.

We work across Upper Lantzville, above the Island Highway, and down through Lower Lantzville toward the water. Most visits start with hand removal of the roof moss and finish with a treatment to slow it coming back.

Where it grows on a Lantzville roof

Three places account for most of the moss we scrape off roofs in this town:

• Pitches facing the trees instead of the sky. A slope under a fir canopy might see direct winter sun for an hour on a clear afternoon, if at all. The moss on that side is usually thicker and wetter than on the open side of the same house.
• Valleys and the bottom few courses. Needles slide down and collect where two slopes meet and just above the gutter. They hold water against the shingle, and moss roots into the mat they form.
• Outbuilding roofs. A detached shop or garage is often lower, tucked closer to the tree line and seldom looked at from above. Its roof is regularly further gone than the house.

Upper and Lower Lantzville are different jobs

Lower Lantzville runs down to the Strait of Georgia, and the ground there falls away to the northeast. On a house built across that slope, the pitch facing the water is also the pitch turned away from the sun. Fog and damp air off the strait linger on it on mornings when roofs further inland have already dried. Expect to see moss on the water side first.

Upper Lantzville sits back from the shoreline, with larger acreages and more forest edge. Sea air matters less up there and tree cover matters more. A roof standing in a clearing can stay fairly clean, while a neighbour ringed by cedar grows a full green mat in two or three winters.

The roofs we work on here

Housing in Lantzville ranges from older homes on the original lots to recent builds, and the roofing varies with age. Each material gets its own approach.

Asphalt shingles are the most common. We lift the moss by hand with plastic scrapers and soft brushes, working downhill so the granules stay put. The method is set out on our asphalt shingle roofs page.

Cedar shake turns up on some older houses and outbuildings. Wet shake bruises easily, so we work slower and lighter, and clear the gaps between shakes so the wood can dry. The cedar shake roofs page explains what changes.