Dark Stains on your Roof – Innocent Villain

This article goes into how algae and other simple life forms damage our homes.  Those streaks on your roof, what are they?  Some people think it means the roof is getting near the end of its useful life, but that’s usually not correct.  The dark stains that show up, often in streaks, is algae.  It’s a strain of blue-green algae that has adapted itself to a dark colour, to avoid being burned up in the bright sun.  This is proliferating all over North America.  Aside from being an eyesore, it’s harmful.  It’s the same with siding and concrete walls.

Moss, mold, mildew, lichen and algae are simple life forms whose seeds are spores, which are carried in the wind constantly.  When they find favorable conditions, they grow quickly. If there’s moisture, warmth, shade and slight impurities on almost any surface, for parts of days, and there is any tendency for an acid environment, that’s all it takes.  The more of these conditions and the longer they are present, the faster the simple life forms will grow.

Why do I call algae an innocent villain?  On the positive side, they are just innocently doing what they were designed to do. They’re an amazing work of wonder in nature. Do you realize how much oxygen around the earth is created by algae and its buddies?  Well, I don’t either, but it’s a huge amount.  I’ve read that because they are so plentiful, they outdo trees in this wonderful regard.  That’s why Burns Bog is called the “lungs of the Lower Mainland”.  So they sure are innocent of damaging people, in terms of the atmosphere.  They are also the first and probably the most important force for biodegradation. Dead trees, plants, and so on are turned into healthy soil, with the additional help of larger plants, bugs, worms and animals. 

On the negative side, when it comes to the building products that make up our homes, they are trying to break those down in just the same way.  For economical, health and family reasons, we need these things to last!  We need to use building materials that are strong and resilient.  We also need to protect those materials that are exposed to the weather.  We are preserving them against the microbe onslaught. If we want to keep our homes in good shape, algae is a villain.

Now, we see people painting and scrubbing, pressure washing and scraping to protect their homes.  Sometimes they’re damaging those surfaces.  Tame nature’s destructive qualities in a more gentle and helpful way.  Use the services of ROTban Corp to sterilize and preserve them.