Building Cleaning Blog
What’s in the Name ROTban™?
5 August 2022
The problem of ROT is a basic human challenge. From food to building products, rot costs you. Solving this problem, you save money. You achieve lasting beauty and health in many areas of life. Our trademarked brand, ROTban, means ban the rot. Stop the rot. We focus on stopping rot and other kinds of destructive […]
Continue ReadingSafety Matters on Ladders – DIY Friends!
18 July 2022
Doing it yourself? Ladders are often involved. A couple of weeks ago, I took a break and spent time with family at an Irish Dance Competition. It was in Montreal, and 8 of us travelled by air to get together at this exciting event. Spirits were high. We were having fun. The mood changed immediately […]
Continue ReadingBuilding Enclosures – Roof Tools and Safety Wear and Tear
28 May 2022
Roof damage has been a hidden and costly result of various trades using uneducated, careless, and sometimes downright unscrupulous methods of work. After the problem of roofers taking short cuts, and doing improper installations, physical roof moss removal is the next big culprit. We deal with sloped roofing here because there are fewer issues with […]
Continue ReadingBuilding Enclosures – Siding Cleaning Errors
16 March 2022
Siding cleaning must be done with a gentle process to avoid creating rot on the inside of the exterior walls. Typically, in Greater Vancouver, homes are clad with self sealed systems consisting of siding and an underlayment. Any injection of water beyond these two protection products is trapped within the wall, causing rot. The rot […]
Continue ReadingHow Long Do Cedar Roofs Last?
29 September 2021
There are five important variables that influence the lifetime of a cedar roof. The age of the tree when it’s harvested, the splitting or sawing system, the installer, the climate of the location, and the maintenance it receives. A story I’ve heard many times in this industry is of value as an illustration. The person […]
Continue ReadingThe Destructive Biotic Community on Your Roof
17 September 2021
In this article, there’s scientific information, which in short form, explains how various simple plants are designed to help one another make a kind of garden together, for the mutual benefit of getting food. They help each other work together in nature, to digest of dead stuff. This is important, because if, for example, dead […]
Continue ReadingMillions of Raindrops Will Work for Free
10 September 2021
Nature does a lot of things for us. Useful power is created from simple sunlight, tidal movements, dams, gravity, heat in the earth, and winds. But have you ever considered how much cleaning goes on during a simple rainfall? A 500 square foot area of exterior wall or roof will receive about 30 million raindrops […]
Continue ReadingWhat is Soft Wash?
27 August 2021
Soft Wash is an important new category of exterior house and building cleaning. The point is to get a building clean without damaging the surfaces. Engineers, architects, builders and practical minded people are more and more aware that past methods of cleaning have been wearing out materials, and damaging them. Soft Washing is an important […]
Continue ReadingLet the Buyer Beware
29 July 2021
The above photo was taken on April 30, 2021 at Clayburn Creek Trail in Abbotsford. The suds were the result of a contractor cleaning the roofs at a nearby townhouse complex. People who were taking a walk to enjoy a lovely quiet forest creek were shocked to find that it was brimming over with these […]
Continue ReadingThe biggest roof cleaning goof-up I’ve ever seen.
22 April 2021
In about 2008, a customer from a lovely traffic-calmed neighbourhood in Cloverdale called me. He asked me to look at his next-door neighbour’s roof. “I think you need to come right away”, he said, “I really mean it!” We had restored and treated this customer’s cedar roof, and what he had seen happening next door […]
Continue Reading