The crew behind Parksville Moss Removal

Parksville Moss Removal is here for a single job: taking moss off roofs on this stretch of the Island, along with the walkways, driveways and window frames it spreads to.

We started in 2021. Five years on, the method is the one we began with: hand tools, sure footing on the slope, and a roof left cleaner than we found it.

We are locally owned and operated, insured and WCB-registered. Our guarantee is plain. Tell us a slope we cleared falls short, and we come back and make it right.

Oceanside weather and moss

Most of the rain on this coast falls between October and April. Summers here are dry enough to turn moss brown, but it is only dormant; once the rain returns it greens up and keeps spreading right through the winter.

Trees decide most of the rest. Douglas fir and western red cedar shade a roof and drop needles and fronds into the shingle courses, where they hold water. Bigleaf maple adds leaves and seed keys in the fall, and arbutus sheds bark and leaves in summer.

That is why two houses a few streets apart can look nothing alike from above. A roof on an open lot near the water may carry very little, while one on an acreage under tall timber in Coombs or Hilliers can be green from eave to ridge. We look at the trees before we put a number on a job.

On the roof

We work from the ridge downward, in the direction the shingles lie, with plastic scrapers and soft-bristle brushes. Going with the lap of each shingle keeps the tabs flat and the granules in place. We treat washing as part of the trade: a low-pressure soft wash is our standard, higher pressure is reserved for tasks that call for it, like concrete driveways and walkways, and asphalt shingles and cedar shakes never get high pressure.

• Flower beds, shrubs and ponds under the eaves are covered before we climb.
• Mats of moss come away first, then the valleys, ridge and courses are brushed out.
• A moss treatment goes on afterwards if you ask for one.
• Every bag of moss rides away in our truck, and walkways and decks get swept.

From up top we notice what the lawn hides: a split shake, a curled shingle, flashing lifting at a chimney or skylight. You hear what it is and where, and you choose what happens next.

How a roof gets priced

There is no flat rate, because roofs around here vary too much. A single-storey home on a level lot in French Creek is a different job from a steep two-storey roof under fir in Nanoose Bay.

The quote takes in:

• Roof area and the number of storeys
• Pitch, and how we reach each slope safely
• Material: asphalt shingle, cedar shake, tile or metal
• Depth of the moss and how established it has become
• Extras such as a treatment, the driveway or the walkways

The address and a phone photo of the greenest slope are a good start. Quotes cost nothing, and the price is in your hands before any work begins.

Moss returns, and we say so

On a shaded Oceanside roof, moss will come back. What changes is the pace. Treatment after clearing, zinc strips near the ridge and pruning back overhanging limbs all slow it, and a roof looked after on a regular schedule seldom builds the deep mats that do the harm. Once we have seen your roof, we can give you an honest idea of how often it will need us.