Community Forums

eddndee · 08-23-2021, 08:56 PM

DW said her friend uses a product called Spear and Jackson’s Spray & Leave on the roof of his RV. This is a cleaner to mitigate mold and algae growth. I keep my roof cleaned often enough to not suffer from that but I wonder if anyone else has any experience with this product? Here in the Pacific Northwest mold and algae can quickly be a problem for neglected roofs.

Gary RVRoamer · 08-24-2021, 02:42 PM

Perhaps she meant Spray & Forget? It's a stain remover - don't know if there is any residual preventive action. I've not ever used it myself.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Spray-Fo...CG04/312634180

Badjuju · 08-24-2021, 05:22 PM

Pretty sure that's the same stuff, or at least the same formula active, that people use on their vinyl siding to kill and inhibit future growth of mold or algae or whatever grows on the north side and roof of houses. I'm no chemist but I doubt it will hurt RV roofs if it's suitable for vinyl. I haven't used it--yet--but people in the midwest swear by it for keeping their house from turning green/brown/black.

tap4154 · 08-24-2021, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Perhaps she meant Spray & Forget? It's a stain remover - don't know if there is any residual preventive action. I've not ever used it myself.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Spray-Fo...CG04/312634180

I used that product on my clay tile roof over a year ago, it was starting to get some minor algae growth. It takes a while to work but it did work. It took probably four months until it cleaned everything up. It really needs a lot of sun, rain and wind cycles for it to work, and I believe it does have inhibitive effect, because no mold or algae is coming back.

You need to read the ingredients on these products, because some of them are basically just watered-down bleach. This one is not, it actually has an agent that kills the algae. By the way it doesn't say say recommended for RV roofs, they're mainly for clay, asphalt, cement and wood shingles.

eddndee · 08-24-2021, 10:21 PM

Yes Gary, it doesn’t mention RV roofs which is why I asked. BadJuJu makes a good point though, if it is ok for vinyl it is probably ok on RV roofs. Thnx for your reply(s).

153stars · 08-26-2021, 05:36 AM

I used spray and forget on my Acrylic awnings ,it did kill small mildew spots ,that's what I wanted . Obviously it didn't clean the awnings completely just like it won't clean a whole roof of dirt but will kill bio-growth ,that I'm sure helps hold the dirt.
If you go online you can see 100s of pics of how well it works. If you only had 15 minutes instead of an hour or two to scrub ,I'm sure it would help some.

Gary RVRoamer · 08-26-2021, 11:01 AM

I think the active ingredient in those is peroxide. Whatever it is, oxidizers that kill off mold rarely have much residual action - the chemicals do their thing for minutes or hours, but usually not days. Unless maybe its embedded in a paste or oily finish of some sort. Of course if you kill off the mold, it's a while before it grows back. Maybe several months before it becomes visible again.

astrnmrtom · 08-26-2021, 03:04 PM

If you are referring to Wet and Forget, the active ingredient is: 1.65% Alkydiemthylbezyl ammonium chloride. It's an anti microbial, anti fungal, surfactant.

Not only used it on my composite decking, roof and vinyl siding, we used it at work on tennis courts in lieu of pressure washing in the Pacific Northwest. I felt the stuff was wonderful. I avoided buying it for years because the claims seemed too good to be true. I was wrong. It really does do what it claims. The drawback is it takes weeks to months of direct weather exposure to work.

I didn't use it on my RV roof because I kept it under cover. If it was stored outside I might have been tempted to try it. It doesn't really remove imbedded dirt but it does work great on algae and mildew. I can't imagine it could be harmful to an RV roof.

gmc70 · 08-26-2021, 04:29 PM

We use wet and forget for showers and baths and works great. It is not a snake oil product and would think the product for outdoors would work equally well. My only question would be, when it rains would the run off from the chemicals that prevent the mildew also remove the wax on sides and rainx on the windshield.

tap4154 · 08-26-2021, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrnmrtom

If you are referring to Wet and Forget, the active ingredient is: 1.65% Alkydiemthylbezyl ammonium chloride. It's an anti microbial, anti fungal, surfactant.

Not only used it on my composite decking, roof and vinyl siding, we used it at work on tennis courts in lieu of pressure washing in the Pacific Northwest. I felt the stuff was wonderful. I avoided buying it for years because the claims seemed too good to be true. I was wrong. It really does do what it claims. The drawback is it takes weeks to months of direct weather exposure to work.

I didn't use it on my RV roof because I kept it under cover. If it was stored outside I might have been tempted to try it. It doesn't really remove imbedded dirt but it does work great on algae and mildew. I can't imagine it could be harmful to an RV roof.

According to Wet & Forget it is safe to use on RV roofs.

http://www.wetandforget.com/blog/2019/04/12/rv-camping-and-vacation-tips/

When I bought the Spray and Forget that I used my clay tile roof, Wet & Forget was not available in California. I contacted the owner, and he replied that he couldn't deal with the California EPA. I don't know if it's available now, but Spray and Forget always has been. I think they have similar ingredients, and again the Spray and Forget worked great on my tile roof. It does take time however.

Badjuju · 08-26-2021, 06:12 PM

Question: If one were to use a pressure washer to remove the accumulated spooge from the roof/siding and then spray the Wet-n-Forget as a preventative for future growth, would that work even better?

ArtJoyce · 08-26-2021, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Perhaps she meant Spray & Forget? It's a stain remover - don't know if there is any residual preventive action. I've not ever used it myself.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Spray-Fo...CG04/312634180

I used spray and forget on my roof and the north side of my house. It kills the green algae that grows and kills the dark mold. The green algae is killed quickly also becomes dark. but it takes about 3 months of rain for the entire process to work. I believe it leaves micro parts of coper or zinc on the surface. its 3-4 years until the problem comes back.

astrnmrtom · 08-26-2021, 06:50 PM

Unless something was really dirty, I never pre-cleaned and used it as a preventative. For me, it was a spring application when there was still a couple months of rainy weather ahead. I used to pressure wash my house and decks every year in the early summer. My back deck was on the North side of the house and it, along with the North siding would get green. With a spring application, the green was gone by early summer. Nice! One time I tried a late fall application and it still worked well.

We'd originally pressure wash the tennis courts at work in March, and instead, applied the Wet and Forget as an experiment one year. It saved wear and tear on the court surface and even prevented lichen from forming which was the most difficult to remove without damaging the surface. Only needed to hose the dust and dirt off the courts. A lot faster than pressure washing them going back and forth, a 3 inch wide strip at a time. Two of us working pressure washers took 5 full days to get it done. With Wet and Forget, it was a little over a day, blowing them clean and spraying them down. Good stuff!