Cleaning the roof of my Symphony... ??

I'm really not into housework... REALLY.... but every time I look out onto my van roof from upstairs in my house, I see green......likely algae... on the roof around the vent and aerial... ughh. No way can I reach it to clean- no ladders, can't do heights. Other than taking the van back to the caravan place who did the habitation check and asking them to sort it....how do folk clean the roof area ? More like.. how do you reach it ?

I don't really like ladders, so I only do mine once a year, using one of the 4-way folding ladders to get enough height.

I dislike ladders so much that I bought a 5m scaffold tower so that I could wash the windows and clear the gutters at the back of the house!

A short scaffold tower might be an option for you, but a lot of faff, and you have to store it somewhere (though the parts for a lightweight tower aren't actually that big). Don't know if something like this would be tall enough?:

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Hi there,

With the three perspex hoods of the skylights, the aerial for the radio, the satellite dish and its cable (complete with "sticky" anchors) the bit of free roof space on "Petal" hardly seems to be worth cleaning.

I have only washed "Petal" once (back in May I think it was) and when scrubbing the roof with a soft brush dipped in detergent I managed to tear off one of the "sticky" anchors that hold the satellite cable in place!

Add on to that ....

o I can't normally see it. and,

o A bit of dirt (or algae) isn't going to do any lasting damage.

... and these are the reasons why in the future I only ever intend to clean to the "curvy" bit where the roof disappears from view.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,


PS May we all presume, that as you are thinking of washing the roof in this wet and miserable weather, you have already finished the "new bedding project"; and we can look forward to photographs?


Ian

Thanks both for your input. I'll leave it for now as long as the algae isn't affecting anything. Certainly not climbing ladders or buying scaffolding....and Ian-.the bedding project is still in the planning stages-Ive hardly been at home lately and need to set up my sewing machine for starters !

Minniesmum wrote:........... the bedding project is still in the planning stages-Ive hardly been at home lately and need to set up my sewing machine for starters !

Sewing Machine??

You youngsters have it too easy!!

I hand stitched the white cover you see on the top of the cabin, plus a load of sun-shade covers; and I still darn my own socks!

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What better way to spend these long dark nights than sitting there with a bit of cloth, thimble, needle and thread?

By the way, how is the new cooker? Still at home with the sewing machine?




Ian

Keeping the roof clean does stop a lot of the black streaks appearing down the sides of the van, However there is no really handy way of getting up and down apart from ladders /scaffold. Could ask the local window cleaner if he wanted to do it for you.

Robbie wrote:Keeping the roof clean does stop a lot of the black streaks appearing down the sides of the van, However there is no really handy way of getting up and down apart from ladders /scaffold. Could ask the local window cleaner if he wanted to do it for you.

what a great idea asking the local window cleaner

Our Symbol roof got really green, especially in all the bends and crevices up there. No good using a ladder as couldn't reach over to the middle. So I opened up the big skylight to max got our small indoor step ladders inside the van and climbed up so I was able to reach all the hard to get at places. Came up a treat, not embarrassed to look out from upstairs window now

plattypus wrote:Our Symbol roof got really green, especially in all the bends and crevices up there. No good using a ladder as couldn't reach over to the middle. So I opened up the big skylight to max got our small indoor step ladders inside the van and climbed up so I was able to reach all the hard to get at places. Came up a treat, not embarrassed to look out from upstairs window now

unfortunately my 1997 Symphony doesn't have the Skylight only the small roof vent so that's not an option for me

I use Caravan Cleaner from ALDI, stand on the roof and use a long handled scrubbing brush before hosing off with a Karcher

Get the window cleaner to do it Minnie just dont use detergent as mentioned as it will strip the surface of any existing protection like polish or wax. Get get some wax shampoo or even better some caravan cleaner which is designed to remove the green stuff (only a skinflint would use detergents )


Dave

Dutto wrote:

Minniesmum wrote:........... the bedding project is still in the planning stages-Ive hardly been at home lately and need to set up my sewing machine for starters !

Sewing Machine??

You youngsters have it too easy!!

I hand stitched the white cover you see on the top of the cabin, plus a load of sun-shade covers; and I still darn my own socks!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

What better way to spend these long dark nights than sitting there with a bit of cloth, thimble, needle and thread?

By the way, how is the new cooker? Still at home with the sewing machine?




Ian

I do mostly all hand-crafting. Quilting, spinning/knitting, leatherwork- I just completely hand-buckstitched a deerskin tunic for myself, so not shy of handiwork but handstitching a long boring piece of duvet cover is not my idea of fun... the machine ...well I still cannot lift anything heavy after major surgery a while back. So that project will have to wait.