Roof & gutter cleaning
The streaks are alive, and pressure is the wrong answer
Those black streaks running down your roof are not dirt. They are algae, they are alive, and they are eating the surface they live on. Pressure washing them off is the one thing you should never do: high pressure strips granules off shingles, cracks tiles, and can void a manufacturer warranty. So we never do it. A roof gets cleaned one way, and that is a soft wash. The full science is in our black streaks on roof guide.
Cable Pressure Washing and Solar Panel Cleaning handles roof cleaning and gutter services across Rocklin, Roseville, Granite Bay, and Placer County. Here is how each one works and what they cost.
Before anything
The roof inspection comes first
Every roof job starts with our crew on the roof before any chemical comes out. We look for broken tiles, problem areas, and the spots where growth is worst. Then we come down and show you what we found. With pictures. Before we start. Around here that inspection matters more than most places: Placer County is tile roof country, and a cracked tile is easier to show you than to describe.
You give the okay. The wash begins.
The method
How a roof soft wash works
Soft washing a roof means spraying from the top down and letting the solution travel the way water does. A surfactant helps it cling instead of running straight to the gutters. Heavy moss and algae call for a hotter mix than a house wash, up to a 6% solution versus the 1.5 to 2% we use on siding, because roof growth is rooted in and stubborn.
Here is the part that surprises people: for most roofs, there is no rinsing. We apply the treatment and leave it to work. The algae dies over the following days and weeks, and the streaks fade as weather carries the residue off. Give it a decent amount of time and the results keep improving. If moss is thick, we may agitate it gently with a broom, but that is the exception.
What it costs
Roof and gutter pricing
Our published pricing:
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Roof soft wash | $450–$700 |
| Gutter cleaning | $1.00 per linear foot ($200 minimum) |
| Gutter brightening | Discounted add-on with gutter cleaning or roof soft wash |
Pricing current as of August 2026.
Roof size, pitch, and one versus two stories move the roof number. The material mostly does not; tile and composition shingle wash the same way. City pricing and neighborhood detail are on our roof cleaning in Rocklin, CA, roof cleaning in Roseville, CA, roof cleaning in Lincoln, CA, and roof cleaning in Granite Bay, CA pages. Bundle roof or gutter work with a house wash or concrete cleaning and save about 10%, or run the cost calculator for an instant range.
Tile and shingle
Same algae, same soft wash, different failure modes
Placer County roofs come in two main flavors, and the reason both get a soft wash is that each one is ruined by pressure in its own way.
Concrete and clay tile
Tile holds growth in its channels and overlaps, where rain cannot reach and shade lingers. Pressure washing tile does not just strip the surface; the force and the foot traffic that come with it crack tiles. A soft wash treats the growth in place, with the crew's roof access kept to the minimum the job actually needs.
Composition shingle
Shingle wears its protective mineral granules on the outside, which is exactly the layer high pressure tears off. Granule loss is roof aging on fast-forward. The soft wash kills the algae without touching the granules, which is why it is the method shingle manufacturers point to.
When to clean
When a roof is telling you it's time
Black streaks on the shady side are the loudest signal, and they show up first on north-facing slopes where moisture hangs around after our valley fog. Moss is the escalation: it roots into the surface it grows on, holds water against the roof, and gets more stubborn every wet season it survives. The honest rule is that streaks are cosmetic-plus-biology and moss is a repair bill forming, so the earlier catch is the cheaper one either way.
Where roof care fits in the calendar, alongside gutters and everything else, is laid out in our seasonal exterior cleaning calendar.
Gutter services
Cleared, flushed, hauled away
Gutter cleaning clears the leaves and debris out so water drains the way it should. On most one-story homes we work from the ground; two-story gutters mean roof access. Every job includes flushing the downspouts to confirm they drain, and we clean up every bit of debris before we leave. Rocklin homeowner? Pricing, gutter guards, and timing are all covered on our gutter cleaning in Rocklin, CA page.
Gutter brightening: for the streaks washing won't fix
The black tiger stripes running down gutter faces are oxidation bonded to the paint, and a regular wash will not lift them. Gutter brightening is the fix: a dedicated cleaner applied to the gutter face, worked in with a soft-bristle brush, then rinsed. That is the whole process. We quote it as a discounted add-on when we are already out doing your gutter cleaning or roof soft wash, since the crew and the setup are on site either way. Honest test first, though. If the staining comes off with a normal wash, you do not need brightening, and we will say so. Most of the time, it does not.
While we're up there
Free inspection with every solar cleaning
Booking a solar panel cleaning? Our crew inspects your roof and gutters at no charge while we are up there and tells you if anything needs attention. No upsell pressure; just eyes on a part of your home you never see.
Why us
Honest, insured, local
Cable carries liability insurance on every job. We book about three days out, your estimate arrives in writing, and every job ends the same way our house washes do: if something is not right, we make it right.
Common questions