Customer Reviews for M-1 1 Gal. Deck and Roof Cleaner

My deck was not very dirty but had dark grime and moss and this product worked very well followed by a pressure washer after the 10 mins with 15 degree tip. This removed all dirt and grime. Directions are pretty clear.

Didn't remove the black mold on my roof shingles. Even left a discoloration I had to remove afterwards.

I'm a bit surprised by the disparity of reviews here. I'm happy with the product, which is basically soap and lye. I used it on my redwood deck. I diluted it 9:1 as per directions and sprayed it on. Left it there around 10 minutes ,then brushed, then hosed off. I did not use a power-washer. It brightened the wood (which you don't see until it's dry, at least with redwood). It did roughen the surface, with bits of wood sticking up. It took off a bit of oxidized wood- you can see the color of the water when you hose it off. It takes a lot of hosing to get it all off because soap is hard to completely wash off. You'll see that it's still a little foamy and that could make the surface slippery. I'd suggest using it the day before a rain so you can get extra rinsing done by the rain. I have some painted wood around my house that was dirty and mildewy. It did a very good job cleaning that off too. It does a decent job getting rid of mildew but if your problem is only mildew you're probably better off with bleach. I guess it's possible that different wood has different issues and maybe even different types of mildew. Brushing helps but note that if you brush against the grain you're going to roughen up the wood.

Label says no scrubbing. Not true. Even using it undiluted it did nothing. Had to scrub pretty hard to get rid of years of weathering. Still had to go over some spots again. It does work, but not without a lot of elbow grease.

Friends, I'm sharing my test results of different roof-stain removal efforts and products, including this one, which I now recommend because it works and is worth ten bucks. Some Background: I have a 12-year old, grey colored, GAF 30-year asphalt roof that I let go too long re: black mold, blended with copper-colored and green-algae stains. Some areas have all three, others just black mold, or that strange copper tone that weirdly glistens in direct sun. I first tried a pool-shock based, DIY mixture. I mixed a cup of powdered pool shock with 1-gal of water and spayed it on my roof. I waited 10 minutes and then re-sprayed that same area with this stuff: http://www.homedepot.com/p/ZEP-128-oz-House-and-Siding-Pressure-Wash-Concentrate-Case-of-4-ZUVWS128/202751143 20 minutes later, I garden-hose-sprayed the treated area off. Some green and black mold was removed, but plenty of staining remained. A repeat treatment did little better. I lost patience. So I went back to Home Depot to try "M-1 Roof and Deck Cleaner": http://www.homedepot.com/p/M-1-1-gal-Deck-and-Roof-Cleaner-DR1G/100196451 It said mix 13 oz in a gallon of water and spray it on. I probably used 20 oz. because, well hey, my stains were really dark. I sprayed the mixture using a $16 hand-pump sprayer, something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/RL-Flo-Master-1-Gal-Economy-Sprayer-1401P/100188485 I came back in about 15-20 minutes and still there was no change -- UNTIL I sprayed, close-up (4” away) each shingle with my garden hose (narrowly focused spray using a standard nozzle). I didn’t want to use my pressure washer, it was too much of a hassle to get it out of the garage. It worked! All the dark mold and gunk was stripped out of each shingle. Mind you, I had to work some. I had to methodically spray each shingle up close, so that’s a lot of back-and-forth, tiring my arm. To be clear: You must stand over a patch of roof and bend over and direct-spray each shingle, from about 3-4" away, at full blast (guessing my hose was outputting at 200-300 psi or so). Yes, you’ll get wet. But all the gunk came out of each shingle, and it was satisfying to see my roof shingles restored to what they once were. And honestly, the mold I had looked like it would never come out. So, I was impressed by M-1, and pleased at the price ($10 bucks a gallon). Bottom line: From spray on to spray-off, it takes about a half hour for each 60 square feet of affected roof. I had about 180 square feet of afflicted roof area. Of course, you need to do this when the sun is brightly shining on your roof so you can see the dark mold shingles from the wet ones. I suppose the job would go faster with a pressure washer and wide enough spray head. But I was worried I'd use too much pressure and prematurely wear out my shingles. A garden hose, with standard output, will do the trick. It just takes longer. I also invested in a (more expensive) "Spray & Forget" solution: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Spray-Forget-64-oz-House-and-Deck-No-Rinse-Eco-friendly-Exterior-Cleaner-Concentrate-Makes-up-to-5-gal-SFHD64OZ/203204600 That product is designed for the lazy. You spray, then walk away. No immediate results, though. It says it takes weeks if not months to work (relies on rainfall). I don’t know if that’s true (just tried it today), but after I finished my “M-1” job, I sprayed the just-cleaned area with it. I figure it's a good way to prevent recurrence of the mold and algae that constantly afflicts my Savannah, GA roof (Savannah is a high-humidity environment and thus one is constantly battling mold and other forms of "ick" on one's home).

This particular solution remains mostly unused, thanks to the chemistry that I discovered after reading the MSDS. I was planning to use it on my roof to remove the staining, but I decided against it. A test spot showed that it indeed removed the staining, but I decided not to go much further, and used a solution of bleach and Jo-max instead. Many deck cleaners have oxalic acid (a weak acid), and many mildew removers require the use of bleach. I find it funny that this material boasts of not containing acid or bleach, when it does contain a 14% concentration of NaOH, sodium hydroxide (lye, drain cleaner.) NaOH is a strong base, so this is correct that there is no acid or bleach, but NaOH is, in my mind, more dangerous than oxalic acid or bleach. Aluminum and NaOH are a famously bad combination. Now, if your aluminum capping is painted, and you rinse this solution quickly, there will be no problem. But I didn't want to risk it around the gutters, capping, and other aluminum siding on the house. So for decks, I can't see any harm, but for roofs, I do wonder about the wisdom of washing aluminum trim with this solution. If nothing else, the chemistry should be advertised/warned about more prominently.

Bought this product to clean black streaks off my roof. At first glance did ok job to brighten lighter stains, but as for the darker stains it turned into a gummy mess that took a very long time to get off with a garden hose. Switched to 50: 50 mix of bleach and water - worked like a charm!

I've used this on my deck once so far and I couldn't be more pleased with this product! Any stains that were on my deck are now gone. I echo what another reviewer said in that it's best to do this on a rainy day. I'd recommend this to anyone with a deck that's in need of a bath!

Works exactly like it is supposed to. I used this to clean my deck before painting it. All the stain applied well. I'm very satisfied with this product

The sprayer bottle broke on the first use, poor construction

I went over to the house of a friend of mine. He asked me how he could remove the tree sap from his expensive patio furniture. I said wait a minute, I have a "secret formula" in my truck that should work. I had a 8:1 pre-diluted spray bottle of M-1 in it. The minute I sprayed it on his chairs I could literally see the tree sap disappearing. I let it sit on the chair for a total of 5 minutes and pressure washed it clean. I was amazed, and so was he!! NO residue tree sap and dirt was all gone. My friend said that is the best his furniture had looked since the day he brought it home. Chalk up another useful application to M-1 Deck & Roof Cleaner!! Not just for roofs and decks anymore. I LOVE this stuff!!

Applied it on my deck through my power washer on low spray level. Used a stiff brush with light pressure to work it in a little better. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes, making sure it didn't dry by lightly spraying every 5 minutes, and power washed it off at medium to high pressure. Deck wood looks almost new. Removed all the mildew, dirt, and grease spillage from my BBQ grill. Deck is about 15 yrs. old and hadn't been cleaned in 3-4 years. Even loosened up the old peeling stain to help removal with power washer. Good product...worked as advertised.

Sprayed on roof as directed. Waited 20 min. Hosed off with garden hose ,wasn't really happy with cleaning pressure so I used my power washer .great results . The roof. Looks brand new ,I am very happy with this product . It works

Most of these products are like snake oil with high hopes, big promises, and less than spectacular results. It didn't do anything to my deck with heavy algae except get it wet. I went to 50/50 bleach and water and it lightened the deck nicely for a fraction of the price.Nothing works like bleach! I don't know of anything that will remove the heavy algae except pressure washing.

Believe me, I have tried everything to clean the algae and mold off the deck and the side of the house where there is minimal sun. I have tried Bleach, shock and other deck cleaners. My neighbor told me to use this. Not only did he tell me to use this, he came over and cleaned my shed to prove it to me. I am SOLD. You have GOT to use this stuff if you have any cleaning to do on your deck or siding (vinyl or clapboard). I diluted it out 1 gallon to 5 gallons. they say to make 10 gallons. I have a pump sprayer and I sprayed it on the most mildew-y part of the house. It was green. I just sprayed it on lightly so that it was all covered. I let it sit for 15 minutes. I used a soft brush...like you would use on your car...after a light rinse and the stuff came off almost completely. No strenuous labor. No scrubbing the paint off. A light brushing and then I rinsed off the mold, mildew and algae. My house looks almost brand new. Really...I am trying to tell you what a great product this is. It saved me a TON of time and it WORKED. A second coat of this stuff and the house really is cleaner than it has been in the 5 years I've lived here. It doesn't kill the plants. It is GREAT. And after you rinse it off and see what a great job it does, in a few hours, it will look even cleaner. It is hard to get across how good this is. When reading these things, you see some good...some bad. For the people who did not think it did a good job...I really have no idea what could have gone wrong.

I used bleach and water on my roof trying to remove stains and though it did lighten the stains slightly it did not remove the stains so I decided to try this product and it worked just the same as the bleach did. I would not recommend this product for roof stains. Bleach is cheaper.

well works on assome on shingle....what i did is spray it and wait 10 min and wash it w/ water and scrub my friends ,i used a small scrub broom make sure u dont used a heavy duty beacused u will damaged the shingle grave and , scrub ,scrub just spay it and dont be lazy , come on u can take couple of your minutesof your time nothing is free and scrub trust me it work good frist time for me to used this material and goin to used again .... thanks and samething on deck dont spary it and wash it , dont be lazy scrub scrub doesnt hurt to get a little wet ...

I replaced my roof shingles 5 years ago with a light tan color and oak trees hanging over the house had resulted in "tree scum". I was hesitant about harming the new shingles but used M-1 as directed and rather than using a pressure washer, I used a high pressure nozzle on a water hose to rinse. The result is that the affected shingles now look new like the rest of the roof. Azaleas planted directly in the roof drip line were not harmed in the process and I did not cover them. I highly recommend this product.

i have been using this product for more than ten years now.i found that if you are cleaning your deck its best to do it on a rainy day,because the deck needs to stay wet the whole time. mix it 9 to 1,and spray it several times and just keep it soaked with the cleaner and a wet surface for an houre and rinse ,when the sun dries it out it will be cleaner,clean enough to stain.never p.w. a deck it will ruin the wood.

This product does not work. You need too much water pressure to use on a wooden deck. It raised the fibers and made the wood fuzzy and didn't clean to boot. My deck looks worse than before I used it.

This stuff works. I used it on my roof last yr. and power washed after. I powered washed other areas without using this product and at the time it didn't look any different. But a yr later the area I did spray with this is completely clean of all mildew and moss. The other areas I didn't use the product are brown again. Summary It works great and you have to wait a yr to really see the end results.

I've cleaned siding, our paver patio, and with a different mixing ratio, stripped our deck. It is the best product I've seem in years. Power washing after application yields excellent results.

Good stuff for roof but I tried to get away with water pressure less than 300 PSI which they say to use. You need to get an electric or some kind of pressure washer for it to really work well. Otherwise, great product and cleaned away moss and growth from the roof as promised, but you need something better than just plain pressure from garden hose.

Don't waste your money on anything else! I used in on a deck and roof shingles and the dirt and crud came right off. Anything else I've tried didn't work as well as this stuff. It doesn't have a bad smell at all, and it needs only 10 minutes to work. My deck is small, so I have probably enough left to last me for 10 yrs.

This is the best deck cleaner I have ever used. Follow the directions, wet the deck, then spray the mixture with a pump sprayer, let it sit, best results if you give a brush with a stiff brush then spray with a power wash, not to strong. Will not damage plants if you rinse after using.

Follow mixing directions wash off with pressure washer and WOW it does a GREAT job,