Does a clean roof change insurance photos?

Start with what the roofing industry says about the dark marks themselves, because it shows how little a picture settles on its own.

The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA), writing about asphalt shingle roofs, says of algae: “The discoloration usually has a brown to black appearance and may be mistaken for fungus growth, soot, dirt, moss, or tree droppings.” Five other things, one color range. A photograph captures the color. It does not show whether the dark material is algae or one of those five, and ARMA's sentence is a warning that the eye can confuse them.

ARMA is just as direct about what the discoloration means for the shingle. Its prevention page says there is “no scientific evidence that algae is damaging to asphalt shingles, although it certainly affects the aesthetics of a roof,” and that algae and moss growth on roofs “at a minimum, is an unsightly nuisance.” Why a clean roof reads so differently through a camera, for a listing or anywhere else, is its own subject, answered on why a clean roof photographs differently.

ARMA's technical bulletin on algae discoloration of asphalt roofing says it “may be lightened by applying a solution of liquid household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and water.” The next sentence is the one that matters for anyone thinking about photographs: “The effectiveness of such cleaning is only temporary, and the discoloration may recur.” A picture taken after such a cleaning may show a lighter roof. A picture taken later may not. ARMA gives no interval for the return, and neither does this page.

Whether the marks can be taken off at all depends on what they are, which is the question on whether roof stains are permanent. Whether zinc or copper strips slow the return is answered on zinc strips and roof algae.

What a lighter color is not is a statement about the roof under it. A cleaning tells nothing about condition, as set out on what an exterior cleaner is not.

Florida's roof-age rules for homeowners' policies are in 627.7011(5), and the measures they use leave no room for a photograph of color.

Age, again, is a date. Under paragraph (5)(d), a bright roof and a streaked one with the same build or replacement date are the same age. The conditions for the inspection itself are laid out on the right to an inspection before replacement.

No primary source cited here describes how an insurance carrier gathers roof photographs or what it does with them, and this page says nothing about it. What the statute does say is that it leaves carriers room. Section 627.7011(6)(c) says the section does not limit an insurer's ability to reject or nonrenew “on the grounds that the structure does not meet underwriting criteria applicable to replacement cost or law and ordinance policies or for other lawful reasons.” The section names roof age; it never names stains, discoloration or condition. What a carrier may do about a stained roof is taken up on whether an insurer can drop a policy over roof stains.

If a carrier does act, Florida Statutes 627.4133(2)(b) generally calls for written notice at least 120 days ahead that includes the reason, with numbered exceptions that set other terms for particular cases. The reason a notice gives is the insurer's to explain, and a roof's condition or remaining life is a question for an authorized inspector or a licensed roofing contractor.