WHAT IS THE RCIA (ROOF CLEANING INSTITUTE OF AMERICA)

With such a grandiose title one would think that the RCIA would be the place to learn all about Green Roof Cleaning, unfortunately on the RCIA forum "Green" is a dirty word.

To understand why this is you have to look at the history of the RCIA and look at who is behind it. The RCIA was originally formed by Chris Tucker of Apple Roof Cleaning as a way of marketing his business.

Chris is a staunch supporter of chemical roof cleaning in fact it is the only method he uses and recommends on the RCIA forum website.

His chemical roof cleaning recipe aptly named "Apple Sauce" can be found all over the internet, it's primary ingredient is Chlorine. Chlorine is extremely toxic for humans and the environment, you can read more about the effects of these chemicals by viewing the U.S Governments reports for these chemicals.

Chris was aware of the damaging effects of chlorine way back in 1999 when he asked the question "Why does chlorine kill plant???" the question was answered by Karl J, Roberts Ph.D. Associate professor of Biology at Prince George's Community College. The full answer can be viewed at. http://www.madsci.org

You would think that given the learned professor's negative response to Chlorine that Chris would think twice about using it or recommending it to others, or at the very least consider some alternatives to chlorine. Sadly this has not been the case and 12 years later Chris is still promoting Chlorine soft washing and the RCIA has gone from being a marketing tool to a fully fledged online "Institute" dedicated to Chlorine bleach washing. I will be the first to agree that training and education are all well and good providing there is a sound scientific basis for the knowledge being shared, in this case however it appears that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. While some contractors on the forum recognise the damaging effects of Chlorine and are trying to limit the environmental impact there are many unregulated contractors that simply do not care, we term these "Chlorine Cowboys".

The RCIA has been responsible for the explosion in chemical roof cleaning and this is one of the principal reasons why the roof cleaning industry has such a bad name. For the last 15 years roof cleaning contractors using chlorine have been responisible for polluting the environment and causing widespread damage to homeowners landscaping.

This was Chris Tuckers vision for the Industry, a world dominated by Chlorine and the RCIA has proved to be an effective tool to spread the word and build a following. I have spoken with Chris Tucker on the RCIA forum and in defense of using chlorine he cites the shingle roof manufacturers association recommendations as a valid reason to use it.

I will cover the ARMA guidelines in Octobers article but needless to say the ARMA recommendations are a million miles away from what is really happening in the Industry.

The KC Group were one of the first companies in America to promote an environmentally safer alternative to Chlorine Bleach washing, the negative response from the RCIA was indicative of the mind-set and culture of its members.

So what is so good about Chlorine in 2011?. Well if you look at it from an environmental point of view, nothing at all is the answer. It is still the same highly toxic chemical and it is still harmful to all living organisms . It killed plants and small animals back in 1999 and it is still killing plants and small animals today more than 12 years later. Chlorine useage among roof cleaning contractors has become endemic with most contractors now using soft wash chemical only systems.

The RCIA it would seem is clearly not a customer focused organization but an Industry organization whose principal aim is to benefit its contractor members by promoting propaganda supporting Chlorine Bleach washing.

The title of Institute does infer that there must be some credible science behind their ideas or philosophies but sadly there is no credible science to support chlorine roof cleaning as being environmentally safe.

This is the RCIA vision for the future.

Our vision for the Industry is radically different, the KC Group wants a state license for roof cleaning and state regulation to control what chemicals contractors can use. Put simply we want a greener future for the industry and for the public.

The Clean4life petition to implement a state license for roof cleaning has received over 4800 visits since it was raised in September last year. The QA Green Certification for roof cleaning is encouraging contractors to look at greener alternative cleaning methods. Clean4life is a customer focused service designed to link green certified contractors to like minded consumers.

If you think our vision of the future has merit then consider becoming green certified and I will show you how you can build and grow a green business.