You’re dragging the trash cans to the curb, and you glance up at the roof. The shingles look flat and tired. The house next door just got a new one. Now you’re doing math in your head.
Hold that thought. There’s an option most people in Montgomery County have never heard of. It’s called roof rejuvenation, and it’s what my son and I do in Spring. I’m Chris. The first problem I run into isn’t the heat or the hail. It’s that hardly anyone knows this exists. So here’s the plain version, start to finish.
What the Texas sun does to a shingle
A shingle has a mat in the middle, asphalt around it and colored granules on top. The asphalt holds oils. Those oils keep the shingle flexible, so it can lie flat and move a little as it heats up and cools down.
Sun and heat bake those oils out, year after year, and we get plenty of both. From 1991 to 2020, Bush Intercontinental Airport averaged 102 days a year at 90 degrees or hotter. Houston’s average UV index is 10.3 in June, 9.9 in July and 9.5 in August. Your roof takes all of it.
As the oils go, the shingle dries out and gets stiff. The edges start to curl. Small cracks show up. Granules come loose and wash into the gutters, and you’ll find them as gritty sand at the bottom of a downspout. None of this happens overnight. It creeps. By the time you can see it from the yard, it’s been going on a while.
What a treatment does
Roof rejuvenation puts oil back into the shingle. We use a Bright Green Roof treatment. It’s a plant-based oil, and we spray it on after we clean the roof. It soaks into the shingle instead of sitting on top like paint. That’s the difference between a penetrant and a coating. A coating is a layer on the surface. A penetrant goes in. For the step-by-step, here’s how the treatment works.
The product is 100% active and isn’t mixed with water. It carries the USDA Certified Biobased Product label, which comes from the USDA BioPreferred program. That label means a lab measured how much of the product comes from renewable, living sources, using a test called ASTM D6866. It tells you what’s in the product. It doesn’t rate how well the product works, and I won’t pretend it does.
How long it lasts
Bright Green Roof rates it for up to ten years per application, and backs flexibility with a 5-year transferable warranty. Those are two different numbers, so keep them straight. The ten years is a rating. The five years is the written warranty, and it moves to the next owner if you sell. A roof can be treated up to three times over its life. You can read the terms on the Bright Green Roof FAQ.
What a treatment can’t do
Now the honest part. A treatment won’t fix a leak. If water is getting in, the cause is usually flashing, a pipe boot, a nail or a missing shingle. Oil won’t touch any of those.
It won’t put back granules that already washed away. It won’t fix hail bruising, or a shingle with the mat showing through. It won’t turn a worn-out roof into a new one. When I see a roof like that, I’ll tell you, and I’ll point you to a roofer. We don’t do repairs or replacements.
The four treatments you’ll hear about around Houston
Around Houston, you’ll mostly hear four names. Here’s what each company says about its own product. I’m not here to knock anybody. Compare the claims, and ask for each one in writing.
| Product | What the company says |
|---|---|
| Roof Maxx | Each treatment extends a roof’s life by five years, up to three treatments. A five-year transferable warranty. Its cost page says $3,000 to $6,000 to treat a roof that would cost $20,000 to $30,000 to replace. |
| Bright Green Roof | 100% active and USDA Certified Biobased. Rated for up to ten years per application. A 5-year transferable warranty that the shingle stays pliable and flexible. Up to three applications. |
| Fresh Roof | An “industry-leading 6-year warranty.” |
| GoNano | A warranty that can run as long as 20 years from one two-coat install. |
We chose Bright Green Roof. There’s no water in it. The full side-by-side, with what to compare and why, is on our roof treatment comparison page.
What it costs here
We charge $1.00 to $1.50 per square foot of roof, and the cleaning is included. I set your exact price after the free assessment, once I’ve seen the pitch, the height and how dirty the roof is. It’s a range, not a quote.
Here’s the math. Say your roof has 3,000 square feet of shingles. That’s $3,000 at the low end and $4,500 at the high end. One catch: a roof has more square feet than the floor plan under it, because of the slope and the overhangs. So don’t go by your home’s square footage.
Now hold that next to a new roof. One Woodlands roofer publishes $20,000 to $32,000 for most homes there. The roof rejuvenation cost page has more examples by house size.
Is your roof a candidate?
Here’s the quick version. Your roof is likely a fit if most of these are true:
- It’s asphalt shingle, not tile, metal, slate or wood.
- It’s at least five years old. Bright Green Roof says to start at the five-year mark and treat at ten and older. Past twenty can still work if the roof is sound.
- Nothing is leaking right now.
- Most of the granules are still there. No bald spots, and no mat showing.
- The shingles lie mostly flat. A little lift at the edges is OK.
- No hail bruising across the slopes.
The full candidate checklist goes deeper. Or let me look. My free roof inspection comes with photos of every slope and one of three answers: it’s fine, it’s a candidate or it’s done. That’s the Straight Answer Promise. If your roof isn’t a candidate, I tell you so at no charge, and you keep the photos.
Five questions to ask before anyone sprays your roof
- Does it soak in, or sit on top? Those are two different products. Know which one you’re buying.
- Is it mixed with water? Ask how much of what goes on your roof is the active product.
- What does the written warranty cover, how long does it run and does it move to the next owner? Get the paper, not the pitch.
- What’s the price per square foot, and does that include cleaning?
- Will you show me photos of my own roof, before and after? And will you tell me if it isn’t a candidate?
Before you spend thousands on a replacement, let me take a look. Book the free assessment, or call or text me at (281) 466-7436.