Wait until the pine pollen has mostly stopped falling before you wash your house, windows and screened porch. In Mount Pleasant that usually means late spring, once the yellow film stops coming back a day or two after a rain. Wash too early and fresh pollen settles on clean siding within the week.
Most spring pollen is invisible. Pine pollen is not. The Lowcountry is full of pines, and when they release, the grains drift in a yellow-green haze that coats cars, decks, screens and siding across town.
The grains are light and a little waxy. Rain moves them around more than it washes them away. A shower rinses the top layer off your siding and leaves yellow streaks and puddle rings on porches, sills and the bottom courses of siding where the water collects.
Pollen on its own is mostly a cosmetic problem. The bigger issue is what it sits next to. Lowcountry siding already carries mildew, algae and dirt on the shaded sides of the house. A season of pollen and humidity on top of that leaves the north wall greener and the whole house duller by summer.
Pollen season runs from late winter into spring, and the exact start and finish change from year to year with the weather. A warm stretch can start it early. A cold snap can drag it out.
That makes the common mistake easy to understand. The first warm weekend arrives, the house looks yellow, and you book a wash. Two weeks later the pines release another wave and the siding looks the same as before. You paid for a clean house that lasted a few days.
The better plan is to let the season run its course, then wash once and enjoy a clean exterior through summer and fall.
You don’t need a pollen forecast to judge this. Your own driveway tells you.
When two or three of these line up, it’s a good time to schedule.
Different parts of the house collect pollen in different ways. Some can wait. Some are worth a light rinse in the middle of the season.
| Surface | During pollen season | After pollen season |
|---|---|---|
| Siding and trim | Leave it, or rinse with a garden hose if it bothers you | Full soft wash to remove pollen, mildew and algae |
| Windows | Hold off on a professional cleaning | Clean glass, frames and sills once the fall stops |
| Screened porch screens | Gentle hose rinse from inside if airflow suffers | Low-pressure cleaning of screens, frames and floor |
| Porch and patio floors | Sweep or blow off as needed | Wash once, along with the rest of the exterior |
| Gutters | Check after heavy rain for overflow | Check for pollen sludge and debris |
| Outdoor furniture and cushions | Wipe down before use | Deep clean or wash covers |
Once the season ends, a soft wash is the right way to clean siding. A soft wash typically uses low pressure and a cleaning solution that breaks down the organic growth pollen tends to feed, then rinses it away. High pressure on vinyl or painted siding can force water behind the panels, chip paint and leave stripes.
Washing after the pollen also clears off the mildew and algae that built up over the winter. You get one clean that handles the whole spring, not just the yellow layer on top.
For a broader look at seasonal timing, see our guide on when to pressure wash your house.
Windows show pollen worse than anything else. A light film catches the afternoon sun and makes the glass look dirty from the inside.
It’s tempting to clean them first. Resist it. Glass is the surface that gets dirty fastest during the season, and a cleaning in the middle of it rarely lasts. Schedule professional window cleaning after the siding is done, so rinse water and runoff from the house wash don’t spot fresh glass. Sills and tracks deserve attention too, since that’s where pollen collects and turns to sludge.
A screened porch traps pollen. The mesh catches it, the floor collects it, and every breeze shakes it loose again. By late spring the screens can look yellow and block a noticeable amount of airflow.
Screens are delicate. Strong pressure stretches the mesh, pops it out of the spline and tears older screens. A careful porch cleaning usually means low pressure on the screens, a gentle wash of the frames and ceiling, and the floor last so everything that falls is rinsed away.
If the porch is unusable in the middle of the season, a gentle rinse with a garden hose from the inside out will help for a while. Save the full clean for when the pines are done.
The order matters more than the date: house wash first, then the porch, then windows. Each step sends water and debris downward or onto glass, so working top-down and finishing with windows means nothing undoes anything else.
With us, you know the price before any work starts. You don’t need to be home for most exterior jobs. And if we miss a spot, we come back and fix it.
It varies with the weather each year. Pollen generally falls from late winter into spring and tapers off in late spring. The best signal is your own property: when cars, patio furniture and puddles stay free of yellow film for several days, the heavy fall is over.
Rain moves pollen around but rarely removes it. It often leaves yellow streaks on siding and rings where water collects on porches and sills. A proper wash after the season is the only way to get it all off, along with the mildew and algae underneath.
You can rinse it with a garden hose, which is safe and helps between cleanings. High pressure on siding is risky, since it can force water behind panels and damage paint. A soft wash removes pollen and organic growth without that risk.
After. Washing the house sends water and runoff over the glass, so windows should be the last step. Doing it in that order means you only pay for clean windows once.
When the yellow stops falling, call Mount Pleasant Pressure Washing at (843) 471-0799 or request a quote online. Call us about your siding and windows once the season winds down, and you’ll get a clean that lasts all summer.
