Is It Safe To Paint Outside During Pollen Season?

It’s Pollen season again and you can literally see the pollen in the air. The pollen is now starting to stick to everything – including the outside of your home. So if you are in need of painting the exterior of your home so that you can list your home for sale, then you need to select a company like Earthly Matters Painting to do it right because painting on top of pollen is like painting on top of dirt and the paint won’t stick for long and will no doubt begin to peal as time goes on.

The fact of the matter is that during the spring, summer or fall, most tree, grass and weed pollens are airborne but typically are not visible, therefor the small amounts of pollen won’t accumulate on surfaces, but pine pollen is a different story… In the Cumming area during springtime, pine pollen fills the air and at times is so heavy you can see it floating in the air in sheets. It will accumulate on pretty much all surfaces but mostly on horizontal surfaces. But there will be a small amount that collects on the surface of your home’s exterior paint, so how will that affect painting the outside of your home?

When the pine pollen is visible in the springtime, as it is now, painting your home is not a problem when proper preventative measures are put into place.

These are the simple steps that we take making it safe to paint during pollen season:

As with anytime during the year, a thorough power washing must be performed before painting any exterior surfaces.
Painting the siding of the home after being power washed is not a problem since it is a vertical surface and the amount of pollen that will collect between wash and paint isn’t enough to cause any issues.
Horizontal surfaces must be dusted thoroughly before painting. Our professional painters will wipe down these surfaces with a damp rag before applying paint.
Additional measures can be taken as well – which my apply to different situations.

Acrylic paints dry fast enough to prevent the pollen from infiltrating the paint film to the degree that it would cause discoloration.

So if you still aren’t sure if it’s safe to paint when there is pollen in the air, know that Earthly Matters Painting will stand behind our work with a full warranty.