Travis County · 489 ft elevation
Sonlight Window Cleaning serves all of Austin: the central neighborhoods under the oak canopy, the west-side hills from Tarrytown to Steiner Ranch, the fast-growing crescent from Mueller to Circle C, and everything between. We opened our Texas operation in 2026 after nearly five decades in Colorado, and we brought the part that matters: a firm price for your exact address before we ever knock on your door.
Austin is not a humid version of Dallas or a flat version of Denver. It sits on the seam where the Edwards Plateau's limestone hills meet the Blackland Prairie, and the two halves of the city dirty windows differently. West of MoPac the problem is mineral: limestone dust off the Hill Country, well-fed sprinklers, and pale caliche film after every storm. East of I-35 the problem is organic: blackland clay splash, construction dust from the fastest-building corridor in Texas, and the oak canopy overhead.
The calendar here surprises people who moved from anywhere else. The dirtiest season is winter: from December through February the Ashe junipers west of town release pollen in visible orange bursts — the infamous cedar fever — and the counts rank among the highest recorded for any plant in North America. It films glass, embeds in screen mesh, and packs into tracks. Then in late February and March the live oaks do what live oaks do: shed a whole year of leaves in three weeks, dust everything with catkin pollen, and start dripping aphid honeydew that glues all of it to whatever sits below. Spring storms in April and May splash lime-rich soil onto ground-floor panes. And from June to September, often nothing rinses anything for months — except your sprinklers, which mist hard water onto hot glass every morning and bake it into mineral spotting by noon.
Our Austin services include interior and exterior window cleaning, screen removal and hand-washing, track and sill detail, hard-water mineral restoration, solar panel cleaning, gutter cleaning, pressure washing, and soft washing. We work 1930s Tarrytown and Hyde Park homes with original wood sash, mid-century Allandale ranches, downtown-adjacent new builds with walls of low-E glass, and west-side homes whose two-story great-room windows face the Hill Country sunset. Each needs a different approach, and we do not use the same tool on all of them.
Every job is priced before we arrive. Enter your address, get a real number in about thirty seconds, and pick a day. No in-home estimate, no callback, no salesperson. Every clean carries our 24-hour guarantee: if something looks wrong after we leave, we come back at no charge.
Four variables determine how fast windows get dirty in a Central Texas town and what it takes to get them clean again. Here is where Austin sits on each.
Central Texas does not run on the four seasons window-cleaning advice usually assumes — the dirtiest season here is winter. Here is the actual year, in the order it happens, and what each phase does to your glass.
What it does to glass
Ashe juniper west of the city releases pollen in visible bursts on dry north-wind days — counts among the highest recorded for any plant in North America. It films glass amber-green, embeds in screen mesh, and packs into tracks. This is Austin's dirtiest season, and it is winter.
What we do about it
Screens come off the frame and get hand-washed, tracks are detailed dry before any water touches the window, and we recommend a January-February clean precisely because the rest of the industry assumes winter is the off-season.
What it does to glass
Live oaks shed a year of leaves in about three weeks, then release catkin pollen that strings across sills and porches. Under the canopy, aphid honeydew mists down and glues pollen and dust to glass — the sticky film homeowners mistake for sap.
What we do about it
Honeydew needs a proper wet mop and squeegee pass, not a rinse; we clear gutters loaded with the spring drop and get screens clean before storm season pins the debris down.
What it does to glass
May is the wettest month of the Central Texas year. Wind-driven storms splash lime-rich caliche soil on the west side and blackland clay on the east onto the bottom two feet of every ground-floor pane, and hail is an occasional, real risk.
What we do about it
Lower-pane splash detail on every storm-season clean, and a post-storm gutter check where the oak drop went un-cleared — a March-loaded gutter overflows in a May storm.
What it does to glass
Weeks of 100-degree days and often no rain for months. Nothing rinses the dust film — except irrigation, which mists hard water onto hot glass every morning and bakes it into mineral spotting within the hour. West-facing glass shows it worst.
What we do about it
We adjust or flag sprinkler heads that strike glass, clean early in the day, and treat baked-on spotting as mineral restoration — a different job than washing, priced and done separately rather than scrubbed at and blamed on the last cleaner.
What it does to glass
Rain returns, temperatures break, and the summer's dust and mineral film finally shows plainly in low autumn light. The occasional January ice storm still waits ahead — 2023's snapped limbs across the whole canopy and filled gutters mid-winter.
What we do about it
The best-value full clean of the year: glass, screens, tracks, and gutters reset together before cedar season starts the cycle again in December.
The most common hard-water damage in Austin is not from rain — it is from irrigation heads that clip a window every morning all summer. Water at 5-7 grains per gallon evaporates on 100-degree glass in minutes and leaves the minerals behind, layer on layer. By September that is not dirt; it is mineral scale that a wash will not touch and restoration will.
December through February, Ashe juniper pollen embeds in screen mesh so thoroughly that sunlight through a loaded screen casts an amber tint into the room. Hosing the screen on the window drives pollen into the track. Screens have to come off the frame and be washed by hand — which is how we do every screen, every time.
The sticky film on glass and cars under Austin's live oaks is aphid honeydew, not tree sap. It is sugar — it glues pollen and dust to the pane, feeds sooty mold if it sits, and smears if wiped dry. It needs a real wet-mop-and-squeegee pass, and in canopy neighborhoods it needs one more often than the city average.
Austin has been one of the fastest-building metros in America for a decade. Stucco, mortar, and gypsum fines drift onto neighboring homes' glass and cure there. Dry-wiping them grinds the surface; a razor in the wrong hands scratches tempered glass permanently. New-build and next-to-a-build glass needs a dedicated post-construction pass.
Pricing is per property: square footage, window count, stories, and access. We look up your home in public records and give you an exact, bookable price for your address. Mineral restoration for baked-on sprinkler scale is quoted separately — it is a different job than washing, and pretending otherwise is how customers end up paying twice.
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Mature oak and pecan canopy over 1930s-50s homes; honeydew film and spring catkins are the standing order here, and much of the glass is original single-pane we treat gently.
Victorian and craftsman stock with true divided-light sash — slow, careful hand work, screens off-frame, no pole pressure on hundred-year-old glazing.
Mid-century ranches under heavy canopy; aluminum tracks pack with oak duff and cedar pollen and need dry detail before any water.
Greenbelt-edge homes with cedar right off the back fence; December pollen load on south-facing glass is the worst in the city.
Historic homes on terraced lots — ladder access from below-grade patios and original sash upstairs.
New-urbanist builds with big low-E casements; post-construction fines and blackland dust, screens on nearly every opening.
1980s-90s two-stories with tall entry glass and juniper landscaping at the foundation — cedar season starts at the front door.
Lake Austin canyon rim; two-story window walls face west into the sunset and show every mineral spot by 6pm.
South Austin production homes over the Edwards recharge zone; sprinkler overspray on hard-leaning water is the recurring call.
Northwest production stock on the Williamson County line; builder-grade screens and heavy new-construction dust from the corridor around it.
The fastest-changing blocks in the city — new builds beside 1940s cottages, and post-construction glass that needs a dedicated first clean, not a wash.
Custom homes on wooded hillsides: high fixed panes, skylights, and access planning before anyone touches a squeegee.
ZIP codes served: 78701, 78702, 78703, 78704, 78705, 78717, 78721, 78722, 78723, 78724, 78725, 78726, 78727, 78728, 78729, 78730, 78731, 78732, 78733, 78735, 78736, 78739, 78741, 78744, 78745, 78746, 78747, 78748, 78749, 78750, 78751, 78752, 78753, 78754, 78756, 78757, 78758, 78759
Interior and exterior glass, screens hand-washed off the frame, and tracks cleared dry before any water — the only safe order in cedar season.
The limestone-country specialty: sprinkler overspray baked into scale by the summer sun, restored rather than re-washed.
On the spring schedule the live oaks actually keep — they shed in March, not October, and the May storms test every gutter they load.
Cedar pollen embeds in mesh every winter and Texas sun makes it brittle. Re-screening is routine here, not an upsell.
Central Texas summers can run months without rain while dust accumulates continuously — a dirty array underproduces exactly when output pays most.
Driveways, walks, and hardscape — including the storm-splash band that blackland clay and caliche leave on brick and stone.
One of the fastest-building metros in America: stucco, mortar, and gypsum fines cure onto glass and need a dedicated pass, never a dry wipe.
Low-pressure washing for stucco, stone, and siding — pressure belongs on flatwork, not on your walls.
Twice-yearly works best on Austin's real calendar: once in late March or April after the cedar season and the live-oak drop have finished, and once in October after the summer bake breaks. If you only clean once, clean in spring — you remove the winter pollen, the oak catkins, and the honeydew in one pass.
Almost always sprinkler overspray. Irrigation water hits the glass, the summer sun bakes it dry in minutes, and the minerals stay. Once it has layered for a season it is scale, not dirt, and needs mineral restoration rather than another wash. We also adjust or flag the sprinkler head so the spotting does not simply return.
Yes, and it is half the job in an Austin winter. Screens come off the frame and are washed by hand — hosing a loaded screen in place just drives pollen into the track. Badly embedded mesh that has gone brittle in the sun may be a candidate for re-screening, and we will tell you which you have.
It is aphid honeydew — sugar, not resin. It glues pollen and dust to the glass and feeds sooty mold if it sits through a humid spell. It wipes into smears if attacked dry, so it needs a full wet mop and squeegee pass. Homes under mature canopy typically need this two or three times a year.
Enter your address and we price your exact home from public records — square footage, stories, window count — in about thirty seconds. The number you see is the number you pay. No in-home estimate, no callback, no salesperson.
We are a family company founded in Colorado in 1978, and we opened our Austin operation in 2026. The 512 number on this page is a real Austin line answered by the same dispatch team that has run our Colorado operation for decades. We do not claim a local history we have not earned yet — we would rather earn it.
See the full Austin metro service area and Central Texas window care guide.
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