Air duct cleaning across Puget Sound

Most Puget Sound homes are heated with forced air, which means every particle in the house — dust, dander, pollen from the alders in spring, wildfire smoke in August, the drywall dust from that remodel — goes through the same set of ducts a few times a day. In a newer home the ducts are sealed sheet metal and stay fairly clean. In a 1960s rambler in Kent or a 1920s Craftsman in Ballard with retrofitted ducts, they are often full.

We clean ducts the way the National Air Duct Cleaners Association specifies: the whole system under negative pressure, not a shop vac at each register. A high-powered vacuum connects to the trunk line, every register is sealed, and compressed-air whips and brushes work each branch line back toward the vacuum so the debris cannot go anywhere but into it. Then the furnace blower, the evaporator coil and the return plenum get cleaned, because a clean duct fed by a dirty blower is dirty again in a month.

The people who get the most out of duct cleaning are the ones who just bought a house, just finished a remodel, have someone with asthma or allergies at home, or have never had it done. If you can see dust blowing out of a register when the furnace kicks on, or there is a gray ring on the ceiling around a supply vent, it is time.

Jobs like yours

A homeowner had us do all his ducts and was surprised by the amount of dust that came out — dust he had not known was there. He said afterward that he could feel the difference in the air in the house. That is the standard result on a system that has never been cleaned.

A couple scheduled carpet, air ducts and dryer vent for a new home before moving in. Their closing date slipped and we rescheduled without fuss. The new-home package — ducts and vents before the furniture — is the single most common way people first find us for duct work.

A family called about duct cleaning after a kitchen remodel. The contractor had not sealed the registers; drywall dust had been pulled into the return for six weeks and was now puffing out of every supply vent. The camera showed a white layer in the trunk line. Negative-air cleaning plus the blower and coil cleared it.

A customer described the price as the best around and the work on the ducts as thorough. That is the balance we aim for: a real cleaning, priced per system with the blower included, rather than a coupon that turns into upsells.

Two techs cleaned a customer's carpets and air ducts on the same visit. She described them as professional and polite. Ducts and carpet on one visit is efficient because the truck is there anyway and the dust that comes out of the ducts is not landing on freshly cleaned carpet afterward.

Through the year in Puget Sound

October, when the furnace starts for the season, is when duct problems announce themselves: the musty smell on the first heat cycle is dust that settled over the summer being cooked on the heat exchanger. A fall cleaning fixes it before eight months of heating.

Spring pollen — alder in March, cottonwood in May — gets drawn into returns through open windows and coats the blower wheel. If anyone in the house has seasonal allergies that are worse indoors, that is why.

After a smoky August, ash settles in the ducts and the furnace blower. The first heat cycle in fall smells like the fire again. A duct cleaning and a MERV 13 filter after a smoke season is the fix.

Post-remodel is the fourth season for ducts. Any project with sanding — drywall, floors, cabinets — fills the system. Clean after the final cleanup, not before.

What we will tell you honestly

If your ducts are clean, we tell you and you do not pay for a cleaning. Newer homes with sealed metal ducts and a good filter often do not need it.

Duct cleaning does not fix mold in a wall or a wet crawlspace; it removes what is in the ducts. If we find active moisture, we say so and point you to the right trade.

Flexible ducts that have collapsed or been chewed need replacement, not cleaning. We will show you on the camera.

Locally owned, not a franchise

Air Duct Cleaning from a national brand comes with an advertised price and a list of add-ons at the door, because the franchise fee has to come from somewhere. We are one family with 3 vans in South Park and a laundromat in Tukwila; the quote on site is the number on the receipt, the techs are the ones customers name in reviews, and on a Sunday night the owner answers the phone. Here is the side-by-side.