Joe's Air Duct Cleaning
5311 Kirby Dr Suite 220A, Houston, TX 77005
(713) 804-7007
Air duct cleaning is a process that has grown in popularity over the last 20 years as a way to improve the quality of your indoor air. This helps with people who suffer from allergies and asthma, as well as helps prevent these conditions from developing or getting worse. You may be apprehensive about contacting a service provider, however, without knowing all the steps involved in the process. (The best way to limit ones apprehensiveness is to know what the process of duct cleaning involves.)
Getting an Estimate
Many companies won't risk providing an estimate for air duct cleaning without visiting your home. This may seem like a trick to talk you into services you don't need. We offer flat rate pricing. You will know the amount you will be spending before we visit your home. (We have been successfully using this method for pricing duct cleaning for over twenty years. It provides an accurate way for the customer to know exactly what the cost for cleaning will be.)
Preparing for Air Duct Cleaning
The technicians who arrive the day of your air duct cleaning will need to remove all your vent plates. Some of these may be under bits of carpet or furniture. It saves time by clearing these ahead of time, though they will remove the covers themselves. This allows the technicians to safely and efficiently move them out of the way to a location that is convenient for cleaning and avoid contaminating the rest of your home.
How Ducts Are Cleaned
Quality companies use a combination of air pressure and suction (suction is okay but maybe vacuum pressure would sound better) to thoroughly clear dust and debris from your air ducts. Used together, these methods ensure the particles in your ducts and vents don't escape into the rest of your home. Special equipment attaches to the heating and cooling features in your home. Up to 10 pounds or more of contaminants may be removed in one visit, depending on the current state of your HVAC system.
Dust and debris in a duct system can be a potential breeder of mold and mildew. The most important part of fighting this is ensuring that the dust and debris is thoroughly removed from your duct system. A professional company will always provide a sanitizing service at the end of the cleaning process. The sanitization process is only utilized as a back up to a complete and thorough duct cleaning. Removal of the mold's organic food source, i.e., dust, is the best and only way of fight biological growth in a duct system. If your system has in fact been infested by mold and mildew a much more thorough remediation process may be needed. If this is the case, a professional duct cleaner can give you the proper direction for the remediation process.
Clean-up
After the air duct cleaning is complete, technicians will pack up their equipment and supplies. Reputable companies make sure they do not leave a mess behind. They will also do a once over of the coils in your heating and cooling system to remove dirt build-up. We rinse and sanitize the coils. I am not sure what a once over is.
Vent covers that were cleaned early on should be completely dry by the end of the duct cleaning process. Technicians will make sure to reattach them using the original hardware. If the technicians modified anything in your home to do the cleaning, it will be returned to normal.
Air duct cleaning is a helpful service that not only improves air quality but saves money on making your heating and cooling systems more efficient. Don't let fear of the unknown prevent you from doing what's best for your family. Call and schedule a quote consultation.
Indoor air quality starts when construction begins and it should be one of your top priorities. The EPA estimates that indoor air is two to five times more polluted than outdoor air, and this applies even to new and shiny abodes.
People assume that with new construction standards and an overall reduction in outdoor air quality, the quality of your air inside the house should be better. Unfortunately, this is not true. In our efforts to reduce energy costs and waste, builders and manufacturers have been working together to create more efficient ways to keep a home airtight. We now have windows that keep heat in the house during the winter and the cold air in during the summer. We also have equipment that can help detect leaks in the house and to plug them. Insulation, moisture barriers and waterproof basements along with much-improved seals around windows and doors have created a house that no longer breathes.
An environment like this can become a catalyst for bacteria that cause a decline in indoor air quality. This is where air duct cleaning comes in. Using special equipment, your air ducts can be cleaned periodically so that any extra moisture or disease-carrying bacteria are eliminated.
Top 5 Duct Cleaning Benefits
1. Save Money
The EPA has conducted studies proving that by removing even four-tenths of an inch of dust from cooling system coils, you can reduce energy usage by up to 21 percent.
2. Extend Life of HVAC Systems
It is estimated that nine out of 10 HVAC systems fail or break down due to inadequate maintenance. Replacement parts and labor for an HVAC system can be very costly. People tend to ignore this, thinking that they are saving money in the short term. Unfortunately, in the long run, it often means that they have to replace their HVAC system a few years earlier than necessary.
3. Indoor Air Quality
A lot of people consider air vent cleaning essential to maintaining healthy indoor air. Dust, allergens (pollen, pet dander) and toxins (mold, mildew, rodent droppings) are routinely found in air ducts. Even when homeowners vacuum their house or use a carpet cleaning service, a certain amount of dust goes up in the air and settles in your air ducts. When this mixes with any moisture in the ducts, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.
4. Allergies
Duct cleaning may be required to provide a healthy environment for allergy suffering members of your family. Air duct cleaning can drastically reduce the amount of allergens that are present in a home.
5. Smell
Dust, mold and bacteria in ducts will generate a musty smell in a house that no amount of air fresheners or candles can get rid of. Regular duct cleaning will get rid of the smell almost completely.