Air Duct Cleaning in McDonough, GA

A decade of dust in the McDonough runs

If your house is into its second decade, the ductwork has been quietly collecting since the day the drywall went up. Construction dust first, then pollen every spring, then whatever the house has done in the years since. It sits in the runs where nobody can see it until the air handler picks it up and pushes it back out through the registers.

The tell is usually dust that is back on the vents days after you wiped them, or a house that makes your allergies worse indoors than out — which is the wrong way round and worth taking seriously. That is not your filter failing. A filter catches what is coming in; it does nothing whatsoever about what is already downstream of it.

While we are in there, the return is worth a look for its own sake. Returns in houses of this age are often exactly what the builder put in — undersized, and sometimes pulling air through a wall cavity or a joist bay rather than through any actual duct. When that is the case the system is drawing in whatever else is sitting in that cavity, every hour it runs, and no filter change will touch it. It is a fixable thing, and it stays invisible until somebody opens it up.

The signs people usually call about

• Dust back on the registers days after you wiped them
• Allergies that get worse indoors, not better
• A musty smell for the first minute after it kicks on
• Weak airflow from the rooms furthest from the unit
• Drywall dust everywhere since the renovation
• Pets, and everything that comes with them

More on this service Air Duct Cleaning & Indoor Air Quality