Whole-system duct and dryer vent check with before-and-after photos - you see exactly what came out of your vents
That "$99 whole-house special" is a bait ad - the real number appears once they are in your hallway, or the "clean" is a shop-vac at the register. We photograph the inside of your ducts before and after instead.
Fast, Reliable Air Duct Cleaning Across Los Altos
Air duct cleaning in Los Altos typically runs $450 – $1,200 for a full system, depending on how many air handlers and duct runs your home actually has. That’s the honest range, and we’ll explain exactly why the spread is that wide in a minute. We’re Air Duct Cleaning Palo Alto, led by Neal Drummond, and we work throughout Los Altos weekly, from the ranch tracts off Foothill Expressway to the newer custom builds near downtown. Call (833) 620-7085 for a free estimate based on your actual system, not a guess.
Key Takeaways for Los Altos Homeowners:
- Most Los Altos ranches have two or three separate HVAC systems, which changes pricing entirely
- Original 1950s-1970s sheet-metal runs often hide crushed or disconnected sections under attic insulation
- You should expect before/after photos and register-by-register air readings, not just a receipt
- We use Rotobrush contact-cleaning systems and Nikro HEPA negative-air machines, not consumer-grade blowers
Why Air Duct Cleaning Palo Alto Is Los Altos’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
Los Altos homeowners tend to ask harder questions than most, and we like that. They want to know what equipment is going into their ducts, how we’ll verify the work, and whether we can handle systems that were pieced together across three different remodel decades. We answer every one of those questions with specifics: Rotobrush brush-contact systems to dislodge compacted debris, Nikro HEPA negative-air machines to keep that debris from recirculating into living spaces, and camera inspection before and after. Neal Drummond built the company around a simple standard: professional-grade equipment, not improvised tools.
We’ve worked in Los Altos long enough to know that a “three-bedroom rancher” here might be 3,200 square feet with two additions and an ADU. That’s not a one-system job, and we don’t price it like one. Our Air Duct Cleaning team maps every run before quoting so there are no surprises at the air handler. When you call (833) 620-7085, you’ll talk to someone who knows the difference between the attic access on a 94022 rancher and a 94024 hillside lot.
Styles & brands we work with
- Whole-home duct cleaning
- Dryer vent cleaning
- Camera inspection
- Sanitizing & deodorizing
HVAC Duct Cleaning in Los Altos
HVAC Duct Cleaning in Los Altos means something specific here: reconciling a system that was likely built in sections, decades apart. The original rigid sheet-metal supply trunk might date to 1962. A flex branch feeding a 1990s family-room addition might run through a completely different attic cavity. And a 2010s primary-suite wing might have its own zone damper and a third return path. Our job is to map all of it, clean all of it, and document what we found. A typical single-system Los Altos home runs $450 – $650. A two or three-system home runs $750 – $1,200, and that’s because we’re cleaning three full duct networks, not doing three passes over one.
We clean supply ducts, return ducts, and the plenum at the air handler. Every pass runs under negative air with HEPA filtration, so what comes off the duct walls goes into the Nikro capture unit, not your hallways.
Camera Inspection Before Cleaning
In Los Altos, we run a video inspection from the air handler before switching on the vacuum. This finds crushed flex, disconnected runs, and sections buried under blown-in insulation that would otherwise be missed. You can watch the footage with us, and you’ll see what we see.
Supply and Return Duct Cleaning
Both sides of the system matter, and in older Los Altos homes, the return side is often the dirtier of the two. Crawlspace-routed returns pull air from under the house, and if the crawlspace isn’t sealed, that air carries fine dust and pollen into the system. We pull every supply and return register, clean the boot, and seal what we can access.
Vent Cleaning in Los Altos
Vent Cleaning in Los Altos is the entry point for most of our customers, because it’s what people see: dust on the register covers, a gray film on the vent slats, that faint dusty smell when the system kicks on. But vents are only the visible end of a much longer path. In Los Altos ranches, the register cover often sits at the end of a 30 to 60 foot run that snakes through a low-pitch attic. Cleaning the visible vent without cleaning the run behind it is cosmetic. We do both: every register cover is washed or replaced as needed, and every run behind it is brush-contact cleaned and vacuumed with HEPA containment.
Vent cleaning within a full system clean is part of the $450 – $650 range for a single-system home. If you want vent-only service, we’ll quote a smaller range after looking at the system, but we’ll tell you honestly whether vent-only is worth doing at all in your specific house.
Register Cleaning and Replacement
Original steel registers on 1960s and 1970s Los Altos homes are often painted over, rusted at the edges, or bent from decades of adjustment. We clean them, and if they’re brittle or damaged, we can replace them with matching sizes on the spot.
Dryer Vent Cleaning as Fire Prevention
We also handle dryer vent cleaning as a dedicated service, not a tacked-on upsell. Los Altos homes with long vertical dryer risers or vents that terminate at the roof accumulate lint in ways a short side-wall vent doesn’t. Dryer vent fires are preventable, and the fix is mechanical removal of lint from the full run, not just the first two feet behind the dryer.
Trusted Brands We Service in Los Altos
We work on every duct system, but we’re also authorized to service and install Honeywell and Aprilaire filtration products, which matters in Los Altos because so many homeowners here have already invested in better air quality and want their ducts cleaned to the same standard. If your system has a Honeywell media cabinet or an Aprilaire filter housing, we service it and can replace the filter media as part of the job. We also use Abatement Technologies equipment in our workflow, the same standard applied in professional mold and contamination remediation. That matters in Los Altos, where remodels and wildfire smoke events push homeowners to demand actual containment, not just a truck-mounted vacuum in the driveway. Call (833) 620-7085 and we’ll tell you exactly what equipment is going into your home.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in Los Altos Homes
- Disconnected or crushed flex runs above low-pitch attics: Los Altos ranches on the 94022 and 94024 sides often have original rigid sheet-metal trunks with later flex add-ons. The flex gets crushed under insulation or pulled apart at splices, and the homeowner never knows because the air still reaches the register, just less of it. Camera inspection is the only way to find these before cleaning.
- Duct runs buried under blown-in insulation: Older Los Altos homes were insulated after the fact, and the insulation contractors blew right over the ducts. We routinely find runs that are fully buried, which means they’re impossible to clean from the outside. We access them from the air handler and the register ends, working the full run with brush contact.
- Mismatched systems from piecemeal remodels: A single Los Altos house can have three air handlers with duct runs built in 1962, 1994, and 2015. That’s not one system with some age, that’s three systems that need separate mapping, separate cleaning, and separate documentation. A flat whole-house price on that kind of home means someone’s shorting a system.
- Wildfire smoke residue and fine dust build-up: Los Altos sits close enough to the Santa Cruz Mountains that September and October smoke events push ash and fine particulates into attic spaces and through any leak in the return path. Homes near Foothill Expressway and the 280 corridor see it worse during the dry season. After a smoke event, the duct interiors hold that residue until someone physically removes it.
See the difference
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After
Before
After
Before
AfterPricing for Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos, CA
We quote one flat price per system, agreed before work starts. No per-vent pricing, no surprise add-ons at the register.
A single-system Los Altos home with one air handler and a standard ranch layout typically runs $450 – $650. A two-system home with separate handlers for a main house and an addition runs $750 – $950. A three-system home, which we see regularly in the heavily remodeled ranch tracts of 94022 and 94024, runs $950 – $1,200. That’s the whole job: camera inspection, brush-contact cleaning on every supply and return run, HEPA negative-air containment, register cleaning, and before/after documentation with air readings at each register.
We don’t do teaser coupons, and we don’t do $99 whole-house specials. A Los Altos ranch with 40-year-old sheet-metal runs buried in insulation cannot be cleaned properly for $99, and anyone quoting that number is either not cleaning the full system or planning to make it up once the van is on the driveway. Call (833) 620-7085 and we’ll give you an exact quote based on your house, your air handlers, and your duct layout. Estimates are free.
Why per-system pricing is the only honest model for Los Altos: Most Los Altos homes were expanded zone-by-zone over decades. A single house can have three separate HVAC systems with duct runs built in different eras. Quoting one flat whole-house price on that kind of home means either shorting the third system or rushing all three. We price per system because that’s how the house is actually built.
What You Should Expect Documented
For work you cannot see, documentation is not optional. Los Altos homeowners should expect before/after photos of the duct interiors, register-by-register air readings, and a written summary of what was found and what was done. We provide all three on every job. If a company won’t show you photos of your own ductwork, that’s a reason to keep looking.
We Also Serve Cities Near Los Altos
We work throughout the corridor, including Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Palo Alto, and East Palo Alto. If you’re in Los Altos proper, you’re a short drive from our Palo Alto base, and we schedule Los Altos jobs on a dedicated route so wait times stay short. Call (833) 620-7085 and we’ll get you on the schedule.
Serving Los Altos, CA – Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Los Altos area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage – if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos
Because there are three full duct networks to clean, not one. A house with three air handlers has three supply plenums, three return paths, and roughly three times the linear feet of ductwork. We quote one flat price per system, so a three-system home is priced three times, and every system gets the same camera inspection, brush-contact cleaning, and HEPA containment. Call (833) 620-7085 and we’ll walk your specific layout with you.
You should expect before/after photos from inside the duct runs, not just shots of the equipment in the driveway. We photograph every supply and return run at the start and finish, take air readings at each register, and give you a written summary of what we found, including any crushed or disconnected runs we repaired. For work hidden above a low-pitch attic, that documentation is the only way to verify the job was actually done.
We don’t dig them out. That would disturb the insulation and create a bigger problem. We access buried runs from the air handler end and the register end, working the full length with brush contact and negative air. When we find crushed or disconnected sections under the insulation, we mark them on camera and talk to you about repair options. If a section can’t be reached without pulling insulation, we’ll tell you that plainly before we quote the repair.
Yes, and it’s a pattern we see every September and October. Los Altos sits close enough to the Santa Cruz Mountains that smoke events push fine ash and particulates into attic spaces, and any return-side leak pulls that into the duct system. Homes near the 280 corridor and Foothill Expressway see it most during the dry season. We recommend cleaning after a significant smoke event, and we also service and install Aprilaire and Honeywell filtration products for homeowners who want better year-round air.
We do, and we treat it as a fire-prevention service, not a quick add-on. Los Altos homes with long vertical dryer risers or roof terminations are exactly the ones that accumulate dangerous lint loads. We clean the full run with brush contact and verify airflow at the exterior termination. Call (833) 620-7085 to schedule duct cleaning and dryer vent service together.
How Los Altos’s Housing Stock Shapes Every Job We Do
Here’s what we’ve learned working in Los Altos, and it’s not something you’ll find on a generic duct cleaning website. The older ranch tracts off the 94022 and 94024 side were built with original rigid sheet-metal duct runs that are now often buried under blown-in insulation. Remodels happened zone-by-zone over decades, so a single house can have three separate air handlers with duct runs built in 1962, 1994, and 2015. What a homeowner calls a “cleaning” is often a mapping job first: finding crushed and disconnected runs above the low-pitch attic before any vacuum is switched on. That’s why we camera-inspect before we clean, and why we price per system instead of per house. A remodeled rancher off the 94024 side we worked on recently had been expanded twice, and the homeowner booked a routine vent cleaning for what turned out to be three air handlers feeding discontinuous duct runs. Our tech ran a camera inspection from the air handler and found a crushed add-on flex run buried under blown-in insulation and a disconnected return in the crawlspace. We reconnected the runs, then pulled every supply and return duct under negative pressure with HEPA filtration, documenting before/after photos and air readings at each register. That’s what the work actually looks like in Los Altos.
Written by Neal Drummond, Owner at Air Duct Cleaning Palo Alto, serving Los Altos and the surrounding Bay Area.