Should Your Air Ducts Be Cleaned, Repaired or Replaced?

Air ducts are how you keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They distribute air throughout the house quietly and efficiently with minimal waste. If you engage in regular air duct cleaning they will likely go about their important work for years at a time without needing any significant repair work. Sometimes, however, repairs will be necessary. And there may even be instances where the only remedy to a particular problem is to replace the air ducts entirely. But how can you tell if a cleaning is all you need or if repairs or even replacements are necessary? That’s what we’re going to look at in this post.

Air Ducts: Should You Clean, Repair or Replace?

Let’s go through the different scenarios that might arise with air ducts and discuss whether they indicate you should have your ducts cleaned, repaired, or replaced.

When air duct cleaning is called for

If you notice that the air in your Arvada home does not smell as sweet as it did a few months earlier it likely means it’s time to have your air ducts cleaned. Air ducts are like any other component of the house in that they get dirty. The dirtier they get the more dust, pet dander, pollen, mold spores, soot, and other contaminants they will circulate throughout your home. All these pollutants will affect the way the air smells and feels.

If you or a loved one has been having a harder-than-normal time with allergies recently, it may well be because of the pollutants being circulated through the dirty air ducts. Likewise, if loved ones are sniffling and sneezing when they are inside the house it may very well be due to airborne pollutants being pushed through the ductwork. So, if people are suffering from sinus problems or respiratory distress it's probably time to clean the air ducts.

Finally, if you have recently had renovation or remodeling work done on your home you definitely need to have the air ducts cleaned ASAP.

When air duct repair is called for

If your ductwork has sprung leaks you will need to call for air duct repair. The ductwork in your home is composed of hundreds of separate pieces. Over time some of those pieces are likely to come loose. Especially at the joints between ductwork sections. Once that happens air will start being distributed unevenly. So one part of your home may be toasty warm while another is cold.

If you notice uneven heating in your home there is a good chance leaky ducts are to blame. In that case, you should call an HVAC technician to look at your ducts. He can tell you if there are leaks involved and what type of repairs need to be conducted. How much repairs will cost will depend on where the leaks are located. Some parts of the ductwork are easily accessible, and some are not.

If you are lucky the leaks are occurring where the end of the duct attaches to the register or grill. We say lucky because in those cases repairing the leak does not require taking apart any walls.

When air duct replacement is necessary

Air duct replacement is the last resort option that normally (but not exclusively) applies to older homes. There are several scenarios when air duct replacement may be the only viable option.

Flexible ducts are fairly common in modern homes. They take the place of rigid, galvanized steel ducts in open areas like the attic. They’re affordable and easy to work with but they’re also pretty fragile. Someone working in the attic or storing things away there could easily tear, twist or crush a flexible duct, in which case it would have to be replaced.

If you have recently had renovation or remodeling work done on your home - work that included taking down or otherwise modifying walls, ceilings, or floors - its possible damage was done to your ductwork in the process. This is actually more common than you think, and if there was more than one contractor at work on the remodeling project assigning fault can be tricky. But no matter who is ultimately to blame, ducts damaged by construction work will need to be replaced.

Unfortunately, flooding is an all-too-common phenomenon in Colorado. If your home has recently been subjected to flood waters, even if the flooding was largely confined to the basement, you could have flood-damaged ducts that need to be replaced. Why? Because they could start to rust, or there could be so much moisture inside the ducts that mold becomes rampant. If you don't replace mold-infested ductwork the respiratory health of everyone in the home will suffer.

Call Our Arvada Air Duct Cleaning Professionals

Air duct repair and replacement are major projects that need to be weighed carefully before you decide to undertake them. If you are looking at your air ducts with a worrisome gaze it may be that they just need a bit of TLC and nothing more. Before you call the HVAC technician give Steve’s Air Duct Cleaning a call. Our expert field operatives can tell you in short order when your ducts need repair or replacement, or if a good old-fashioned cleaning is all that's required.

Get in touch with Steve’s by searching for "air duct cleaning near me", or by writing to us at stevesairductcleaning11@gmail.com. Or better yet, give us a call at (720) 419-7792.