Whole-home duct cleaning
Dryer vent cleaning
Camera inspection
Sanitizing & deodorizingWhole-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 – $900 for a full single-system home, and most jobs are completed in a single visit. If you live in a larger Los Altos property with two or three separate HVAC systems, each system is quoted and documented separately rather than folded into one misleading flat price. That’s the honest way to price this work, and it’s how we’ve always done it. Call (866) 528-3938 for a free estimate.
We know Los Altos homes because we work in them every week, from the mid-century ranchers off Foothill Expressway to the rebuilds near downtown. The housing stock here is different from Mountain View or Cupertino. It’s older, it’s custom, and the ductwork has usually been in place since the Eisenhower administration. That changes how a cleaning should be approached, priced, and documented.
Why Duct Cleaning Mountain View Is Los Altos’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
Los Altos homeowners call us because we show up with professional-grade Rotobrush and Nikro cleaning systems, not a shop vacuum strapped to a van. The equipment matters when you’re cleaning 50-year-old galvanized runs buried in a crawlspace. Consumer-grade tools can’t reach the full length of those ducts, and they don’t agitate decades of compacted dust and oak pollen off the walls. Ours do.
Our team works in Los Altos regularly, so we’re familiar with the specific failure modes here: rodent-damaged attic flex, collapsed runs behind air handlers, and dry-rot dust mixed into the return air. We also bring Abatement Technologies HEPA filtration on every job. That means what we dislodge from your ducts gets captured and contained, not blown back into your living room through the registers.
Dave Hanson, who leads our crew, has spent years working on the duct systems specific to this part of the Peninsula. When a Los Altos homeowner asks why their downstairs return is pulling oak pollen in August, the answer usually lives in the attic or crawlspace, not the filter. That’s the level of local knowledge we bring to every estimate.
Styles & brands we work with
- Whole-home duct cleaning
- Dryer vent cleaning
- Camera inspection
- Sanitizing & deodorizing
Air Duct Inspection in Los Altos
Air Duct Inspection in Los Altos is the starting point for most of our jobs, because what’s inside a 1960s rancher’s duct system is rarely what the homeowner expects. We run a camera through the supply and return lines before any cleaning begins. In Los Altos specifically, this step matters more than in newer housing stock. Roof rats and squirrels have had fifty or sixty years to find their way into attic flex runs, and the damage isn’t visible from the register opening. A camera inspection finds it.
An inspection in Los Altos runs $150 – $300 depending on system count and access. It’s credited toward the cleaning if you book both. If you’re buying a home off Springer Road or near Los Altos Hills, an inspection before close tells you whether the ducts need cleaning, repair, or full replacement. Not all three. Just what’s actually there.
What the camera sees
We run a push camera from the register to the air handler and back on both supply and return sides. The footage shows us breaches, collapsed flex, debris accumulation, and whether the duct is even connected to the plenum anymore. In older Los Altos homes, disconnected runs are more common than most people would guess.
What you get afterward
You get a written report with still images and our recommendation. No pressure. If the ducts are cleanable and intact, we say so. If they’re torn open and full of rodent debris, you’ll see it on camera. That’s the whole point of the inspection.
Residential Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos
Residential Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos is a full-source-removal job, not a surface pass. We connect our Rotobrush or Nikro system to the main trunk line, seal the registers, and use negative pressure to pull dislodged material out of the system while agitating the duct walls. In Los Altos homes, that material is usually a mix of dry oak pollen, dust, construction debris from past remodels, and whatever the roof rats dragged in. It’s not humid mold, the way you’d see in a coastal climate. It’s dry, fine, and incredibly persistent.
For a standard single-system Los Altos rancher, expect to pay $450 – $750. A two-story custom home with separate upstairs and downstairs systems typically lands between $800 and $1,300. Each system is priced individually because each one takes time and consumes equipment wear. We don’t average three systems into one number and hope nobody asks questions.
Supply and return side cleaning
We clean both the supply and return ducting separately. The return side in older Los Altos homes is often the dirtier of the two, because it pulls from hallways and living spaces that have collected decades of dust. Skipping the return side is how a cheap cleaning leaves half the problem in place.
Video inspection after the work
When we’re done, we run the camera again and show you the before-and-after footage. That’s your proof the work was actually done, not just a receipt that says “cleaned.” If you can’t see inside your own ducts, the video is how you know.
Trusted Brands We Service in Los Altos
We carry Guardsman-brand vent covers and finishing products for Los Altos homeowners who want their registers sealed properly after a cleaning. We also work with Honeywell and Aprilaire filtration systems, and we can advise you on the right filter setup for a home that sits under mature oak canopy. If you already have an Aprilaire media cabinet or a Honeywell whole-home filter, we’ll clean around it and confirm it’s still performing. We don’t install units we haven’t been authorized to service, but we can point you to the right solution for your system. Los Altos homes with original ductwork often benefit from upgraded filtration, especially during Santa Cruz Mountains fire season when smoke settles over the valley for days.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in Los Altos Homes
- Rodent-torn attic flex. Roof rats and squirrels in the attic spaces above Foothill Expressway and surrounding neighborhoods chew through flex duct and use it as a highway. A cleaning often reveals sections that need replacement, not just cleaning.
- Original 1950s galvanized trunk lines. Many Los Altos homes still run their original sheet-metal ducts through the crawlspace. These can be cleaned effectively, but they’re often leaking at the seams, pulling crawlspace air into the system.
- Dry oak pollen and leaf litter. Mature valley oaks and redwoods over the roofline drop constant debris that gets pulled into the return ducts. By late summer, a Los Altos return can be carrying a visible layer of yellow-brown pollen.
- Multiple HVAC systems on one property. Larger Los Altos lots often have a separate system for a guest wing or a second floor. Homeowners don’t always realize each system needs its own cleaning. A flat quote that ignores this usually means something got skipped.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos, CA
Here’s what we charge in Los Altos, straight up.
- Single-system rancher (typical 3-bed, 1,400 – 1,800 sq ft): $450 – $750
- Two-system home with separate upstairs/downstairs or main/guest wing: $800 – $1,300
- Three-system estate property with detached ADU or pool house: $1,200 – $1,900
- Air duct inspection with camera and written report: $150 – $300 (credited toward cleaning)
- Duct repair after damage is found: quoted separately once we see the footage
The variables are system count, duct length, access difficulty (crawlspace vs. attic), and whether repair is needed before cleaning can proceed. We give one flat price per system before work starts. That price doesn’t change once the van is in your driveway. Call (866) 528-3938 for a free estimate specific to your Los Altos home.
We Also Serve Cities Near Los Altos
We’re based in Mountain View and work throughout the mid-Peninsula. If you’re in Cupertino, Palo Alto, or Saratoga, the same crew and the same equipment come to you. Learn more about Air Duct Cleaning for the full scope of what we do, or see our Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos coverage details if you’re nearby and wondering whether we reach your neighborhood.
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 each system is a separate cleaning job. A typical Los Altos home on a larger lot might have one system for the main house, another for a second-floor addition, and a third for a detached guest unit. Each has its own trunk lines, returns, and registers, and each takes time to clean properly. We quote $450 – $750 per system depending on size and access. A single flat number that pretends all three are the same is how jobs get cut short. Call (866) 528-3938 and we’ll walk through your specific setup.
It starts with a camera inspection, because those old galvanized trunk lines under the floor are often cracked or separated at the joints. If the ducts are intact, we connect our Rotobrush or Nikro system, seal the registers, and pull negative pressure while agitating the walls to remove decades of dust and pollen. If the ducts are compromised, we show you the footage and quote repair before cleaning. Cleaning a duct that’s pulling crawlspace air is pointless. Fix it first, then clean it. Call (866) 528-3938 for an inspection.
They tear open the flex duct and use it as a runway between attic spaces. What starts as a cleaning call often becomes a repair job once the camera shows the breaches. In neighborhoods off Foothill Expressway and along the old orchard lots, this is the single most common thing we find. The cleaning itself removes the pollen and debris that got pulled in through those holes, but if the flex isn’t replaced, the problem comes back. We quote the repair separately and document it with before-and-after footage.
Yes, it removes the fine particulate that settles into your ducts after smoke events. Los Altos sits in the smoke path when fires burn in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and that smoke gets pulled through your return ducts and recirculated for weeks. We recommend cleaning after a heavy smoke season, and we also recommend upgrading to a HEPA or high-MERV filtration setup if you’re still running a basic fiberglass filter. Our Abatement Technologies HEPA containment during cleaning means we don’t kick that particulate back into your living space while we work. Call (866) 528-3938 to schedule before the next fire season.
You should expect video footage, not just a receipt. We run a camera before and after and provide still images from both. You’ll see the duct walls before cleaning and after, plus any repairs we made along the way. If we found rodent damage or a collapsed section and replaced it, that’s in the documentation too. For a Los Altos homeowner with a property manager or a future sale in mind, this documentation is worth keeping with your home records. It proves the work was actually done inside a system you can’t see.
Dave Hanson and the team at Duct Cleaning Mountain View have served Los Altos homeowners for years, handling everything from single-system ranchers to multi-system estate properties. If your ducts haven’t been cleaned in the last five years, or if you’re noticing dust on the registers and a musty pull from the returns, call (866) 528-3938 today. We’ll give you an honest assessment and a flat per-system quote before any work begins.
Written by Dave Hanson, Owner at Duct Cleaning Mountain View, serving Los Altos and the surrounding Peninsula communities.