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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Air Duct Cleaning Across Los Altos
Air duct cleaning in Los Altos is not a luxury. It is a scheduled reset for a ventilation system that has spent decades absorbing the byproducts of this city’s specific housing pattern: older ranch homes, repeatedly remodeled, now running modern square footage through original 1960s ductwork. CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning does one thing differently: we document every duct run with before-and-after photos, so you can see exactly what was removed. A written price comes before any work starts, every time, under Haven Standard Clause 1. To schedule an inspection or get a written estimate, call (806) 606-6902. We serve the entire Los Altos residential core, from North Los Altos to South Los Altos and the Country Club area.
Why CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Is Los Altos’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
Los Altos homeowners tend to research before they call. They want to know what equipment is being used, what the crew will actually do, and what proof they will receive when the job is done. We give them that proof. Since 2013, CleanRun has served more than 52,000 homes, and every single one left with a written price agreed to before work started and a documented photo record of the duct interiors when the crew finished. That is not marketing language. It is our standard job file.
Tomas Reyes, who leads our team, oversees the photo documentation on every Los Altos job. The reason is simple: a homeowner cannot stand at the supply register and see whether the trunk line is actually clean. They can see a photograph. Our equipment roster includes Rotobrush, Nikro, and Honeywell systems, which means the tools we use are the same ones a homeowner can look up independently. When we clean ducts in Los Altos, we are not running a shop vac through a floor register. We are running negative-pressure extraction with agitation tools and HEPA filtration, then handing you the photos to prove it.
Local reputation matters here. Los Altos is a word-of-mouth city. A bad experience travels fast across the Rancho Shopping Center parking lot or the Los Altos Farmers’ Market. We keep our work in Los Altos accountable through the 365-Day Done Right Promise, which is a written guarantee, not a manager’s discretion. If the work is not right, we make it right. That promise is on the invoice.
Our Air Duct Cleaning Services in Los Altos
Residential Duct Cleaning
A Los Altos ranch home built in 1962 was never designed for a 3,000-square-foot remodeled floor plan. The original galvanized trunk line was sized for maybe 1,400 square feet. Add a family room in the 1990s and a kitchen expansion in 2015, and that same trunk line now pushes air through a patchwork of flex duct branches and new rigid runs. Our residential duct cleaning in Los Altos treats that entire system, not just the easy-to-reach supply registers. We clean the plenum, the trunk runs, and every branch line we can access, then photograph each segment. The goal is source removal, per NADCA standards, not a surface brush-through.
Commercial Duct Cleaning
Los Altos has a modest commercial core along Main and State Streets, plus medical and professional offices near El Camino Real. Those spaces have a different problem than homes: long operating hours, constant occupancy, and HVAC systems that rarely get full shutdown time. Our commercial duct cleaning crews coordinate with property managers to work around business hours without cutting corners on documentation. Every commercial job receives the same photo record and written scope as a residential job. No exceptions.
Supply Duct Cleaning
Supply ducts carry conditioned air from the air handler to the rooms. In Los Altos homes with layered renovation history, supply ducts are where we find the most stratified debris. Successive remodels deposit fresh drywall dust on top of older construction dust, and that layering builds up year after year. CleanRun’s supply duct cleaning starts with video inspection of the trunk and branches so we can see where the debris has accumulated before we start removing it. That inspection is included, not sold as an add-on.
Return Duct Cleaning
Return ducts bring air from the rooms back to the air handler. They also bring dust, pet hair, and whatever else is floating in the living space. In Los Altos, where crawl spaces and attic returns are common in ranch construction, return ducts frequently pull in unfiltered air through failed joints or disconnected flex branches. Our return duct cleaning removes the accumulated material and identifies any disconnections the camera finds along the way. A return duct that pulls attic air is not going to be fixed by cleaning alone, but you will know about it because we will show you the photo.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
BeforeAfterTrusted Brands We Service in Los Altos
Homeowners in Los Altos have systems from a wide range of manufacturers, and our technicians work on all of them. We regularly service units connected to Honeywell filtration systems, Aprilaire air cleaners, and Guardsman filters, and our cleaning equipment includes Rotobrush and Nikro tools that are standard in professional NADCA-compliant work. Because we schedule our Los Altos jobs locally, we carry the common consumables and access tools needed for this city’s typical ranch-home duct layouts. You will not wait for a part to ship from a warehouse across the country.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in Los Altos Homes
- Stratified construction debris from multiple remodel eras. A home that was renovated in 1992, 2008, and 2019 has three distinct layers of drywall dust and debris inside its ducts. A quick brush-through will not remove what has been compacted for decades behind partially closed dampers.
- Disconnected flex duct at transition joints. Original 1960s sheet metal trunk lines often mate poorly with flex duct branches added during later additions. The joints fail, and the system pulls air from the crawl space instead of the return register. This is common in Los Altos ranch homes and requires sealing, not just cleaning.
- Wildfire smoke particulate embedded in duct interiors. The 2020 fire season pushed Los Altos AQI above 200 for extended periods. Homes that ran their HVAC continuously during those weeks now have fine smoke particulate coating the inside of their ductwork. That material re-circulates through the home in dry South Bay summers and will not all be caught by a standard filter.
- Oversized systems on undersized ducts. When a 1,400-square-foot ranch grows to 2,800 square feet through additions, the original duct runs are often too small for the new air volume. That creates high static pressure, which forces air through gaps and pulls debris from unconditioned spaces. Cleaning helps, but the underlying sizing issue is what it is.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos, CA
Commercial duct cleaning in Los Altos varies by square footage and system complexity, but a single-unit office suite typically falls between $350 and $900. A full commercial system with rooftop units and extensive duct runs runs higher, and we will give you the written number before any work begins.
For any of these services, we offer a Free Second Opinion on any written estimate you have received from another company. Bring it to us and we will put our number next to it, in writing, at no cost. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written quote.
We Also Serve Cities Near Los Altos
If you are just outside Los Altos, we cover Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Sunnyvale with the same documented photo record and written-price standard. Learn more about our Air Duct Cleaning process or see how we apply it throughout Los Altos and the surrounding South Bay communities. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our San Francisco Bay Area office; crews serve Los Altos locally.
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 - Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos
Why does my Los Altos ranch house have ductwork that smells dusty after every remodel, even when I change the filter?
Because the smell is not coming from the filter. It is coming from layers of drywall dust and construction debris deposited inside your duct runs during successive remodels, and that material sits in the trunk line and branches, not in the filter media. Los Altos’s ranch homes are almost never torn down and rebuilt. They are added onto, updated, and expanded in separate permit projects across multiple decades. Each remodel pushes a fresh wave of fine dust through the system, and that dust settles on top of what was already there. Changing the filter addresses what is entering the system going forward; it does nothing about what has already accumulated inside the ductwork. A full source-removal cleaning with photographic documentation addresses it. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written quote.
Does wildfire smoke really leave residue inside my ducts, or does the smoke just pass through the filter?
Yes, it really does leave residue, and no, the filter does not catch all of it. The fine particulate from wildfire smoke is mostly PM2.5, which is small enough to pass through many standard residential filters, especially MERV 8 or lower. During the 2020 fire season, Los Altos experienced extended periods above AQI 200, and homes that ran HVAC continuously during those weeks pulled smoky air through the returns and into the ductwork. The particulate that did not get filtered out settled onto duct interiors, where it remains. Dry South Bay air keeps it suspended and recirculating. A video inspection will show you whether your ducts carry that residue, and a proper negative-pressure cleaning with HEPA filtration removes it. Call (806) 606-6902 and we will show you the photos before we touch anything.
My house was expanded years ago, but my air flow is still weak in the new rooms. Is that a duct cleaning issue?
It can be, but it is more often a duct configuration issue that cleaning will reveal. In Los Altos, the typical pattern is a 1962 galvanized trunk line feeding 1990s flex branches and newer rigid runs from a 2015 expansion. That patchwork system was not designed as a unified whole, and weak airflow in the new rooms usually points to a disconnection, a crushed flex run, or an undersized branch, not just debris. Our video inspection in the new rooms’ supply runs will show us whether the issue is accumulation or a structural problem like a slipped joint. Cleaning removes the debris; sealing the transition fixes the airflow. We will document both with photos. Call (806) 606-6902 to schedule an inspection.
Is a ‘sanitizing fog’ treatment worth the extra cost after cleaning my Los Altos ducts?
Almost never, for the way most Los Altos homes fail. The fogging treatment kills biological growth on interior duct surfaces, which sounds useful, but the actual problem in most Los Altos ranch homes is not biological. It is decades of drywall dust, construction debris, and wildfire particulate layered inside the duct runs. A sanitizing fog does not remove any of that. It is a chemical application on top of material that should have been physically removed. Worse, on older flex duct joints weakened by dry South Bay heat, a foaming sanitizer can damage the mylar or adhesive and accelerate disconnection. If a genuine microbial issue is present, the correct step is source removal first, then treatment only if necessary, and the photos will tell you which situation you have. We will show you before we ever suggest an add-on. Call (806) 606-6902 for a straight answer.
How often should I have my ducts cleaned in Los Altos, given the wildfire seasons and the age of my home?
For a typical Los Altos ranch home that has been through at least one major remodel and at least one significant wildfire smoke season, every three to five years is realistic. That is faster than the national guideline of every five to seven years, and the reason is specific to Los Altos: this city’s housing stock carries far more cumulative debris than the newer construction in Sunnyvale or Mountain View, and the dry South Bay summers mean that debris keeps moving rather than settling out. A home with pets, a recent remodel, or a resident with respiratory sensitivity may need cleaning more frequently. After your first cleaning, the photo record we deliver gives you a baseline. You will be able to see exactly how much has accumulated by the time the next cleaning comes around. Call (806) 606-6902 and we will schedule the first inspection.
Contact CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning in Los Altos, CA
If you are researching air duct cleaning in Los Altos, you have probably already noticed how many companies offer a low teaser price and then find reasons to inflate the invoice once the crew is in the driveway. We do not work that way. Haven Standard Clause 1 is a written price before any work starts, and that price is the price. Every Los Altos job concludes with a Documented Photo Record of every duct run, before and after, so you can see the difference. If the work is not right, the 365-Day Done Right Promise means we make it right, in writing, not at a manager’s whim.
Call (806) 606-6902 for a free estimate. A live person answers, and we will schedule an inspection that gives you a written price and a clear scope before any panel comes off.
Written by Tomas Reyes, Owner at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning, serving Los Altos since 2013.
Air Duct Cleaning in Nearby Areas
