Duct Cleaning

Q: I recently moved to an older ranch on a slab...not used to not having a basement where all the mechanical guts of the house are easily accessible! There is major road construction going on behind the house. I realized that the orange dust that I kept finding around the vents is residue from the road construction....(clay soil!)...so we have been keeping the windows closed and the AC on. After vacuuming the vents, I think I really need to have them cleaned professionally. Any suggestions on what I should look for in a service? Since we're on a slab, I believe all the duct work is under the floors and in the walls, right? Do they just suck out the vents or do they tap into the ductwork? There's a company that has a special advertised for $7.95 per vent....is that reasonable? Or am I ok with just vacuuming out the vents....I've heard pros and cons on a lot of the duct cleaning services

A: You want someone reputable - that means that they have a facility (do not work from home), are listed in the yellow pages of your phone book and are members of the BBB or local chamber of commerce. They will use vacuums to such out the dust, but they have a lot more vacuum than an ordinary industrial vac, they do not drill holes in the ducts.

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Cleaning Raw Wood

Q. This may seem like a weird question, but can you clean and disinfect wood? Doesn't it just sink in and not come out with common cleaners like Lysol? I have wood cabinets in the condo, and all the surfaces are "raw" wood, and look kind of dirty.

A. Raw wood is very difficult to clean, because it stains very easily. I spoke to a cabinetmaker friend and he suggests you try bleach such as Clorox. Make sure you wear gloves, covering on all your skin and goggles. You then have to wash down the cabinets with some light soap and water. It does stink so make sure you can open the windows for ventilation. This is not a guaranteed solution to the problem, but he says it works 75% of the time. It depends on what the dirt is. If it is grease, it will need to be sanded.

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Cleaning Air Ducts

Q: My air conditioning unit doesn't blow as good as it used to. I cleaned the coils and it is blowing colder air but still not blowing very hard through the vents. I heard that they can come blow out the ducts and wondered if this was a good thing and is it as costly as it sounds like it would be? Does it really help? I was thinking it would help with any allergies if nothing else. But trying to keep everything going myself I don't have a lot of extra money for things that won't make much of a difference.

A: You would have to have a lot of dirt build-up in the ducts to affect air-flow and I would think this is highly unlikely. Cleaning the ducts will remove dust, and other allergenic compounds. Things that can affect air flow are usually related to the return air coming into the furnace or clogged air conditioning heat exchangers (coils).

Replaced the air filter?
Have you placed any furniture in front of return air ducts?
New Windows?
Sealed the house?
New Doors?
Removed a fireplace or blocked a chimney?

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