Whole-system air duct cleaning in Marietta: every supply run and return, the air handler cabinet and blower, worked under negative pressure, with photos from inside the ducts before and after.
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Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (943) 271-6154A real duct cleaning in Marietta is hours of work on one system, not a quick pass with a vacuum at the registers. The whole point is source removal: getting the dust, debris and anything else out of the supply runs, the returns and the air handler, and out of the house, instead of stirring it up and leaving it to settle on the furniture next week.
The EPA is blunt that duct cleaning has never been shown to prevent health problems, and it does not recommend cleaning as routine maintenance. It says to consider cleaning when there is substantial visible mold growth inside hard-surface ducts, when rodents or insects have been in the ducts, or when the ducts are clogged with excessive dust and debris. NADCA recommends an inspection once a year and cleaning as needed. In practice, around Marietta, the good reasons are a renovation that put drywall dust into the system, mice or squirrels in an attic or crawlspace where the ducts run, years of a filter that never fit its slot, or a camera showing real buildup in the returns. A flyer in the mailbox is not a reason.
The air handler is opened and a negative-air machine, essentially a powerful vacuum with its own filtration, is connected to the main trunk near it, so the whole duct system is pulled toward the machine while the work goes on. Registers are covered so loosened debris cannot blow back into rooms. Then each run is worked from the register end back toward the trunk with rotary brushes on sheet metal, or air whips and soft brushes on flexible duct and duct board, which would tear under a stiff rotary head. The returns get the same treatment, and they matter most, because the return side is where pollen, pet hair and attic dust collect before the filter. The air handler cabinet and the blower wheel are cleaned, and any access holes cut into the trunk are closed with metal patches and sealed. A fresh filter goes in at the end.
Much of the ductwork around Marietta runs through vented attics that bake in summer and crawlspaces that stay damp. Flexible duct is common in both, and it is easy to crush, kink or pull loose at a joint. Georgia has required leakage testing on new duct systems outside the insulated envelope since mid-2011, but a house built before then was never tested, and its returns often draw hot attic air, insulation fibers or crawlspace moisture straight into the system. Cleaning can show those leaks up, but it cannot close them. If the camera finds a disconnected joint or a crushed run, that becomes a repair, priced separately, and it is often the most useful thing the visit turns up.
Atlanta's tree pollen season can be extreme: Atlanta Allergy & Asthma recorded a record 14,801 grains per cubic meter on 29 March 2025. Cleaning ducts in the middle of a season like that is money spent twice. Keep the windows closed, use a filter that fits its slot snugly, and schedule the cleaning after the counts fall in late spring. A clean system with a sealed return stays clean much longer.
The houses in Marietta's historic districts along Whitlock Avenue, Church and Cherokee Streets and Kennesaw Avenue were built long before forced air. Their ducts were added later, often snaking through crawlspaces and closets around plaster walls, and they are frequently a mix of metal and flexible duct from different decades. A cleaning there starts with mapping where the runs actually go, and it takes more care around old finishes. Expect it to take longer than the same number of registers in a 1990s subdivision.
Photos of the same runs before and after, a visibly clean blower wheel, sealed access holes, a new filter, and stronger airflow at registers that were weak only because they were dirty. The invoice should match the scope agreed at the start, system by system, with nothing added that was not discussed.
Metro Atlanta price lists put a single system in a fairly tight band, with NADCA's national figure for an average-sized home running higher, and a two-system house costing close to double. The pricing page lays out those ranges with their sources, so you can tell whether the number you are hearing is inside the market or suspiciously far below it.
Whole-System Air Duct Cleaning in Marietta. Call (943) 271-6154 and a technician is dispatched with the parts on the truck. You get the price before the work starts.
Call (943) 271-6154On Saturday 29 March 2025 Atlanta Allergy & Asthma recorded a pollen count of 14,801 grains per cubic meter of air, shattering the previous record of 9,368 set in March 2012. Any count above 1,500 is classed as extreme. Trees were the main source, after a warm February with no hard freeze brought an early bloom and a warm, dry March intensified it. The count is taken from a rooftop sampler and read under a microscope.
Why it matters: Pollen gets into a house through doors, windows and any return duct that pulls air from the attic or crawlspace. A filter that fits its slot catches most of it; a leaky return or a loose filter lets it reach the supply runs. Cleaning in the middle of a season like that is wasted money. Fix the filter and the leaks, then clean after the counts fall.
Source: atlantanewsfirst.com
Georgia's state energy code took effect on 1 January 2011, and duct and envelope tightness (DET) verification became mandatory on new homes from 30 June 2011. A newly installed duct system must be tested if any part of it, or the air handler, sits outside the building envelope, in an unconditioned attic or crawlspace. As first written, the rules also required an existing system to pass the same test if more than half of it was modified, and required mastic on new or modified ductwork. Under Georgia's amendments to the 2015 IECC the duct leakage target is 6 CFM per 100 square feet of conditioned floor area, and testing must be done by a certified DET verifier such as a HERS rater or BPI analyst.
Why it matters: A Marietta house built before mid-2011 was never held to a duct leakage test, and its attic and crawlspace returns often pull dust, insulation fibers and humid air straight into the system. Cleaning those ducts without sealing them buys a few clean months, and the leak is usually the better use of the money.
Sources: southface.org · southface.org
University of Georgia Extension Circular 1047-1, Preventing Mold in Your Home (fully reviewed 1 March 2023), advises keeping indoor relative humidity below 60 percent and ideally between 30 and 50 percent. It lists air conditioning system flaws, naming an oversized unit, duct leaks, dirty coils and condensation, among the sources of excess moisture in a house, and recommends sealing leaks in HVAC ducts and the return plenum and running a well maintained, right-sized air conditioner with the fan on auto.
Why it matters: In a humid Georgia summer the indoor coil sits cold and wet for months, and that is where musty smells and growth usually start, not in the duct runs. A fan left on 'on' re-wets the house with water from the coil. The coil, the drain pan and the leaks deserve attention before anyone sells a duct sanitizer.
Source: fieldreport.caes.uga.edu
The City of Marietta lists five National Register historic districts: Atlanta-Frasier Street, Church-Cherokee Street, Northwest Marietta, Washington Avenue and Whitlock Avenue, and in August 2013 part of Kennesaw Avenue became the city's first locally designated historic district. The Whitlock Avenue district, listed in 1989, covers 82 acres and 101 contributing buildings dating from before the Civil War into the 1930s. The Northwest Marietta district, listed in 1975, takes in about 230 acres of houses built roughly from the 1840s to the 1890s.
Why it matters: Almost none of those houses were built with forced air or central cooling. Most of their ductwork was added later, threaded through crawlspaces, closets and attics around plaster walls and old framing, and it is often a patchwork of metal and flexible duct of different ages. A cleaning there starts with finding where the runs actually go.
Sources: mariettaga.gov · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org
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