What’s Crawling Around in Your Home’s Air Ducts?

It’s not fun to think about, but often times dust isn’t all that is in your duct system. You might hear animal noises coming from air ducts and notice you have unwanted visitors. You can try and lure the little guys out but if they’re nesting they may not leave their babies. Call Teays Valley Service Experts for a thorough duct cleaning and we will confirm your duct system is free of all these uninvited house guests, including: 

Insects and Bugs 

Nothing is worse than trying to kill a spider and watching it run into an air vent. It’s impossible to get it now and all you can do is lie in bed and imagine it laying all those spider babies. You may even think you hear a few scurrying around your duct system. Don’t worry. Teays Valley Service Experts will come out and give you a full duct cleaning and make sure that spider and any of her bug friends are good and gone. Babies, too. 

Rodents 

When rats, squirrels, and other wildlife make their way into your duct system, usually through holes in the duct work and cracks in the foundation or home exterior, it causes multiple issues. First, squirrels, mice, or raccoons can leave droppings behind and can destroy anything they come across, including Christmas decorations or baby toys you’re storing in your attic. Second, rodents tend to chew, which can cause exposed wiring. That combined with the dried grass and leaves they’re likely carrying in to build a nest, and now you have quite the fire danger in your duct system, your attic, or behind your walls. A complete duct cleaning can remove rodent droppings or nests, but you may also need to call animal control to remove the rodents and possibly an electrician if there has been any damage to wiring. 

Birds 

Birds usually get into safe and sheltered places to nest, like your air vents. Nests mean babies, which means they are feeding babies, and that means BUGS. If you find birds in your vents, you’ll presumably end up with bugs in your home. But that’s not the worst part. Birds construct nests in your vents, and given the vast amount of stuff they use to construct said nest, it can result in completely clogging a vent, preventing any airflow. As with rodents, a full duct cleaning from Teays Valley Service Experts can remove any droppings, feathers, or other potential illness-carrying leave-behinds. You may also need animal control to actually remove the birds from your vents or attics. 

Mice in Air Ducts 

If there are mice in your ducts, you should take steps quickly to remove them. Mice chew through wiring and leave feces like most rodents, but they also multiply quickly. And when they run around in the ducts, treating it like the road system of your home, they eventually pass away inside. This creates an unsanitary situation, and you may notice it due to the smell. 
 
You probably guess mice because of the noise you hear – plenty of scratching and scrabbling along metal. Or you may actually spot one making an escape through the vents in your home. You may even confirm their status by inspecting the ducts for mice leavings. Either way, if you think there’s mice you have some options. You could trap them yourself, by placing traps just inside each duct and checking them each morning. Or you could contract a professional exterminator. 
 
Once you’ve determined that the mice are removed, you will need to have your ductwork professionally cleaned by an HVAC company. If mice have been present, they will have left droppings in your ducts. Mice leavings are toxic, and if you leave them in your ducts they can make you sick. Teays Valley Service Experts offers duct cleaning services that will eliminate most debris from your home’s airways. 

Call Teays Valley Service Experts today or schedule online for a full duct cleaning to help make sure the air you and your loved ones are breathing is healthy and pest-free.