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.
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AfterFast, Reliable Air Duct Cleaning Across San Leandro
Air duct cleaning in San Leandro typically runs $350 – $750 for a whole-house residential system, and most jobs are scheduled within a few days of your call. If your home was built before 1978, the job may start with asbestos testing on original duct insulation, which adds to the timeline but protects your household from fiber exposure.
We serve San Leandro from our Bay Area dispatch office, with crews that know the difference between a post-war tract near Bancroft Avenue and a 1920s bungalow off Estudillo. That local knowledge matters because San Leandro’s housing stock spans more than a century of construction methods, duct materials, and code regimes. A crew that treats every job the same will miss the asbestos wrap, the crushed galvanized run, or the mold colony the bay fog has been feeding in your air handler.
Our Air Duct Cleaning team arrives in uniform, in a marked van, with the price written down before any equipment touches your house. Call (361) 326-5060 to schedule a free estimate.
Why Hollis Air Duct Cleaning Is San Leandro’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
We’ve been in business since 2004 as part of the Garrison Partners family, and our San Leandro customers come back because we show up when we said we would and leave the site clean. The 365-Day Done Right Promise means if our work fails within a year, we return and make it right at no charge, including a free second visit. That promise is backed in writing on every job, not offered as a verbal afterthought.
Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed. You know who is walking into your home before they arrive. Phones are answered by a live person 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you’re not waiting in a callback queue when you need to schedule or ask a follow-up question.
Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our San Francisco Bay Area office, but crews serve San Leandro locally and understand the specific conditions here: the asbestos-wrapped ducts in pre-1978 homes, the mold pressure from marine moisture, the crushed runs in original galvanized steel that need re-sealing, not just a longer vacuum hose.
HVAC Duct Cleaning in San Leandro
HVAC Duct Cleaning in San Leandro means source removal from the full system: supply ducts, return ducts, air handler, blower motor, and registers. For a typical single-family home in San Leandro, this runs $450 – $750 depending on system size, accessibility, and whether we find asbestos-wrapped ductwork that requires abatement before cleaning can begin. Homes built before 1978 in neighborhoods like Estudillo and Broadmoor often need that additional step.
San Leandro’s mild, marine climate means your heating and cooling systems run less than in extreme climates, but year-round dampness from bay fog can lead to mold growth inside ductwork, especially in older homes with poor insulation. We see this regularly in the original 1900s bungalows near downtown and the mid-century ranchers toward the San Leandro Marina.
Full System Source Removal
We use a Rotobrush rotary brush system combined with Nikro negative-air machines to dislodge debris and pull it out of the ductwork under controlled suction. This is not a shop vacuum pushed into a register. The rotary brush scrubs the duct walls while the negative-air machine maintains vacuum pressure so dust does not escape into your living space.
Post-Cleaning Video Documentation
After source removal, we run a video camera through the cleaned runs so you can see the difference. In San Leandro, this step often reveals crushed or disconnected sections in original galvanized steel that a vacuum pass alone cannot fix. We show you the footage and explain whether re-sealing or section replacement is needed before we quote that work separately.
Vent Cleaning in San Leandro
Vent Cleaning in San Leandro targets the supply and return registers, grilles, and the short duct runs immediately behind them where dust and debris collect most densely. A typical vent cleaning for a San Leandro home runs $150 – $300 as a standalone service, or it is included in a full HVAC duct cleaning package. This is the service to request when you see visible dust buildup on registers or notice reduced airflow from specific rooms.
Many San Leandro homeowners assume vent cleaning is just wiping the grille. Our process removes the register, cleans the boot and the first several feet of duct behind it, and checks for blockages or disconnected joints that explain why one bedroom never gets warm. In homes near Washington Avenue and the older flats toward the bay, we frequently find that “dirty vents” are actually disconnected vents.
Register and Boot Deep Cleaning
We remove each register, clean the boot and surrounding drywall or plaster, and treat for mold or mildew if the bay moisture has colonized the area. This is common in San Leandro’s older homes where insulation behind the register has degraded and condensation forms on the metal surface.
Airflow Testing After Cleaning
Once vents are cleaned, we measure airflow at each register with a digital anemometer. If numbers are low, we investigate further. Often the issue is a crushed flex duct in an attic crawl or a disconnected galvanized run in a wall cavity, not more dirt. We tell you what we find and what it costs to fix before any additional work begins.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Leandro
We clean and service ductwork connected to all major HVAC brands, and we stock filtration products from Honeywell, Aprilaire, and Guardsman for San Leandro customers who want to upgrade after a cleaning. Our equipment roster includes Nikro negative-air machines and Abatement Technologies HEPA filtration systems, the same tools commercial crews use in hospitals and schools. If your system needs a new filter housing or an upgraded media filter after we finish, we can typically install it the same visit rather than ordering parts and making you wait. That matters in San Leandro, where the marine layer keeps systems running longer into what other regions call “shoulder season,” and you don’t want a return visit interrupting your schedule.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in San Leandro Homes
- Asbestos-wrapped ductwork in pre-1978 homes. Many San Leandro bungalows and ranchers still have original galvanized steel ducts wrapped in asbestos insulation. When this wrap deteriorates, which we see frequently in Estudillo and Broadmoor, cleaning cannot begin until the material is tested, contained, and disposed of under Bay Area Air Quality Management District rules.
- Mold in air handlers from bay fog moisture. San Leandro’s damp marine climate feeds mold colonies inside air handlers and on blower motors, especially in older homes with poor attic or crawl space insulation. Homeowners often smell it before they see it, by which point the contamination has spread to duct surfaces.
- Crushed or disconnected galvanized runs. Original steel ductwork in San Leandro’s early-1900s homes has often been crushed by subsequent renovation work or disconnected by settling foundations. A vacuum pass does not fix this; the runs need source removal of debris, then mechanical re-sealing with mastic and appropriate supports.
- Flexible plastic ducts degraded by attic heat. Newer San Leandro developments use flex duct, but attic temperatures in summer still degrade the plastic liner over 15 – 20 years. We find collapsed sections that restrict airflow to entire wings of the house, mistaken by homeowners for “dirty ducts.”
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in San Leandro, CA
Whole-house residential duct cleaning in San Leandro typically costs $350 – $750. Commercial systems start around $800 and scale with square footage and system complexity. Here’s how those numbers break down:
- Standard residential HVAC duct cleaning (single system, no asbestos): $450 – $750
- Vent cleaning as standalone service: $150 – $300
- Pre-1978 home with asbestos testing and abatement: add $400 – $900 depending on linear feet of wrapped ductwork
- Duct sealing and reconnection of crushed/disconnected runs: $200 – $500 per section
- Video inspection and documentation: included with full system cleaning
What moves the price: system size, number of registers, accessibility of attic or crawl space ductwork, presence of asbestos-wrap insulation requiring BAAQMD-compliant abatement, and whether we find crushed or disconnected runs that need re-sealing. We write the price down before any work starts, and that number does not move at the door. No per-vent add-ons, no equipment surcharges, no “we found another problem” inflation. Call (361) 326-5060 for a free estimate on your San Leandro home.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Leandro
Our crews regularly work in San Leandro and the surrounding communities: San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, Oakland, and Alameda. Each city has its own housing stock and code context, and we adjust our approach accordingly. The same asbestos considerations apply in parts of San Lorenzo and Oakland; Alameda’s island climate has its own moisture profile. Wherever you are in the East Bay, the price is written down before work starts and backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Serving San Leandro, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Leandro 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 San Leandro
Because many San Leandro homes built before 1978 have original ductwork wrapped in asbestos insulation, and California law plus Bay Area Air Quality Management District rules require testing before any disturbance. If the wrap is intact, we may be able to clean around it with HEPA-contained methods. If it is flaking, as we often find in Estudillo and Broadmoor, the wrap must be abated and disposed of by a licensed contractor before source removal begins. Call (361) 326-5060 and we can assess your home’s construction year and duct type during the free estimate.
No. The mild temperature means your furnace and AC run less, but the marine moisture from bay fog creates ideal conditions for mold growth inside ductwork, especially in older homes with poor insulation. We find active mold in San Leandro air handlers and ducts year-round, often in homes where the owners assumed “mild climate” meant “low maintenance.” Annual inspection is the only way to catch it before you smell it.
In Estudillo and Broadmoor, we regularly find asbestos insulation that has flaked off original galvanized steel ducts, creating gray dust that settles on registers whenever the system runs. We also find disconnected runs where settling foundations have pulled joints apart, and mold colonies fed by decades of bay moisture. A vacuum pass alone does not solve any of these problems; they require abatement, re-sealing, or source removal with HEPA containment.
Cleaning alone cannot fix crushed or disconnected ductwork, but our process identifies these problems. During a full system cleaning with video inspection, we document any structural damage and quote re-sealing or section replacement separately. In San Leandro’s older homes, this is often the real fix that stops uneven heating and dust at the registers. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers our re-sealing work for a full year.
We use HEPA-filtered Nikro negative-air machines and Abatement Technologies containment on every job, and BAAQMD rules require HEPA filtration specifically on pre-1978 homes where asbestos may be present. This is not an upgrade or add-on; it is standard procedure for Hollis crews working in San Leandro. The filters capture particles down to 0.3 microns, including asbestos fibers and mold spores, so nothing goes airborne in your living space during cleaning.
Ready to schedule? Call (361) 326-5060 for a free estimate. We’ll ask about your home’s age and construction type, explain whether testing is likely needed, and give you a written price before any work begins. Every job is backed by our 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Written by Roy Castellanos, Owner at Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, serving San Leandro and the East Bay.