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 Duct Sealing Across Rialto
Duct sealing in Rialto typically runs $800 – $2,400 for a whole-home system, depending on accessibility and how much of the original 1950s – 1970s ductwork needs attention. Most Rialto jobs take a full day, with our Duct Sealing crew dispatching from the Inland Empire office to reach homes in the 92376, 92377, and 92399 zip codes inside our scheduled window. Call (361) 326-5060 for a free written estimate before any work starts.
We’ve been in enough Rialto attics to know the pattern. Mid-century tract homes off Foothill Boulevard, North Riverside Avenue, and the older streets west of the 210 freeway share the same story: flex duct baked brittle by attic temperatures past 120°F, collars disconnected by vibration and thermal cycling, and a fine gray-brown silica grit coating every surface. It’s not ordinary dust. The prevailing onshore flow funnels particulate from the San Gabriel Mountains and the Lytle Creek wash through the Cajon Pass, and Rialto sits squarely in that path. That grit is abrasive. It scours duct liners, clogs the gaps sealing is meant to close, and migrates through any joint that isn’t properly sealed and cleaned first. Our Rialto crews address both problems: source removal with negative-air HEPA systems, then mechanical sealing with mastic and mesh on every accessible joint.
Why Hollis Air Duct Cleaning Is Rialto’s Preferred Duct Sealing Company
Roy Castellanos and the Hollis team have built a reputation in the Inland Empire by showing up inside the quoted window, pricing in writing before touching anything, and leaving the site clean. The Garrison Standard applies to every Rialto job, not just the easy ones.
Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed. You know who’s walking into your home before they arrive. The price we write down is the price you pay. No per-vent add-ons, no equipment fees that appear after the van is in your driveway.
The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every duct sealing job in writing. If the seal fails within a year, we return and make it right at no charge, including a free second visit. That promise is backed by the Garrison Partners family’s track record since 2004, not by vague language.
Phones are answered by a live person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No voicemail loops, no callback queues, no waiting until Monday to schedule.
Air Duct Sealing in Rialto
Air Duct Sealing in Rialto means closing the gaps, disconnected collars, and deteriorated joints in your duct system so conditioned air reaches the rooms it’s supposed to reach instead of leaking into your attic or pulling unfiltered attic air back into your living space. In Rialto’s housing stock, this is rarely a simple matter of caulking a register. The original flex duct in homes built from the 1950s through the 1970s has been thermally cycled thousands of times. Adhesives dry out. Liners crack. The silica grit that collects in west-side plenums accelerates the damage by abrading surfaces that sealing materials need to bond to.
A typical whole-home Air Duct Sealing job in Rialto runs $800 – $2,400. Partial sealing of a single zone or accessible trunk line can run $400 – $900. We write the price before any work starts, and it does not move at the door.
When Sealing Alone Is Not Enough
Some Rialto homes need more than sealing. Crushed flex runs, ductwork that was never properly supported and has sagged into a V-shape, or sections where the inner liner has completely separated from the insulation jacket cannot be sealed effectively. Our techs flag this during the pre-work inspection and show you exactly what we found. Replacement of damaged sections is priced separately, in writing, before any cutting begins.
Verification After the Seal
We verify our work. After mastic and mesh application, we run a camera through the accessible trunk lines and return plenums to confirm complete coverage. The homeowner sees the before and after. No guesswork, no “trust us it’s fine.”
Duct Sealing Services in Rialto
Duct Sealing Services in Rialto cover the full range of what it takes to restore a leaking duct system: inspection with cameras and pressure testing, source removal of accumulated grit and debris, mechanical sealing of joints and collars with mastic and reinforced mesh, and post-work verification. For Rialto’s mid-century homes, this usually means working in attics where temperatures exceed 120°F in summer, handling original materials that are brittle and easily damaged by untrained hands.
The Duct Sealing Services price range in Rialto matches the broader Air Duct Sealing pricing: $800 – $2,400 for most whole-home systems, with smaller jobs or single-zone work starting around $400. Every estimate is free and written.
Source Removal Before Sealing
Here’s where Rialto differs from Fontana, Colton, or San Bernardino. The silica grit in west-side Rialto homes is not organic dust. It will migrate through a new seal if the duct is not cleaned first. Our Duct Sealing Services include negative-air HEPA source removal using Nikro equipment and Rotobrush agitation tools before any mastic goes on. Skip this step, and the seal fails within a season as abrasive particulate works its way through the joint.
Mastic and Mesh, Not Tape
Foil tape has its place on smooth sheet metal, but it fails on Rialto’s typical flex-to-collar connections and rough fiberglass surfaces. We use water-based duct mastic with embedded fiberglass mesh, brushed into every joint and collar. It remains flexible enough to handle thermal expansion but cures to a surface that grit cannot penetrate.
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.
Trusted Brands We Service in Rialto
Hollis crews in Rialto carry professional-grade equipment from Rotobrush, Nikro, and Abatement Technologies, the same tools we use for Rialto Dryer Vent Cleaning. The Rotobrush rotary brush system agitates duct interiors without damaging aged flex liners. Nikro negative-air machines maintain HEPA-filtered containment during source removal, critical in Rialto homes where wildfire ash and silica grit would otherwise recirculate through the living space. We stock Guardsman filtration products and can advise on appropriate MERV ratings for your system’s capacity, never upselling a filter that your blower motor cannot handle. Parts and materials are on the van, so most Rialto jobs are completed in one scheduled visit without waiting for orders.
Common Duct Sealing Problems We See in Rialto Homes
- Original flex duct dried and cracked by attic heat. Rialto’s summer attic temperatures exceed 120°F, and the 1950s – 1970s flex duct found in neighborhoods like the west side near Lytle Creek has been baking for decades. Mastic applied over a failing liner bond peels away within a season, letting silica grit bypass the seal and recontaminate the system.
- Disconnected or crushed runs found during cleaning. These are often sealed only at the visible collar, leaving the crushed section downstream unaddressed. The duct still leaks into the attic, and the blower motor pulls grit-laden air from the wrong pressure zone, wasting energy and circulating contaminants.
- Wildfire smoke residue mistaken for a sealing problem. Santa Ana wind events and mountain wildfires coat Rialto duct interiors with fine ash. Homeowners smell smoke and assume a leak, but if source removal with HEPA filtration is skipped, the residue keeps shedding through registers and defeats new seals at the air handler.
- Undersized ductwork struggling with modern filtration. Many Rialto tract homes were built for 1-inch filters and low-static blower motors. A homeowner upgrades to a high-MERV filter, the static pressure rises, and leaks that were minor become major as the blower forces air through every gap. Sealing helps, but only if the system is evaluated for compatibility first.
Pricing for Duct Sealing in Rialto, CA
Whole-home duct sealing in Rialto runs $800 – $2,400. Single-zone or partial sealing of accessible trunk lines runs $400 – $900. What moves the price: how much of the ductwork is accessible without cutting drywall, whether the original flex duct can be sealed or needs section replacement, and whether source removal is required before sealing can bond properly.
The silica grit load in west-side Rialto homes near the Lytle Creek wash often means source removal adds $300 – $600 to the base sealing price. We tell you this during the free estimate, in writing, before any work starts. No per-vent pricing, no equipment surcharges, no price that shifts once the technician is inside.
Every Rialto job gets the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If the seal fails within a year, we return at no charge, including a free second visit. Call (361) 326-5060 for your written estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Rialto
Hollis crews work throughout the Inland Empire, including Rialto and neighboring Bloomington, San Bernardino, Fontana, and Grand Terrace. Each community has its own ductwork patterns: Fontana’s newer infill has tighter rigid duct, San Bernardino’s hillside homes have longer trunk runs, Grand Terrace’s smaller stock has different static pressure challenges. We adjust our approach to what we find, not to a one-size-fits-all script.
Serving Rialto, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Rialto 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 Duct Sealing in Rialto
The dust is not ordinary household dust. It’s fine gray-brown mountain grit and crushed silica from the San Gabriel Mountains and Lytle Creek wash, funneled through the Cajon Pass by prevailing winds. This grit is abrasive and migrates through any joint that isn’t both cleaned and sealed properly. If you sealed gaps without source removal first, the remaining silica continues scouring through and reopening the joint. Call (361) 326-5060 for an inspection and written estimate.
It depends on what we find when we look. Original 1960s flex duct in Rialto that is intact but dry can often be sealed with mastic and mesh after proper surface prep. If the inner liner has separated from the insulation jacket, or if the duct is crushed or sagging unsupported, replacement of those sections is the only durable fix. We show you the camera footage and price both options in writing before any work starts. Call (361) 326-5060 to schedule a free inspection.
Sealing helps only if the ductwork is clean first. Wildfire smoke deposits fine ash and particulate on duct interiors, and that residue continues shedding through registers if source removal is skipped. After HEPA-filtered cleaning, sealing the air handler cabinet, return plenum, and supply joints prevents the system from pulling unfiltered attic air during smoke events. It does not make your home airtight against exterior smoke infiltration through windows and doors. Call (361) 326-5060 to discuss what sealing can and cannot do for your specific system.
NADCA Standard 2021 requires source removal before any sealant application, mechanical cleaning of all accessible components, and verification that the system is free of debris and properly sealed before return to service. For Rialto’s mid-century homes, this means the silica grit load must be fully extracted with negative-air HEPA methods, not just blown around with a shop vacuum. We follow this standard on every job, document the work, and provide before-and-after photos. Call (361) 326-5060 for details on our process.
Sealing can help if your blower motor has the capacity to handle the increased static pressure of a higher-MERV filter. In Rialto’s undersized mid-century systems, sealing without evaluating blower performance can overload the motor and reduce airflow to the point of freezing the evaporator coil. We measure static pressure and blower amp draw before recommending any filter upgrade or sealing scope. Sometimes the right answer is a lower-MERV filter with better sealing, not a higher-MERV filter at all. Call (361) 326-5060 for a system evaluation and written recommendation.
Written by Roy Castellanos, Owner at Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, serving Rialto and the Inland Empire since 2004.