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.
Fast, Reliable Duct Sealing Across Melrose
We serve Melrose from our Boston office, with crews that know the city’s hills, its tight street parking, and the maze of Victorian two-families that make duct sealing here different from any nearby suburb. If your upstairs apartment never gets warm, your basement ducts smell musty every July, or your registers barely move air despite a running furnace, the problem is usually leaks in runs you cannot see. Call us at (361) 326-5060. We’ll schedule a free estimate, show up in the window we promised, and give you a written price before we touch anything.
Why Hollis Air Duct Cleaning Is Melrose’s Preferred Duct Sealing Company
We’ve been in business since 2004 as part of the Garrison Partners family, and our Duct Sealing in Melrose reputation is built on showing up when we said we would. Our Boston office dispatches crews who know that Melrose Highlands is not the same job as a north-side cape, and they plan truck and ladder placement before they leave because parking off Main Street and around the Common can eat twenty minutes if you don’t know the block.
Our customers in Melrose mention the same things in feedback: the technician called ahead, arrived uniformed, explained what he found with a camera, and the price matched the written estimate. No one likes a stranger in their basement; we make it predictable. Every repair carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If the seal fails or the airflow drops again within a year, we come back and make it right at no charge, including a free second visit.
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 book.
Air Duct Sealing in Melrose
Air Duct Sealing in Melrose is typically a diagnostic hunt through decades of modified ductwork rather than a simple tape-and-mastic job. A typical whole-system sealing project in Melrose runs $450 – $1,200, with smaller partial repairs starting around $280. The final cost depends on how much of the system we can access, whether we need camera inspection to locate hidden disconnections, and whether the job includes sealing around the air handler and return plenum.
Melrose’s housing stock drives this. Victorian and Colonial Revival homes from the 1880s – 1920s dominate neighborhoods near downtown and the Highlands, many converted to two-family units with ducts that were split, extended with flex, or crushed behind finished plaster walls. Mid-century capes and ranches on the city’s edges have shorter runs but often suffer from original joint seals that have dried and pulled apart after sixty-plus years of heating seasons.
What We Seal and Why It Matters
We seal supply and return joints, trunk connections, plenum seams, and register boots. In Melrose’s older homes, we also seal around the air handler cabinet because gravity-furnace conversions rarely include tight mechanical seals. Every gap we close returns conditioned air to the rooms that paid for it instead of leaking into your basement or wall cavities.
How We Find Leaks You Cannot See
Our crews use camera inspection and pressure testing to locate disconnected runs behind plaster or in unheated attics. We explain what we find before we cut access. In a two-family near the Melrose Highlands, our crew found a 1920s gravity-furnace conversion where the second-floor apartment had been trunked off the original system with a run that had been crushed behind a finished plaster wall. We confirmed it with camera inspection before opening anything. We rebuilt and sealed that run, then sealed the supply and return ducts at the air handler with mastic, because the old joints were leaking enough that the upstairs registers barely moved air. With the run reconnected and sealed, static pressure normalized and both units got even heat for the first time in years.
Duct Sealing Services in Melrose
Duct Sealing Services in Melrose require planning for equipment access, shared building systems, and the physical constraints of dense, hilly streets. A typical residential sealing job takes four to six hours; larger two-family systems or jobs requiring plaster access can run a full day. We price by the system, not by the vent, and we write that price down before work starts.
Our Duct Sealing team carries mastic, foil tape, mechanical fasteners, and replacement register boots on every truck. For jobs requiring access through finished walls or ceilings, we coordinate with you on placement and repair. We do not open plaster without explaining why and showing you the camera image that justifies it.
Scheduling Around Shared Systems
In Melrose’s converted two-families, one furnace often serves both units. We schedule sealing when both households can be present or when one owner has authority to grant access to common areas. We also inspect shared dryer vent stacks during these visits because a clogged lint pathway in a shared stack will keep a dryer cycling hot no matter how well the supply ducts are sealed, and we can schedule our Dryer Vent Cleaning in Melrose if needed.

Equipment Staging on Tight Streets
Our trucks carry Rotobrush rotary systems and Nikro negative-air machines, but on Melrose’s winding streets off Main Street and around the Common, we sometimes stage equipment from the nearest legal parking and run hoses rather than block traffic. We solve parking before we touch a register. This is standard operating procedure under The Garrison Standard, not an inconvenience we pass to you.

What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Melrose
We seal and repair ductwork connected to equipment from every major manufacturer, and we stock sealing materials from Aprilaire, Abatement Technologies, and Guardsman for fast turnaround on Melrose jobs. Our mastic and foil tapes are rated for the temperature swings these ducts see, from zero-degree January intake air to attic spaces that hit 120 degrees in August. If your system includes a Honeywell or Aprilaire air cleaner or fresh-air intake, we inspect those seals as part of the job because Melrose’s mature oak canopy dumps leaves and pollen into outdoor intakes every fall. We don’t sell you parts you don’t need; we seal what you have and flag what we cannot fix with mastic alone.
Common Duct Sealing Problems We See in Melrose Homes
- Crushed or disconnected runs behind finished plaster. In older two-families near the Melrose Highlands and downtown, ducts split for upstairs apartments decades ago were often routed through walls with no access panel. The visible joints look fine; the real leak is hidden and kills airflow to entire rooms.
- Condensation and microbial growth in attic runs. Ducts routed through unheated attic spaces on Victorian homes collect humid summer air that condenses on cold metal. Sealing the joints without addressing the condensation traps musty growth inside the system.
- Dried joint seals on mid-century capes and ranches. Homes built in the 1950s and 1960s on Melrose’s north side often have original duct tape that has hardened and peeled. The leaks are obvious once we pressure-test, invisible until then.
- Shared dryer vent stacks blocked with lint. In downtown two-families where one furnace serves a split apartment system, sealing around the air handler won’t fix a shared dryer vent stack that’s clogged with lint. The lint pathway stays blocked and the dryer keeps cycling hot, wasting energy and creating a fire hazard.
Pricing for Duct Sealing in Melrose, MA
Whole-system duct sealing in Melrose typically runs $450 – $1,200. Partial sealing of accessible supply or return runs starts around $280. Jobs requiring camera inspection, plaster access, or full two-family system work can reach $1,500 – $2,200. We do not quote per-vent prices because that structure rewards contractors who find extra vents to charge for once they’re inside your home.
| Service | Typical Range in Melrose |
|---|---|
| Partial sealing (accessible runs only) | $280 – $450 |
| Whole-system sealing, single-family | $450 – $1,200 |
| Two-family or complex routing with camera inspection | $1,200 – $2,200 |
| Written estimate, no obligation | Free |
What moves the price: how much of the system is accessible without cutting plaster, whether we find disconnected runs that need rebuilding, and whether the job includes sealing the air handler cabinet and return plenum. We inspect first, explain what we found, and write the price down. That number does not change at the door. Call (361) 326-5060 for an exact quote on your system.
We Also Serve Cities Near Melrose
Our Boston office dispatches crews throughout the metro north, including Melrose and the surrounding cities of Malden, Stoneham, Saugus, and Wakefield. Each job follows The Garrison Standard: arrive inside the quoted window, price in writing, complete the work by the book, leave the site clean.
Serving Melrose, MA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Melrose 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 Melrose
It often does, but only if we find and reconnect the disconnected run that’s starving the upstairs of airflow. In Melrose’s converted two-families, we regularly find crushed or abandoned ducts behind finished plaster that were split off the original system decades ago. We camera-inspect first, show you the image, then seal and rebuild what’s needed. Call (361) 326-5060 and we’ll schedule a free estimate.
Yes, but we need access agreements for common areas and coordination with other unit owners. In Melrose’s older two-families, the basement and mechanical room are often shared space. We schedule when all parties can be present or when one owner has documented authority to grant access. The 365-Day Done Right Promise still applies, but it covers our sealing work, not equipment owned by another party.
It affects how we stage equipment, not whether we can do the job. Our crews plan truck and ladder placement before they leave the Boston office. Sometimes we run hoses from the nearest legal parking rather than block traffic on narrow streets. We build this into our scheduling; you don’t pay extra for it.
No. Most sealing work happens at registers, in the basement, and at the air handler. If we need access through a wall or ceiling, we discuss placement with you first and minimize finish disruption. Melrose’s full basements actually make these jobs easier because the main trunk is usually accessible without entering living spaces.
The stack itself needs cleaning and proper termination, not sealing. A clogged shared dryer vent in a Melrose two-family will keep dryers cycling hot no matter how well the supply ducts are sealed. We inspect shared stacks during duct sealing visits and recommend cleaning when lint buildup is present. This is a separate service with its own written price.
Written by Roy Castellanos, Owner at Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, serving Melrose since 2004.




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