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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Before
AfterAir Duct Cleaning Company in Arlington, MA
Air duct cleaning in Arlington, MA means dealing with homes that are close together, often 100 to 200 years old, with heating systems that have evolved through coal, oil, and gas over those decades. The tight lots in East Arlington and Arlington Heights put furnaces and air handlers in cramped basement corners, which changes how we approach every job. If you’re breathing dust from a century-old duct run or fighting condensation in a half-finished basement, call us at (469) 972-3151 and we’ll talk through what your house actually needs.
Why Arlington Homes Are Different
Arlington’s housing stock was mostly built between 1880 and 1940, and it shows in the ductwork. Many homes in the Jason Heights and Brattle Square areas still have original galvanized steel ducts that rust from the inside as the house breathes through New England’s freeze-thaw cycle. In older parts of Arlington Center, we regularly find that renovations from the 1980s and 1990s spliced flex duct into those metal runs, and the connections pull apart because the basement air is damp and the hangers were undersized. The result is a system that quietly loses conditioned air into joist bays while pulling dust and basement air into the living space. Arlington homes with slate roofs and no attic access add another wrinkle: ductwork is often inaccessible from above, so the cleaning has to be done entirely through register openings, which is slower and demands more care to avoid damaging finished plaster. Duct runs in converted multifamily houses on Broadway and Mass Ave are often shorter but shared between units, which matters when one unit’s dust migrates into a neighbor’s system. We also deal with Arlington’s winter reality: a dry, dusty heating season from November through April, followed by a damp cooling season, which turns accumulated dust into a paste that sticks to duct walls.
Our Main Arlington Services
Two services cover nearly everything Arlington homeowners call us about: cleaning the air ducts that move heated and cooled air through the house, and clearing the dryer vent that exhausts lint and moisture. Here is how each works in Arlington specifically.
Air Duct Cleaning in Arlington
Arlington’s older homes have duct runs that twist through joist cavities and around chimneys, so cleaning often means working register-to-register without a single straight run of more than a few feet. We use a HEPA-filtered negative-air system to keep dust from escaping into the living space, then work each branch line with a brush that reaches the duct walls. In Arlington’s centrally heated Victorians, the return side is often just a single large drop from the first floor, and that drop carries years of dust, plaster fragments, and old insulation. Read the full breakdown on our Air Duct Cleaning in Arlington page.
Dryer Vent Cleaning in Arlington
Dryer vents in Arlington run through basements and crawlspaces that stay damp most of the year, which means lint that would blow through a short vent instead sticks to the corrugated walls and builds up as a dense mat. Many Arlington laundry setups are on interior walls, so the vent has to find its way across joists and out through a rim joist, creating the kind of long, multi-elbow run that clogs fast. Our process clears the entire run from the dryer connection to the exterior termination. The full detail is on our Dryer Vent Cleaning in Arlington page.
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.
Brands We Service in Arlington
Arlington’s furnaces and air handlers are mostly Trane, Carrier, Goodman, and Rheem, with older homes often retaining a mid-century Lennox or a converted gravity furnace from the 1940s. We stock common access fittings and wear parts for these systems locally, so most jobs are one visit. See our brands for the complete list.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning Company in Arlington, MA
| Service | Typical range in Arlington |
|---|---|
| Whole-home air duct cleaning, single system | $390 - $690 |
| Air duct cleaning with purification or UV add-on | $550 - $950 |
| Whole-home air duct cleaning, two systems | $690 - $1,180 |
| Furnace and blower deep clean (added to duct service) | $150 - $280 |
| Return-air drop cleaning, single story | $140 - $230 |
| Return-air drop, two-story | $190 - $310 |
| Dryer vent cleaning | $90 - $180 |
| Dryer vent replacement | $90 - $170 plus materials |
| Commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning | $800 - $2,600 |
Arlington prices push toward the higher end when ducts run through finished basements with hard ceilings, because access points are fewer and each register opening has to be worked carefully to avoid damaging old plaster or fresh paint. Homes with two separate systems, like a converted two-family or a large single-family with a second-floor handler, also land higher. Whatever the number is, it’s written down and agreed before we touch a vent, and that written price is the price: no surprises when the job is done.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Arlington
We work across Arlington, from the dense single-family streets of East Arlington to the larger lots of the Heights, and through the mixed-use blocks along Massachusetts Avenue. Our crews know the difference between a Brattle Square Victorian and a Jason Heights colonial because the ductwork inside them is not the same.
- Arlington Center
- Arlington Heights
- East Arlington
- Jason Heights
- Brattle Square
Response times run one to three days for most of Arlington, depending on whether the job is a routine cleaning or an emergency like a collapsed duct run.
Service Area – Cities Near Arlington
Kestrel Air Duct Cleaning serves Arlington and the surrounding communities, including Belmont, MA, Winchester, MA, Medford, MA, and Cambridge, MA. If you’re just over the town line, call us and we’ll tell you straight whether we can get a crew out to you.
Serving Arlington, MA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Arlington 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 Company in Arlington
No. Air duct and dryer vent cleaning is considered routine maintenance and does not require a building permit in Arlington. We handle all access through existing registers and vents, so no wall or ceiling openings are needed. What we do require is a clear path to the registers and access to the furnace or air handler.
Most Arlington jobs can be scheduled within a day or two, but if you’re in an older home with hard ceilings and finished basement spaces, we’ll let you know that the job may run longer. Spring and fall tend to fill faster as people prep for heating or cooling season. Call (469) 972-3151 and we’ll find a time that fits.
Yes. We clean ducts in Arlington’s many converted two- and three-family homes, including older Victorians where each unit has its own system or where units share a common return. We’ll walk the building with you, identify which ducts serve which unit, and price the job so each owner pays only for their own system.
What happens when you call
- 1A real person answersNo phone trees - talk to a local air duct cleaning pro.
- 2You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched. No surprises.
- 3We come out and measureLicensed & insured, at a time that suits you - the visit and the quote are both free.
- 4You get the price in writingLine-itemed, yours to keep, and nothing starts until you say go.
What Arlington Customers Say
"Bought an older home and the previous owners had pets everywhere. After Kestrel did the ducts the stale smell was just gone. On time, quick, and they showed me the filter they pulled."
- Preston Ngata"Our dryer was taking two cycles to dry a load. They cleaned the vent and pulled out a frightening amount of lint. Dries in one cycle now and honestly I feel better about the fire risk."
- Marcus Lee"Set up an appointment for the whole house plus the dryer line. They called the morning of to confirm, showed up in the window, and showed me pictures of the gunk they pulled out. Worth it."
- Terrence Boyd