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

You don’t want to think about it, but occasionally dust isn’t all that is in your duct system. You may hear animal noises coming from air ducts and notice you have unwanted visitors. You can try and lure the critters out but if they’re nesting they may not leave their babies. Call Rolf Griffin Service Experts for a thorough duct cleaning and we will confirm your duct system is free of all these uninvited house guests, such as: 

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. Rolf Griffin 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, those little guys tend to chew, which can cause exposed wiring. That joined with the dried grass and leaves they’re likely bringing in to build a nest, and now you have quite the fire hazard in your duct system, your attic, or behind your walls. A thorough 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 have birds in your vents, you’ll probably 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 materials they use to construct said nest, it can result in fully clogging a vent, preventing any airflow. As with rodents, a full duct cleaning from Rolf Griffin Service Experts can remove any droppings, feathers, or other potential illness-carrying leave-behinds. You could also need animal control to actually remove the birds from your vents or attics. 

Mice in Air Ducts 

If you’ve got mice in your ducts, you should take steps quickly to remove them. Mice chew through electrical wires and leave refuse 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 a health hazard, and you may notice it due to the smell. 
 
You might suspect mice due to the noises you hear – lots of scratching and scrabbling along metal. Or you could actually spot one making an escape through the vents in your home. You could even confirm their presence by inspecting the ducts for mice feces. Either way, if you suspect mice you have a couple options. You can trap them yourself, by placing traps just inside each duct and checking them each morning. Or you could hire a professional exterminator. 
 
Once you’ve determined that the mice are removed, you will need to have your ducts professionally cleaned by an HVAC company. If mice have been there, they will have left feces in your ducts. Mice feces are toxic, and if you ignore them in your ducts they can make you sick. Rolf Griffin Service Experts offers duct cleaning services that will remove most debris from your home’s airways. 

Call Rolf Griffin Service Experts today or schedule online for a complete duct cleaning to help make sure the air your family is breathing is healthy and pest-free.