Over the past few years it has become more well known that our indoor air quality is not what we think it is - that it has become a serious problem in our modern homes.

As a result of this, the need to turn to a professional air-duct cleaning method has become imperative if you want to have healthy air circulating in your home.

With the rise in allergies, asthma, sinusitis and other types of upper respiratory problems, looking for ways to find relief from health issues has become more urgent than ever before. Here in Southern California, the amount of dust and dirt that seeps into homes is a real problem, most especially for people like me who live relatively near the beach too.

In addition to this, unpleasant odors can come from your furnace or air-conditioning system too when turned on. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has pointed out that all components of a system must be properly decontaminated by a trained technician using only full-sized, professional-source removal equipment if you truly want relief from these types of problems.

Do not choose your service professional based solely on advertised prices or telephone quotes. Cleaning your ducts is a complicated process and there are differences in quality depending on who you hire.

To properly have your ducts cleaned, it takes two trained technicians usually several hours. A reputable company will charge depending on the length of time it takes. Factors that should be accounted for include: whether you have air conditioning as well as central heating, the number of furnaces you have, the location of the furnace, how many stories your home is and the total number of vents you have. 

You should know that if the company fails to clean a component of a contaminated system, it can re-contaminate the entire system and negate any potential benefits you might have received.

In addition, if a service provider fails to follow proper duct-cleaning procedures, duct cleaning can cause indoor air problems. As an example, the EPA says that if you have an inadequate vacuum-collection system in the end, it can release more dust, dirt and other contaminants than if you had never had them cleaned at all.

Be sure any company you hire has a modern truck, thousands of dollars of professional equipment and tools, uses EPA-registered and safe products, has two highly trained technicians with years of experience and completes several hours of very hard work.