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 Air Duct Cleaning Across San Francisco
Air duct cleaning in San Francisco typically runs $450-$850 for a full residential system, with most jobs completed in a single visit. We’re Morton’s Air Duct Cleaning, and our crews work San Francisco homes daily from the Richmond to the Bayview, dispatching from our Bay Area office to keep drive times short. Call (323) 918-4345 for a free written estimate, or read on to understand why this city’s fog-driven humidity changes what “clean ducts” actually means here.
San Francisco’s cool, damp climate isn’t what most people picture when they think of mold problems. But the marine layer that rolls through the Outer Sunset and Richmond districts keeps indoor humidity elevated year-round, especially in Victorian and Edwardian homes where retrofitted ductwork was never designed to stay dry. We’ve cleaned ducts in Cole Valley flats where the musty smell returned every foggy week until we found the real source: damp debris packed into short stub runs beneath original floor-furnace grates. Our Air Duct Cleaning team uses Rotobrush agitation and Nikro negative-pressure HEPA systems to remove contamination at its source, not just mask it.
Why Morton’s Air Duct Cleaning Is San Francisco’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
We’ve been part of the Cedarwell family since 2005, and our San Francisco crews operate under the Cedarwell Care Promise on every single job. That means shoe covers and drop cloths before we step inside, a written price agreed before any equipment runs, and a photo of the clean-up texted to you before we leave. Paul Adeyemi built this operation on the belief that families shouldn’t have to supervise service crews in their own homes.
Our technicians are background-checked, uniformed, and trained to work around real life in San Francisco houses: toddlers napping in the back bedroom, senior dogs who don’t need strangers stomping through, the narrow staircases and tight turns of Victorian row houses in Noe Valley and the Mission. We use quieter tools during nap hours. We choose pet-safe products where they’re available. And when we encounter the non-standard duct sizing common to retrofitted San Francisco framing, we don’t force modern equipment where it won’t fit; we adapt.
Every job carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If something isn’t right, we make it right. No argument, no runaround. A live person answers our phone 24/7, not a voicemail tree, and that person can schedule you, reschedule you, or connect you directly with Paul Adeyemi if you need to talk through a concern.
Vent Cleaning in San Francisco
Vent Cleaning in San Francisco addresses the supply and return registers where your conditioned air actually enters your rooms, and it’s often the most visible difference after a service call. In this city, vent grilles collect fog-borne particulates, construction dust from the near-constant permitted remodeling activity, and years of compacted pet dander in homes where the original floor-furnace grate was never properly converted. A typical vent cleaning for a San Francisco flat runs $180-$340, with full-system vent and duct cleaning starting around $450.
Supply Vent Deep Cleaning
Supply vents push heated or cooled air into your rooms, and in San Francisco’s retrofitted systems, they often sit at the end of irregular runs with sharp bends that trap debris. We remove each register, clean the boot and first few feet of duct with Rotobrush contact agitation, and verify airflow with a handheld anemometer before we seal up.
Return Vent and Grille Restoration
Return vents pull air back to the handler, and they’re the primary collection point for dust, hair, and the fine salt-fog particulates that penetrate San Francisco homes near the western edge. We clean the grille, the filter track, and the return plenum behind it, because a clean grille over a dirty box doesn’t solve anything.
Air Duct Repair in San Francisco
Air Duct Repair in San Francisco usually means sealing disconnected flex duct, patching rodent damage in crawl spaces, or replacing corroded metal in the damp conditions that persist beneath Victorian flats in the Inner Sunset and Cole Valley. Because so much of the city’s ductwork was retrofitted into framing never meant to carry it, we see crushed runs, improper supports that have sagged, and tape joints that have failed from years of vibration. Repair costs in San Francisco typically fall between $280-$650 for accessible residential work, with larger commercial repairs or extensive re-routing quoted individually.
Seal and Support Corrections
Disconnected or poorly supported ductwork bleeds conditioned air into walls and crawl spaces, driving up heating bills in a city where Pacific Gas & Electric rates already sting. We re-secure sagging flex, replace failed tape with mechanical fasteners and mastic sealant, and add proper strapping where the original retrofit installer cut corners.
Moisture-Damage Patching
The sustained humidity in fog-zone neighborhoods like the Outer Richmond can corrode galvanized duct or degrade liner materials over time. We patch or replace damaged sections, then verify the repair with a camera inspection so you know the fix is complete before we close the access.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
Our San Francisco vans carry professional-grade equipment from Rotobrush, Nikro, and Aprilaire, plus Abatement Technologies HEPA filtration for negative-pressure containment. We don’t rent entry-level gear by the day; we own and maintain machines built for daily commercial use. For San Francisco customers, that means faster turnaround on parts and accessories we already stock locally, not a two-week wait for a specialty brush head or filter adapter. When we encounter an Aprilaire media filter or a Guardsman-coated register in your Mission District Victorian, we know the product and we have the tools to service it properly.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Mold and mildew in fog-dampened retrofitted ductwork. The marine layer keeps humidity high enough for microbial growth even without air conditioning use, especially in short stub runs beneath original floor-furnace grates that never fully dry out.
- Compacted debris in non-standard duct sizing. Victorian and Edwardian row houses in neighborhoods like the Haight and Noe Valley were retrofitted with sharp bends and irregular runs that trap dust where modern equipment can’t reach without camera guidance.
- Recontamination from neglected blower motor compartments. Technicians who skip the air handler leave a reservoir of mold-friendly moisture and debris that recontaminates supply and return ducts after every heating cycle.
- Dryer vent lint accumulation in mid-floor laundry setups. Many San Francisco Victorian flats route dryer exhaust through long, convoluted paths to exterior walls, creating fire risks that have nothing to do with the visible lint trap.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco, CA
Most full residential air duct cleaning jobs in San Francisco fall between $450-$850 for a complete supply and return system, with vent-only cleaning at $180-$340 and air duct repair ranging $280-$650. Commercial systems, video inspection add-ons, and homes with extensive access challenges (crawl-space-only entry, multiple attic drops) may run higher. We don’t quote per-vent teaser prices that balloon once we’re on site. We give one flat price per system, agreed in writing before any work starts. That price includes all equipment, all labor, the photo of your clean-up before we leave, and our 365-Day Done Right Promise. Call (323) 918-4345 for a free estimate; we’ll ask about your home’s age, system type, and any musty smells or airflow issues you’ve noticed, then give you a real number you can plan around.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our crews regularly work San Francisco neighbors in Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco, bringing the same Cedarwell Care Promise and upfront pricing to every appointment. Scheduling is coordinated from our Bay Area office to keep response times reasonable across the peninsula and southern Marin.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco 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 in San Francisco
Yes. The marine layer keeps indoor relative humidity elevated enough for mold and mildew growth in duct interiors, especially in retrofitted systems with poor drainage or original floor-furnace stub runs that never fully dry. Most San Francisco homes never run AC, but the fog provides moisture; combine that with trapped debris and you have active microbial colonization. Call (323) 918-4345 if you smell mustiness during foggy weeks; we’ll inspect and give you a written quote.
Not always. Those short runs beneath floor-furnace conversions are where we find the most concentrated debris in San Francisco homes, and they’re often skipped by technicians who treat your system like modern purpose-built ductwork. We camera-inspect the stubs, use agitation tools sized for tight spaces, and verify debris removal with a second camera pass. Call (323) 918-4345 and mention your floor-furnace setup; we’ll make sure the quote covers those runs specifically.
A genuine source-removal job physically extracts mold, debris, and moisture from the duct interior using contact agitation and negative-pressure HEPA collection. Fogging sprays a chemical into the visible plenum and leaves the actual contamination untouched, so microbial growth returns within weeks in San Francisco’s persistently damp conditions. We don’t sell fogging as mold remediation because it doesn’t remediate mold. Call (323) 918-4345 for an honest assessment of whether source removal will solve your issue.
We start with a video inspection to map the actual layout, then select brush heads and whip tools sized for the duct diameter we find, not the one the manual assumes. In century-old framing with sharp bends, we often use flexible-shaft Rotobrush units and Nikro portable HEPA vacuums that fit where truck-mounted systems can’t. The goal is contact agitation at the debris layer, not just blowing air past it. Call (323) 918-4345 to schedule; we’ll note any access constraints when we quote.
Yes, especially if your laundry sits mid-floor of a Victorian flat with a long, convoluted exhaust path to an exterior wall. Dryer vent cleaning is a separate service from air duct cleaning, but the same visit saves you a return trip charge. We use rotary brushes and high-velocity air to clear lint from the full run, not just the accessible few feet. Call (323) 918-4345 to add dryer vent cleaning to your appointment; we’ll bundle the pricing transparently.
Written by Paul Adeyemi, Owner at Morton’s Air Duct Cleaning, serving San Francisco since 2005.




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