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

You don’t want to think about it, but sometimes dust isn’t the only thing that is in your duct system. You might hear animal noises coming from air ducts and realize you have unwanted guests. You can try and lure the creatures out but they may be nesting and refuse to leave their babies. Call McKinley Heating Service Experts for a comprehensive duct cleaning and we will assure your duct system is rid of all these nasty house guests, for instance: 

Bugs and Insects 

There are few things worse than trying to kill a spider and seeing it run into an air vent. It’s impossible to get it now and all you can do is lie in bed and imagine the spider laying all those baby spiders. You may even think you hear some scrambling around your duct system. Fear not. McKinley Heating Service Experts will come to your home and give you a thorough duct cleaning and make sure that spider and any of her creepy-crawly friends are good and gone. Babies, too. 

Rodents 

When rats, squirrels, and other wildlife make their way into your duct system, usually through gaps in the duct work and breaks in the foundation or home exterior, it causes many issues. First, furry critters can leave droppings behind and can tear up anything they encounter, including seasonal decorations or old toys you’re storing in your attic. Second, those little guys tend to chew, which can cause exposed wiring. That combined with the dried grass and leaves they’re likely carrying in to manufacture a nest, and now there’s quite the fire risk in your attic, behind your walls, and in your duct system. A full duct cleaning can get rid of rodent droppings or nests, but you might also need to call an expert wildlife removal company to remove the furry visitors and maybe an electrician if there has been any damage to wiring. 

Birds 

Birds normally find safe and warm places to nestand your air vents are perfect. Nests mean baby birds, which means they are finding food for babies, and that means BUGS. If you have birds in your vents, you’ll presumably end up with six-legged and eight-legged critters in your home. But that’s not the worst part. Birds create nests in your vents, and given the great amount of stuff they use to construct said nest, it can wind up fully clogging a vent, obstructing any airflow. As with rodents, a thorough duct cleaning from McKinley Heating Service Experts can get rid of 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 there are mice in your air ducts, you should take steps quickly to remove them. Mice gnaw electrical wires and leave feces like all rodents, but they also multiply quickly. And when they run around in the ducts, treating it like the road system of your house, they eventually die in the ducts. This creates unhealthy living conditions, and you may notice it due to the smell. 
 
You probably think of mice from the noise you hear – some scratching and scrabbling along walls. Or you could actually spot one making an escape through the air vents in your home. You may even confirm their presence by inspecting the ducts for mice droppings. Either way, if you you’re worried you have mice you have a couple choices. You can trap them yourself, by placing traps inside each vent and checking them every morning. Or you could contract a pest control company. 
 
Once you have determined that the mice are exterminated, you will need to have your ductwork professionally cleaned by an HVAC company. If mice have been living in the walls, they will have left droppings in your ducts. Mice droppings are toxic, and if you leave them in your ducts they can make your household sick. McKinley Heating Service Experts offers duct cleaning services that will eliminate most debris from your home’s air ducts. 

Call McKinley Heating Service Experts today or schedule online for a full duct cleaning to help ensure the air you are breathing is healthy and pest-free.