Whole-home duct cleaning
Dryer vent cleaning
Camera inspection
Sanitizing & deodorizingWhole-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.
Air Duct Cleaning in Altadena That Actually Fixes the Problem
Air duct cleaning in Altadena runs $450 to $850 for a typical single-family home with one furnace and one air handler. That’s the honest range before anyone steps foot in your house. For older Altadena homes with original galvanized ductwork that’s been through years of Santa Ana dust and the 2025 Eaton Fire, the job often includes sealing leaky joints and repairing crushed runs – which is why we don’t quote a flat number over the phone. Call us at (866) 413-8552 and we’ll give you a real number after a camera inspection, not before.
We know Altadena’s houses. We know the 1920s Spanish Revivals near Jane Street, the Craftsman bungalows spread through the 91001 and 91003 zip codes, and the ranch-style homes up toward the foothills where smoke and ash from the Eaton Fire settled into ductwork for months. Most duct cleaning companies in Altadena will vacuum the registers and call it done. We open the system, show you what’s inside, and fix what we find. That’s the difference between a service call and a real solution.
Why Duct Cleaning Monterey Park Is Altadena’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
We’re not a national franchise operating out of a call center. Duct Cleaning Monterey Park is an independent company led by Nelson Quiambao, and we’ve spent years working in Altadena’s specific housing stock – pre-1950s single-family homes with original galvanized ductwork, retrofitted additions, and the kind of access challenges that only come with houses built before modern HVAC standards existed.
Altadena homeowners call us because we carry Rotobrush and Nikro professional duct cleaning systems – the same equipment used in commercial and remediation-grade environments. Not a shop vacuum attached to a drill. Not a $99 coupon special. When you’re dealing with ash and char from the Eaton Fire, you need negative pressure that actually removes particulate matter, not equipment that stirs it up and spreads it through the house.
Nelson and our techs understand what Altadena’s climate does to ductwork. The dry, dusty summers push fine particulate into every gap and joint. The Santa Ana winds carry ash and smoke from the San Gabriel Mountains into homes that are miles from any burn zone. And after the Eaton Fire, we found that even houses nowhere near the fire perimeter had ash infiltration in their supply and return ducts because the wind drove smoke everywhere. That local knowledge shapes how we approach every job in Altadena.
We answer our own phone. We show up when we say we will. And we don’t leave Altadena until the job is done correctly and the homeowner can see the results.
Styles & brands we work with
- Whole-home duct cleaning
- Dryer vent cleaning
- Camera inspection
- Sanitizing & deodorizing
Vent Cleaning in Altadena
Vent cleaning in Altadena homes is not a quick pass with a brush. It’s a systematic removal of the dust, ash, char, and debris that has been pulled into your supply and return vents over years – and in Altadena’s case, often over decades. The older pre-1950s homes that dominate Altadena’s housing stock have vents that were never designed for today’s filtration standards, and they hold onto particulate matter in ways that newer sealed systems don’t.
What Vent Cleaning Involves Here
We remove each register and grille, inspect the visible ductwork with a camera, and use negative pressure equipment to pull debris out of the system rather than pushing it further in. For Altadena homes with original galvanized ductwork, we’re specifically looking for unsealed joints where smoke and ash from the Eaton Fire may have entered long after the fire was out. A standard vent cleaning in Altadena typically runs $200 to $400 as part of a full system cleaning, depending on how many registers and how much buildup is present.
When Altadena Homeowners Need It
If you walk past a vent and see gray or black residue around the register edges, that’s a sign of what’s inside. If your home smells like smoke on hot days even though you’re miles from the fire zone, that smell is likely trapped in your vent system. And if you’ve lived in your Altadena home for years without ever having the vents cleaned, you’re due. We clean vents as part of every full system service, and we’ll show you before and after photos so you know what actually came out.
Ductwork Cleaning in Altadena
Ductwork cleaning in Altadena means cleaning the full runs of your supply and return ducts – not just the visible vents. In Altadena’s older homes, this is where the real problems hide. Original galvanized steel ductwork from the 1920s through 1950s corrodes internally, collects decades of dust and hair and debris, and often has disconnected or crushed sections under retrofitted floors that a register-level cleaning will never reach.
Full System Cleaning, Not Register Dusting
We run a camera through your ducts before we start. Not every Altadena home needs the same approach. Some need standard negative pressure cleaning with agitation tools. Others – especially post-Eaton Fire homes near the foothills in the 91003 zip code – need specialized fire-related remediation to remove ash and smoke residue that settled inside duct runs. A full system ductwork cleaning in Altadena typically runs $450 to $850. That includes the camera inspection, the cleaning itself, and the before-and-after documentation.
What We Do When We Find Damage
We repair what we find. That’s the difference between us and a cleaning-only company. If your Altadena home has crushed duct sections, disconnected runs, or corroded galvanized steel with holes, cleaning alone won’t fix the problem – and we’ll tell you that honestly. We offer Air Duct Repair as a standalone service, and in many Altadena homes we’re sealing joints with mastic after cleaning to close the gaps where smoke and ash continue to enter your air stream.
Trusted Brands We Service in Altadena
We work with Rotobrush and Nikro equipment on every Altadena job – professional-grade duct cleaning systems, not consumer vacuums. For Altadena homeowners who want ongoing air quality monitoring and filtration, we integrate Honeywell and Aprilaire systems into existing ductwork. If you’ve got an Aprilaire filter cabinet or a Honeywell media filter already installed, we’ll clean around it and make sure it’s working properly. We carry standard parts and materials for these systems, which means faster turnaround for Altadena customers who need repairs alongside their cleaning.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterCommon Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in Altadena Homes
- Ash and char trapped in unsealed joints. The wind-driven Eaton Fire pushed smoke and ash into duct systems even miles from the burn zone. Unsealed joints in original galvanized ductwork let that ash enter long after the fire was out, and it won’t come out with a standard vacuum job.
- Crushed or disconnected duct runs under retrofitted floors. Altadena’s pre-1950s homes were often remodeled, and the retrofits crushed ductwork or disconnected it entirely. We find this on nearly every older home we clean, and it’s why camera inspection before cleaning is non-negotiable.
- Internal corrosion in original galvanized steel. Decades of Southern California dry heat and occasional moisture have taken a toll. Corroded ducts shed metal particulate into your air stream and create rough surfaces where debris accumulates faster.
- Layers of fine Santa Ana dust. Altadena sits at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, and the seasonal Santa Ana winds push dust and particulate matter through every gap in a home’s envelope. In homes with leaky duct joints, that dust ends up inside the duct system, not just on furniture.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in Altadena, CA
Here’s what we actually charge in Altadena. A full system cleaning for a single-family home runs $450 to $850. That includes the camera inspection, negative pressure cleaning of supply and return ducts, vent cleaning, and before-and-after photos. If you need duct sealing after cleaning – which many older Altadena homes do – that adds $150 to $400 depending on how many joints need mastic and how accessible they are. Duct repair for crushed or disconnected sections runs $100 to $500 depending on what we find.
We don’t do per-vent pricing. We don’t quote a $49 special and then add fees once we’re in your driveway. One flat price per system, agreed before work starts. Call (866) 413-8552 for a free estimate on your Altadena home.
We Also Serve Cities Near Altadena
Our team handles duct cleaning throughout the San Gabriel Valley and surrounding areas. We serve Altadena and regularly do full system Air Duct Cleaning for homeowners in South Pasadena, San Gabriel, East San Gabriel, and Temple City. If you’re in one of these neighboring cities and dealing with the same post-fire dust and ash concerns, we’ll bring the same equipment and the same camera-first approach.
Serving Altadena, CA – Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Altadena 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 Altadena
Your ducts still smell like smoke because ash and char particles are trapped inside the duct runs, not just at the registers. In Altadena’s older homes, the unsealed joints in original galvanized ductwork allowed wind-driven smoke to enter the system during the fire, and those particles remain embedded in the duct walls and joints. Standard cleaning that only addresses visible register debris won’t remove them. You need negative pressure cleaning with HEPA filtration that pulls the source material out of the full duct run, and often joint sealing with mastic to prevent future infiltration. Call (866) 413-8552 and we’ll inspect your system with a camera to show you exactly what’s inside.
Most original galvanized ductwork in Altadena homes can be cleaned effectively. The question is whether the ducts are still structurally sound. We’ve cleaned galvanized ducts in 1920s Spanish Revivals that cleaned up beautifully once the decades of debris were removed. But we’ve also found galvanized ducts that were so internally corroded they were shedding metal particulate, and those should be replaced or repaired. The only way to know is a camera inspection, which we include as part of the estimate. We repair what we find, and we’ll show you the footage so you can make an informed decision.
Altadena’s pre-1950s housing stock affects duct cleaning in three specific ways. First, original galvanized ducts are more prone to internal corrosion and debris accumulation than newer sheet metal or flex duct. Second, many Altadena homes have had retrofitted additions or flooring changes that crushed or disconnected duct runs, meaning the ductwork is no longer a sealed system at all. Third, the unsealed joints in these older systems let smoke, ash, and dust enter the air stream long after outside conditions improve. That’s why we always camera-inspect before cleaning and why sealing is often part of the job.
Yes, we do. Sealing duct joints with mastic is a standard part of our service on older Altadena homes where we find unsealed or leaky joints. After the Eaton Fire, this matters more than ever – unsealed joints are how smoke entered homes miles from the burn zone, and they’ll continue to let dust and particulate in even after cleaning. We include sealing recommendations in our estimate, and we’ll show you the joints we found and sealed so you know the work was actually done.
We use negative pressure equipment with HEPA filtration on post-fire duct systems in Altadena. That means the system pulls air and debris out of your ducts under negative pressure while filtering the exhausted air through HEPA media, so we’re not stirring up ash and spreading it through your home. We also camera-inspect before and after so you can see the removal with your own eyes. For homes with heavy Eaton Fire contamination, we’ll often do a second pass on problem joints and runs, and then seal them so the problem doesn’t return. Call (866) 413-8552 and we’ll walk you through what your specific system needs.
Written by Nelson Quiambao, Owner at Duct Cleaning Monterey Park, serving Altadena’s duct cleaning, sealing, and repair needs with professional-grade equipment and a camera-first approach.