Are the residents in your building complaining about allergic reactions, watery eyes and foul smells in the common areas of your building? There’s a good chance that it’s time to have your building’s air ducts, garbage chutes and garbage compactor cleaned.

When considering environmental problems, indoor air pollution is among the highest risk to human health. Indoor air pollution levels are often ten times or more higher than those outdoors, and this is easily verified by doing a minimal amount of research online. Even in the most well-kept buildings, your ventilation ductwork can become a breeding ground for mold, mildew, fungi and bacteria. Since everyone is normally exposed to some level of indoor pollution from cooking fumes, aerosol sprays, dust, household cleaners and other sources, the effective control of indoor pollution levels relies heavily on the effective maintenance of your property’s ventilation systems and garbage chutes. This is especially true in apartment buildings and high-rises, and that’s where City Duct Cleaning can help.

The chute cleaning process basically consists of a chemical wash to soften the grimy build-up, followed by a pressure washing to blast it from the chute walls. This is followed by the cleaning and de-greasing of the garbage chute doors on each floor, and also washing and deodorizing the compactor.

The air duct cleaning process for your hallway’s fresh air supply involves first sealing off the entire system. A combination of high-powered, truck-mounted vacuum and compressed air are then used to clean the entire duct system starting from the top floor and working towards the vacuum.

The fresh air fan, it’s air intake filters and all components of the air handling system are thoroughly cleaned as well as all the air diffusers from the hallways. This process could take anywhere from half a day to several days, depending on the number of fresh air systems in your building, how dirty the systems are, and the size of your building.

City Duct Cleaning provides the cleaning of several types of air duct systems including dryer exhaust ductwork, whether these are serving common laundry areas or individual units. We clean washroom exhaust ducts, kitchen exhaust ductwork and air handling equipment as well.

There are many benefits to be gained by keeping your air systems clean, such as improved air quality and savings on energy costs to name a few.

If you are in the Greater Toronto area, please call us for a free no-obligation estimate.

Installing a programmable thermostat in your home or office can save you up to 15% of the energy that you are now using for your HVAC system.

This is one of the most cost-effective energy decisions that you can make for your home, and the cost of doing so is relatively inexpensive. We have found in the past that many people have considered having one installed but never got around to it either because they thought it would be an expensive undertaking, or else they wanted to do it themselves but weren’t really sure how.

A programmable thermostat will automatically set back the temperature in your home at desired times, and will turn down the heat or the cooling to whatever temperature you program in. It’s basically something that you can set and forget, and then your energy savings will add up by themselves.

This is something that most homeowners can do themselves with some simple instruction. The job itself should take no more than an hour. Let’s go over the procedure of the actual installation, but first, I’d like to mention that City Duct does supply and install programmable thermostats, and we can also install your’s for you if you’ve already bought one yourself.

If you would like more information on this service then please contact our office. It is also more cost-effective to have this service done in conjunction with your annual furnace cleaning and inspection, or when we are already in your home doing your air duct cleaning.

For this demonstration, we will be replacing a typical White Rodgers heat/cool thermostat with a Honeywell Pro4000 model. You can use whichever model you choose though, and the installation will still be pretty much the same.

The first thing you should do is to test the operation of the entire HVAC system by first turning the furnace fan on by the switch on the thermostat. Just turn it to ON, and as soon as you know that the fan comes on, then turn it off. Next, check the cooling. Set the temperature to its lowest setting and then select “cool”. You should hear your outdoor unit and your furnace fan come on immediately.

Once you know it can work then change the system switch to the off position and wait for everything to stop. Next, turn the heat all the way up and then using the system switch again, turn it to heat. Once you know that the heat works, then you’ve just tested everything that your current thermostat can do, and you now know that everthing works for sure. You next step is to go downstairs and turn off the furnace power switch.

Most people tend to skip the initial testing procedure because its their home, and they are already confident that everything will work. But when I go into someone’s home to do this job I always like to test it all first. It only takes a few minutes.

Now we will begin by first removing the cover of the old thermostat. That’s the part that has the temperature dial on it. Just pull it off, and inside you will see a secondary plate which should look similar to the picture below. You will need to unscrew the plate to access the thermostat wires and the thermostat mounting screws.

Did you ever realize how much dust can accumulate inside your thermostat?

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Here are some more real reviews that came from City Duct customers. Most of these were brought back to us in writing, and appeared on our Quality Questionaire checklists. At City Duct Cleaning we provide our customers with quality workmanship and an honest service. Its no wonder that people are truly satisfied with our work.

With the spring now here, I am glad City Duct Cleaning cleaned my air ducts, as I can now concentrate on my gardening.
Anna in East York

Less dusting is all I asked for. Cleaning my air ducts was the smartest thing to do. Thankyou city duct. 
Jill from Scarborough

Good duct cleaning John. Thanks for the dryer duct cleaning too.
John from Pickering

Air duct cleaning, dryer ducts, furnace cleaning, deodorizing and sanitizing all for $350.00. Seemed like a lot, but you did an excellent job and after company price shopping, City Duct Cleaning was cheaper by $70.00. Thanks
Scott & Josie T.
Scarborough

Thanks for cleaning the birds nest out. I will call you guys for my ducts in the summer.
Robert
Toronto

Duct cleaning and deodorizing sure made a difference after our renovations. I’ll tell my neighbours and who gets the $50.00 discount for referral?
Dave
Toronto

Excellent job. I was really impressed with the way the two workers covered and cleaned all air registers. Duct cleaning, done right is a good service to have done.
Brenda S.
Toronto

Your compressor and vacuum scared 7 out of my cat’s 9 lives, but my air ducts are cleaner so it was worth it.
Mary and Al
Toronto

My allergies and dusting are both not as bad since City Duct Cleaning cleaned my air duct system. It was a pleasure doing business with you. I would recommend City Duct Cleaning to anyone.
Stacy L.
Mississauga

Reviewing your website and seeing the Consumers choice and top choice award shows honesty on your part. I spoke to other duct cleaners who claimed to be award winners but after researching, I found out that they were lying. Keep up the good work and you will stay at the top of your duct cleaning field. I will tell my co-workers and friends/family about City Duct Cleaning.
Bill in Toronto

We had our ducts cleaned three times now in 5 years and I always thought we had good work done. I really could not believe how much dirt your men just pulled from my ducts today. You just earned a life long customer. Thankyou so much.
K. Perry
Scarborough

Here’s an interesting story about a company in Boston who advertised air duct cleaning services and then once in the customers’ homes, proceeded to rip them off by using high pressure sales tactics to upsell additional services and products that were not even delivered.

The story says that people were sold electrostatic air filters and ultraviolet light air purification systems, which in themselves are good things, however, the company somehow pressured people to prepay for these items and additional services that they would not receive.

The company has been ordered to pay restitution. Part of the agreement states that should the company, which ceased business operations in August 2008, re-open, they would be required to change their business practices to ensure future consumers are provided with open and honest communication and that merchandise will only be paid for after delivery. Why would anyone expect anything less?

My guess is they’ll be back, working under a different company name. We’ve seen the same type of thing happen here in the Toronto area.

If you see an ad or get offered an air duct cleaning for your home that you know is priced well below market value, you can bet that there will either be extra charges or poor workmanship or both. At least that’s one thing they can gaurantee you. So why waste your time and your money? This applies to any type of service, not just duct cleaning.

When you need your air duct system properly cleaned, call us at City Duct Cleaning. We are a very reputable, award-winning company and we treat all our customers with the respect they deserve.

A two year old child has been poisoned after swallowing a liquid air freshener that he or she appears to have found inside an air vent.

Using a scented product to treat the air in a room is something that is commonly done, but I’ve always preferred to apply a duct deodorizer directly into the main air ducts, and this is something that is done in conjunction with a residential duct cleaning job on an as-needed basis.

When using a gel-type odor bar or even some kind of scented oil, it should be installed inside the furnace fan compartment. It would be much safer to use the product that way, not only will it be out of anyone’s reach, but the product will also treat the air in the whole house as opposed to only one room.

This heart-breaking story sadly proves that my common-sense method is by far the better one.

Child Poisoned By Air Freshener in NL

If you will ever be using any type of air freshener in your home that can be picked up by hand, whether it is a gel-type product, an air freshener in a plastic case or a bottle of scented oil or whatever, then please make sure that the product is being used safely.

Once you read that short news story linked above, you will surely remember it the next time you do use such a product.