All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe

Yesterday morning we had a cleaning company here vacuuming out the air ducts. I've been wanting to do it since we moved in but my husband had been hesitant to do it. I was sure there was drywall dust and who knew what else in the ducts from the remodeling that had been done to the basement by the previous owners. I told him I was tired of having to clean the thin layer of dust that appeared on everything and the bouts of sneezing I suffered from whenever the furnace turned on. He admitted it was probably a good idea but the main reason he was reluctant to do so was because it didn't know of a reliable company. After some research he finally found a company who seemed trustworthy and set-up an appointment.

It took about 3 hours and my husband like the fact that the man he hired told him he did not mind if my husband followed him around, observed what he was doing, and asked questions. When they finished I asked them if the dirt level in our ducts were considered light, average, heavy or "Oh, My God!" The man got a pained look on his face and said, "Trust me, you don't want to know what 'Oh, My God!' is."
I kind of did but I was afraid to ask him. As they say, you can't unring a bell.

Our ducts were average and according to him we would not have to have the ducts cleaned again for  another 5 to 7 years no matter what any other duct cleaning service told us. If you start seeing dust on everything in a year or two it is probably means the dirt in your carpets getting into the air when you vacuum. He said the way to keep this dust down is to turn on the air conditioner/heating fan when you do vacuum. This will draw the dust into the return air vents and then into the a/c-furnace filter. You make have to change the furnace filter a bit more often but it's still a cheap way to keep the air inside your house cleaner.   A good tip, wouldn't you say?