New homes are perhaps the best candidates for a thorough cleaning of the HVAC system. Normally a new home HVAC system is installed before insulation, drywall, flooring and many other dust and dirt generators. With most new homes, the ducts will accumulate more construction debris than they will see during the rest of their lifespan, especially drywall dust and sawdust. Some of that fine dust and drywall powder can be as small as 0.1 microns, which means standard filters and HVAC filters may not catch all of it.

Have you recently finished a remodel?

Construction dust, especially drywall dust, can cause poor indoor air quality and trigger allergy symptoms like sneezing, congestion, itchy eyes, and runny noses, and drywall dust can also aggravate asthma. Because these fine particles circulate easily through duct systems, your furnace filter does not do much to stop all of them from moving through the system, which is why choosing the best duct cleaning methods matters for capturing as much debris as possible. Paint fumes and volatile organic compounds can also linger in indoor air and may cause headaches and irritation alongside dust exposure. When drywall dust gets in your furnace, it can quickly clog the secondary coil, infiltrate the motor and eat away at the bearings inside of the blower fan assembly. Restricted airflow can also reduce energy efficiency and raise energy bills by 20–30%. Cleaning the air ducts in your home after a remodel will drastically reduce the amount of dust in your home. Professional cleaning is the better option because it uses negative pressure and HEPA filtration to contain debris instead of spreading more dust, and hiring NADCA-certified HVAC cleaning professionals helps ensure those industry standards are followed. Drywall dust in particular is extremely irritating to breathe, so you will likely find that breathing and sleeping after a duct cleaning is easier, with less coughing and sneezing.