Is Your Houston Home Making You Sick? The Link Between Dirty Ducts and Allergies

You wake up with a stuffy nose. Your eyes itch before you’ve even had your coffee. You feel better as soon as you leave the house to go to work or run errands.

If this sounds familiar, your house isn't just dusty—it might be making you sick.

I’ve been crawling through attics in Houston for 15 years with Houston Air Rescue. I’ve seen what grows inside ductwork in The Heights, Katy, and down in Sugar Land. In our swampy climate, your HVAC system is the lungs of your home. If those lungs are infected, you’re breathing it in every time the AC kicks on.

The "Sick House" Cycle

Here is the reality of living in the Gulf Coast. We run our AC units 10 months out of the year.

Your return vents act like giant vacuum cleaners. They suck in air from your rooms to cool it down. But they also suck in:

• Dead skin cells (dust)
• Pet dander
• Pollen tracked in from outside
• Construction debris left over from when the house was built

When this debris settles in your ductwork, it sits there. Then comes the Houston humidity.

Dust + Moisture = Mold Food.

I see it every week. A layer of gray fuzz on the vent cover that looks harmless. But shine a light inside? It’s a breeding ground. When the AC blows, it picks up microscopic spores and blasts them into your bedroom, your kitchen, and right into your face while you sleep.

Why Your Doctor Can't Fix This

You can take all the allergy meds you want. But if you come home to a house pumping out mold spores and dust mites, you are fighting a losing battle.

I had a customer in Rice Military whose son had chronic asthma. They tried everything—new bedding, air purifiers in the room, heavy medication. Nothing worked.

They called me out. I pulled the return grill off. The duct liner was caked with years of construction dust and pet hair from the previous owner. We performed a full restoration cleaning. Two weeks later, the kid was sleeping through the night.

It’s not magic. It’s just removing the source of the irritation.

The $99 Scam Warning

Now, listen to me closely. Do not hire the guy offering a "$99 Whole House Special" on a Facebook ad.

You cannot clean a standard 3-bedroom house in Houston for $99. It costs me more than that just to drive the truck there and pay my guys.

These "blow-and-go" companies will come in, vacuum the vent covers (pushing the dust deeper), and leave. Or worse, they’ll scare you with a fake mold test and try to charge you $2,000 for a UV light you don't need.

Real pricing: A proper, professional air duct cleaning for a standard house in Houston usually runs between $450 and $700. That pays for:

1. Negative Pressure Machines: We hook a massive vacuum to your main trunk line to suck everything out.
2. Agitation Tools: We run whips down every single vent to scrub the walls of the ducts.
3. Time: It takes 3-5 hours to do it right.

Take Your Home Back

If you are sick of being sick, go look at your return vent filter. Is it black? Pull a floor register up. Do you see debris?

Don’t let your house be the reason you feel terrible.

Call Houston Air Rescue today at 281-845-4011. We’ll give you an honest assessment, a fair price, and air you can actually breathe.