The one part of the metro where the ducts may not be in the attic. Greater Heights is 38% pre-1940 housing on pier-and-beam foundations, and most of those bungalows had central air added decades after they were built, with ductwork routed wherever it would fit: through the attic, under the floor in the crawl space, or both. Montrose, Woodland Heights, Garden Oaks and Oak Forest are the same story a decade or two younger.
A 1925 Heights bungalow was built with windows and a porch for cooling, and its ductwork dates from whenever a previous owner put in central air — 1965, 1985, 2005. The runs go through a low attic, or under the floor through a crawl space that is damp most of the year, or the air handler is in a closet with the trunk boxed into a hallway ceiling. Every one of those configurations is different, and the first question on the call is where the ducts are, because it decides what can be done. Attic runs are the standard job. Metal under-floor runs can be cleaned from the crawl space. Flex under a damp floor is very often a replacement, because it has been wet from below for years.
The other inner-loop pattern is the full renovation. A large share of these houses have been gutted and rebuilt at least once since 2000, sometimes with the ductwork replaced and sometimes not, and every renovation put drywall dust through whatever was there. A house bought after a flip has an unknown duct history; a look in the attic tells most of it.
The May 2024 derecho hit downtown and the inner loop hardest, with gusts estimated near 100 mph blowing out high-rise windows and taking roofs off older houses. A roof opened over a low bungalow attic is a wet attic, and duct that was soaked is replaced. If the house lost part of its roof in May 2024 and nobody looked at the ducts afterward, do that before anything else.
The tall skinny new builds that replaced bungalows across the Heights and Montrose are 2010s two- and three-story houses on two or three systems, with new ducts and a builder’s dust problem. One post-construction cleaning, then nothing for years. Their dryer vents run to the roof, three stories up.
Say pier-and-beam and under-floor on the call. Metal runs can be cleaned from the crawl space; flex that has been damp for years is a replacement conversation.
One post-construction cleaning if it blew dust after move-in. Three-story roof dryer vent is worth doing annually.
And the ducts under it? Wet duct is replaced. A licensed contractor should look before anyone cleans.
Ranges by systems and openings, with the licensed items separated.
Five reasons that hold up, six that do not.
Eight things a real job contains, and one household’s account of not getting them.
Part of the Inside the Loop & the Villages zone · every area
And the nearest cross streets. The contractor covering this zone quotes it in writing before anything is booked.
Call (346) 586-0541 Describe the Job
Houston Duct