Do Your HVAC Ducts Have A Smell?

If you’re looking for solutions to smells coming from your ducting, look no further! The Crawlspace Crew can help solve any problem with your HVAC ducts.

Smells from your ducts could come from many sources such as a broken pipe, rats, squirrels, raccoons and other pests. These pests chew and claw through your ducts and into your HVAC system, rip and soil insulation, vapor barrier and other crawlspace materials that keep your home safe and warm or properly cooled. This damage, and sometimes carcasses, will cause a rotting or musty smell and could be being blown directly into your home through the HVAC ducts!

Often times, a smell coming from a duct is a sign that there could be other damage warranting a crawlspace clean-up. Getting rid of rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons, possums, skunks or other pests and getting crawlspace restoration done can be a daunting task, so you won’t want to go at it without someone who specializes in that kind of work.

Insulation companies, contractors, HVAC companies and the like can sometimes be called on to clean up a crawlspace, but they do not always have the necessary safety equipment meant to protect home owners and even themselves! Proper personal protective equipment such as respirators, Tyvek suits, negative air machines and sometimes other safety equipment is necessary to ensure the highest level of safety for an occupant living inside of a home while the clean-up is under way. These types of companies tend to refer this work out to a company that specializes in crawlspace clean-up and then follow them to finish HVAC, put in new insulation, get rid of rats and other pest control.

Here are some other signs that indicate a need for pest control or crawlspace clean-up and restoration:

– Trash cans gotten into,

– Burrow holes in the yard or near the foundation,

– Broken foundation vents,

– Less than usual or no air flow to a room in the house,

– Unusual sounds coming from the crawlspace (scratching, gnawing, etc.), or
– Insulation being blown into the house from the ducting.