Between US 75 and State Highway 5

Duct and Dryer Vent Cleaning in McKinney's Historic District

The houses around the old town square are the oldest in a very new city. Their ductwork was fitted in long after they were built, and the district has a rule about exterior changes that no other part of McKinney has.

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What is different here

Houses Older Than Their Air Conditioning

McKinney was founded in 1848 and is the seat of Collin County. Census survey figures count 1,128 housing units in the city from 1939 or earlier and about 2,700 from before 1960, out of 77,617. They are a small share of McKinney, and the oldest part of town is where the city has chosen to protect them.

A house from the 1910s or 1930s was built to be cooled by high ceilings, tall windows and a porch. Whatever ducts it has now were added by someone working around plaster, old framing and a floor plan that never allowed for them. No two were done the same way.

What a visit involves

A Look First, Then a Quote

It starts as an inspection. Where the ducts run, what they are made of and how they are joined come first. A price comes after.
Floor registers get attention. They collect decades of what falls into them, and they clean up well.
Old wrap is left alone. Insulation and tape of that age can contain asbestos and is not disturbed without testing.
Leaky joints are reported, not cleaned around. Sealing or rebuilding ducts is licensed air conditioning work.

The full version is on the ductwork in older homes page.

The city rule

When the Outside of the House Is Involved

The city's Historic Overlay District lies between US 75 and State Highway 5. As Community Impact reported on June 24, 2024, new construction, redevelopment and alterations to a property there that can be seen from the public right of way require a Certificate of Appropriateness, and the Historic Preservation Advisory Board votes on the requests.

For this trade that matters in one situation. Laundry rooms in old houses were added wherever plumbing could reach, and their dryer vents were often routed with whatever was at hand. If a vent has to be moved, or a new hood or roof cap has to go where the street can see it, ask the city's historic preservation staff before the work is done. Brushing out the vent that is already there needs no one's permission.

Two Questions From Old-House Owners

Is duct cleaning itself covered by the historic district rules?

No. Cleaning changes nothing on the outside of the house. The rules come into play only if the visit leads to an exterior change, such as a new vent hood on a street-facing wall.

My house has both floor vents and ceiling vents. Is that normal?

In a house that got its air conditioning in stages, yes. It usually means two systems or one system extended later, and each part is inspected on its own terms.

Old House Near the Square?

Say roughly when it was built and where the vents are. The first visit is to look.

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