Hood Cleaning Questions, Answered
The questions we get asked most often in Carrollton. If yours is not here, call (945) 425-4314.
How often does my restaurant legally need hood cleaning?
NFPA 96 sets it by cooking volume: monthly for solid fuel (wood or charcoal), quarterly for high-volume cooking (24-hour lines, charbroiling, wok cooking), semi-annual for moderate volume, annual for low-volume kitchens. Most working restaurants in this corridor are quarterly or semi-annual — and your fire marshal will hold you to the frequency your cooking actually demands.
What does a full cleaning actually include?
The whole system: hood interior, baffle filters, the plenum behind them, the duct run to the roof, and the exhaust fan — degreased to bare metal with hot water and chemistry, with your equipment sheeted and protected below. If a company only wipes the hood you can see, you are buying a shine, not a cleaning — and your duct is still a chimney of fuel.
Will you have to shut down my kitchen?
No — the work happens while you are closed. Overnight after your close, or on your closed day, the system is cleaned, dried, reassembled and handed back before your prep crew arrives. Scheduling around your hours is the baseline of this trade, not a favor.
What is the sticker on the hood, and why do inspectors care?
It is the certification record: who cleaned the system, to what standard, when, and when it is next due. It is the first thing a fire marshal checks and the fastest violation on the list if it is missing or lapsed. Every cleaning we do ends with a dated sticker — and the photo report that backs it up.
What does hood cleaning cost in Carrollton?
Most single-hood systems run $400 to $700 per visit, with multi-hood kitchens quoted per system and route customers priced below one-off visits. The real variables are hood count, duct length, fan access and system condition — which is why we quote from a walkthrough, free, usually within a day or two.
My system has not been cleaned in years. How bad is that?
Fixable — and common, especially in inherited spaces. Hardened buildup takes hot chemistry and honest labor to recover, so we look first and quote truthfully rather than pricing it like a routine visit. What matters is starting: the as-found photos, the recovery cleaning, and a real schedule from then on.
Can you handle multiple locations?
That is our favorite work. Restaurant groups get one contract, per-location scheduling around each kitchen's hours, per-site documentation formatted for whoever audits it, and one invoice. Every kitchen in the group stays on cycle without anyone chasing vendors.
Are you insured, and will my landlord or insurer accept your reports?
Fully insured, with certificates available on request — and the documentation is built for exactly those readers: dated certification, standard referenced, and before-and-after photos of the hidden sections. Fire marshals, adjusters and property managers all want the same thing: proof. That is what every visit produces.