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A dryer on an outside wall can vent straight through it. A laundry room in the middle of the house, or upstairs, cannot. Its vent has to travel, and the farther lint has to be pushed, the more of it gets left behind.
First find out which kind you have. Many homeowners have never seen the far end of their dryer vent. The first question below explains how to find it. Whether it ends at a wall or on the roof changes the equipment, the time and the price.
A vertical run asks the dryer to lift damp lint against gravity. Some of it falls back and settles at the bottom, and the rest collects at the roof cap, which nobody looks at. A cap can be matted shut for years before drying times give it away.
A horizontal run through a ceiling or between floors loses air speed with every bend. Lint drops out at the elbows first. Every dryer's installation manual gives a maximum vent length and subtracts from it for each turn; a vent near that limit needs cleaning more often than a short one.
A wall vent is cleaned from the ground or a short ladder. A roof vent means a longer ladder, a walk on the shingles and a look at the cap from above, then brushing the run from one end or both. HomeGuide's national range reflects it: $150 to $250 for a roof exit against $80 to $185 for a standard one.
Do not go onto the roof to look for yourself. From the yard, with the dryer running, you can usually see whether steam or lint is coming from a cap.
Run the dryer and walk around the house. Look for a hood on a wall with a flap moving, or warm damp air and a smell of laundry. If there is nothing at wall level, look at the roof from the yard for a low cap that is not a plumbing pipe.
The duct can usually be brushed from the laundry room end. The cap is the part that clogs, and clearing it properly means someone goes up to it.
Sometimes. It is construction work, not cleaning, and one national guide prices new vent installation or rerouting at $200 to $500.
Mention it when you call, so the contractor brings the right ladder and quotes the right job.
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McKinney