Chimney service
Dryer Vent Cleaning
Lint clears out of the full duct run, not just the first three feet. The job that gets a dryer working again and takes a fire risk off the wall.
If your clothes need two cycles, the dryer is not failing. The duct is blocked.
Lint escapes the trap on every load and settles along the duct behind the machine. As the passage narrows, hot wet air cannot leave, so the dryer runs longer and hotter to do the same work. That is the part you notice. The part you do not is that lint is tinder, sitting in the hottest airway in the house. Dryer vent cleaning clears the full run from the machine to the outside hood, which is why it fixes the drying time and the risk in the same visit.
Where it shows first
The hood outside your wall
Fluff caught on the flap is the duct shedding what it can no longer carry. Whatever is outside, there is far more of it still inside.
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Signs you need dryer vent cleaning
Clothes still damp after a full cycle
The single most common reason anyone books this. Towels and jeans need a second run, and it happened gradually enough that nobody noticed when it started.
The laundry room gets hot and humid
Air that cannot get outside ends up in the room. If the door has to stay open while the dryer runs, the duct is not moving what it should.
Lint around the outside vent hood
Fluff caught on the flap or in the grass below it means the duct is shedding what it can no longer carry. Whatever is outside, there is far more still inside.
A hot or scorched smell when it runs
Lint heating against a duct wall. Stop using the dryer and get it looked at rather than finishing the load.
The vent flap never opens
Go outside mid-cycle. The flap should be blown open by the airflow. If it sits shut or barely moves, almost nothing is getting through.
The machine is hot to the touch
A dryer that cannot exhaust runs its heater far longer than designed. That shortens the life of the appliance well before it becomes a fire risk.
How the visit works
The same four steps every time, whatever the repair turns out to be.
- 01
Inspection first, always
A look at the crown, cap, flashing and exterior masonry, then the flue, damper and firebox — with a camera where the job calls for a level 2 scan. Whatever needs work gets shown to you, not just described.
- 02
A written estimate before anything
Scope, price and what is not included, in writing. Nothing starts until you approve it, and an emergency is not a reason to skip this step.
- 03
The work itself
Matched materials and the manufacturer's spec, not whatever is on the van. Drop cloths down, and the room left as it was found.
- 04
Verification and a report
A second scan after the work, and written findings you can keep, hand to an inspector, or send to an insurer.
The jobs this actually includes
Not every job on this list is equally urgent, so they are ordered that way. A cracked liner stops you using the fireplace tonight; waterproofing can wait for a dry week.
The job — most urgent first
What it involves
On site
Full duct clean, machine to hood
Safety repairRotary brush on a flexible rod through the whole run, with a vacuum at the open end. Cleaning only the first arm's length behind the dryer moves the blockage rather than removing it.
On site: About an hour
Blocked or crushed duct repair
StructuralFoil concertina hose kinked behind the machine, or a run crushed flat where it passes a joist. Rigid metal duct replaces it, because the ribbed flexible kind catches lint by design.
On site: Half a day
Bird and nest removal from the vent
Stops waterA vent hood with a broken flap is an inviting nest site. The nest comes out and a proper louvred or damper hood goes on, or it happens again next spring.
On site: About an hour
Vent hood replacement
PreventiveA hood whose flap has seized, or the fine mesh screen type, which clogs solid within a season. Lint needs a clear opening, not a filter.
On site: About an hour
Reroute for a long or high run
PreventiveDucts that run a long way, or turn several times to reach an outside wall, block far faster. Sometimes the fix is a shorter path rather than cleaning the same bad one every year.
On site: Half a day
Times are for the work itself, not for scheduling. Masonry needs roughly 40°F to cure properly, which is what limits this work in a northern winter rather than whether a crew is free.
Why dryer vent cleaning quotes vary so much
- How long the duct run is, and how many bends it turns through
- Whether the outlet is at ground level or up on a second storey
- Whether the duct is accessible or boxed into a ceiling or wall
- Whether it needs cleaning only, or repair and rigid duct as well
- How long it has been since the last clean, and whether a nest is in there
A straightforward clean on an accessible ground-floor run is one of the cheapest jobs we do. Long runs, roof outlets and duct replacement cost more because they take longer and need materials. Anyone quoting per foot before seeing the run is guessing at the part that matters.
The people behind every visit
Founded by Ryan Carter in 2019. Every page you read here is reviewed by Ethan Miller, our chimney specialist. A written estimate before any work, and the findings in writing whether or not anything needs doing.
More about who we are →
The VIO Standard
- A written estimate first
- License and insurance checked
- Nothing starts without your OK
Common questions
How often does a dryer vent need cleaning?
Once a year for a typical household is the standard advice, and it holds up. Push it to twice a year if you dry several loads most days, if the run is long or has multiple bends, or if anyone in the house has a lot of bedding and towels going through. A dryer used a couple of times a week on a short straight duct can often go longer. The honest test is not the calendar: go outside while it runs and see whether the flap is being blown open.
Can I clean the dryer vent myself?
You can do the useful first step yourself. Pull the machine out, disconnect the hose and clear what you can reach, and clean the outside hood. That alone helps. What a kit from a hardware shop will not do is carry a rotating brush through the full run under vacuum, which is where the compacted lint sits — usually at a bend, halfway along, exactly where nothing reaches from either end. If clothes still need two cycles after you have done the ends, the blockage is in the middle.
How much does dryer vent cleaning cost?
It is one of the cheaper jobs in this trade, and the price tracks the run rather than the machine. A short, accessible, ground-floor duct is quick. A run that crosses the house to a second-storey or roof outlet takes longer and needs ladder work. What raises it beyond cleaning is finding crushed duct or flexible foil hose that should be replaced with rigid metal, which is a repair rather than a clean and gets quoted separately.
Is a blocked dryer vent really a fire risk?
Yes, and it is a well-documented one — clothes dryers account for thousands of house fires a year in the US, with failure to clean cited as the leading cause. The mechanism is simple: lint is extremely fine, dry fuel, and a blocked duct traps heat right where it sits. That said, the fire risk is not usually what brings people to this page. Slow drying is the early warning, and dealing with it is what removes the risk.
My dryer is new and still slow. Is it the vent?
Almost always, yes. A new machine inherits the old duct, and a duct that was marginal for the last dryer is marginal for this one. It is also the most common warranty call that turns out not to be a warranty issue, because the appliance is working correctly and simply cannot push air through a blocked passage. Check the outside flap while it runs before you book an engineer for the machine.
let's get it on the calendar.
Tell us your ZIP code and what you need. The pro who covers it quotes the job in writing, and nothing starts until you approve the number.