Dryer Vent Cleaning for Home Buyers, Sellers & Movers

Dryer vent cleaning is the removal of lint and debris from the entire duct that runs from the back of your dryer to the vent cap outside your home. We use a rotating brush system and a high-powered vacuum to scrub the full length of the duct, clear the exterior cap, and verify airflow afterward. It is different from cleaning the lint screen, which only catches a portion of the lint your dryer produces.

Once a year for most households, and every six months if you do more than 8 loads a week, have pets, own a roof-vented dryer, or have a duct longer than 25 feet. The U.S. Fire Administration and most dryer manufacturers recommend annual cleaning as the baseline.

The lint screen only catches about 75% of lint. The rest travels down the duct with the hot, moist exhaust air, sticks to the duct walls, and packs tightest at elbows, screens, and the exterior cap. Over a year a typical family's duct collects a few cups to several gallons of lint.

Most wall or ground-level vents take 45–60 minutes. Roof vents take 60–90 minutes because we clear the cap from the roof and clean the vertical run from both ends. Bird nest removal or a very long duct can add 20–30 minutes.

Yes. The most common result customers notice is that dry times drop from two cycles back to one. A clean vent restores airflow, lowers the dryer's operating temperature, cuts energy use by up to 30%, extends the life of the heating element and motor, and removes the number one cause of dryer fires.

Dryer vent cleaning cleans the single 4-inch exhaust duct from your dryer to the outdoors. Air duct cleaning cleans the HVAC supply and return ductwork for your furnace and AC. They require different tools and we specialize only in dryer vents, so you get a technician who does this all day.

Someone 18 or older needs to let us in and move anything blocking the laundry area. After that you don't need to stay in the room. For roof vents we also need access to the yard side where we set up the ladder.

For most wall vents, yes, we clean from inside and verify at the exterior cap. For roof vents we always clear the cap from the roof because that is where the worst clog usually sits; cleaning only from inside can push a lint plug into the cap and make the problem worse.

No. Our vacuum captures lint as the brush dislodges it, we lay down a drop cloth behind the dryer, and we clean up before we leave. You should not see any lint in the laundry room when we're done.

No. We use flexible nylon brushes sized to 4-inch duct that scrub without scratching or dislodging joints. If we find damaged, crushed, or disconnected duct we stop, show you, and tell you what it would cost to fix before touching it.

Code calls for rigid or semi-rigid aluminum or galvanized steel duct, 4 inches in diameter, with joints taped not screwed. Many homes have white vinyl or foil flex duct instead, which traps lint in its ridges and is a fire hazard. We flag flex duct whenever we find it.

A vent that hasn't been cleaned in a few years typically yields one to three gallons of packed lint. We have pulled over a 13-gallon bag from a roof vent that had never been cleaned in 15 years.