Question 1

My dryer is in a converted garage and I have no idea where the vent actually goes. Can you still clean it?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and that's a big share of what we do here. In Florence-Graham the dryer usually wasn't part of the original house, so the duct was added later by whoever did the conversion or built the rear addition. We trace the run from the back of the dryer first, then find the exterior termination by walking the exterior wall and roofline. Sometimes the hood is on a side wall you can barely reach because of the narrow lot spacing, sometimes it's under the eave of the addition. Once we know both ends, we know what the middle looks like and clean accordingly. You don't need to have the answer before we get there.

Question 2

What goes wrong most often on these older bungalows?

Accepted Answer

Three things repeat. First, retrofit runs that are far longer than they should be, because the dryer sits in a back porch or hallway closet and the duct has to travel to whatever exterior wall was reachable. Second, elbow count — improvised routes through a wall stud bay or under a floor pick up sharp turns, and lint packs at every one of them. Third, the flexible foil or plastic transition behind the dryer getting crushed when the machine is pushed back against the wall in a tight closet. On top of that, a lot of these houses have a duct running under the floor of an old bungalow, which stays damp longer and turns loose lint into a paste on the wall of the pipe.

Question 3

The louvers on my outside vent hood are gray and grimy. Is that lint or something else?

Accepted Answer

Usually both. Florence-Graham sits in a dense grid with industrial neighbors and freeway traffic nearby, and that fine road and industrial particulate settles on everything facing the street, including vent hoods. It mixes with the lint that the dryer pushes out and forms a film that keeps the flapper from closing all the way. A hood that won't seal invites more dust in and lets the flap sit half open, which is also how you end up with insects and nesting material inside the duct. We clean and free up the hood as part of the job, and if the flapper is corroded past working we'll tell you rather than just wiping it off.

Question 4

What makes the price go up or down on a house like mine?

Accepted Answer

It comes down to how the vent was installed, not the size of your house. A short straight run through a back wall is the simple end. What raises it here is the retrofit reality: a long route through a converted garage, four or five elbows, a section running under the floor, or a termination we have to reach from a tight side yard between two houses. Homes with a second dryer in a rear unit are a separate run and get priced as such. We'd rather look at the actual duct before committing to a number, because on these blocks two houses that look identical from the street can have completely different vent routes inside.

Question 5

How fast can you get out here, and do you ever do same-day?

Accepted Answer

Same-day happens fairly often, especially if you call in the morning and we already have a stop scheduled in South LA that day. Otherwise, next day or within a couple of days is typical. If your dryer is running hot, shutting off mid-cycle, or you're smelling something scorched, say so when you call — that moves you up, because a packed retrofit duct with several hidden elbows is exactly the setup that overheats. Parking on these narrow streets is tight, so it helps if you can let us know where the truck can pull in near the unit with the dryer.

Dryer Vent Cleaning in Florence-Graham, CA

Dryer vent cleaning in Florence-Graham

Dryer Vent Cleaning services in Florence-Graham

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