Dryer Vent Cleaning in Cloverleaf, TX

Frequently Asked Questions

1. The little flap door on the outside vent is broken off — do I replace it or just leave it?

   Replace it. On these 1950s–70s frame and brick houses the old hood is usually thin aluminum. Once the flap breaks or rusts open, Cloverleaf's freeway and industrial corridor dust blows straight in and mixes with damp lint. Birds and wasps use it too. If the hood body is solid and only the damper is stuck with lint, cleaning and freeing it works. If the metal is corroded or crushed, a new hood is the better call.

2. What usually goes wrong with dryer vents in houses around here?

   The most common thing we find is crushed flex duct. There's rarely more than a few inches behind the dryer in a back utility room or a hall closet, so the duct gets folded flat against the wall and lint piles up in the kink. After that it's long-neglected runs that have never been opened, and lint that stays damp because of the humid air off the Ship Channel, so it packs into a mat instead of blowing out.

3. How far out are you booking for east Harris County?

   Cloverleaf sits close to the I-10 and Beltway 8 junction, so it's an easy area for our trucks to reach. We usually have something within a couple of days. The one thing that stretches it is traffic on I-10 around rush hour, so we give you an arrival window rather than a to-the-minute time and call when we're on the way.

4. What makes one house cost more than another?

   Length and condition of the duct, mostly. A short run from a carport-corner laundry straight through the wall is the simple end. It goes up when the dryer sits in an interior hall closet and the duct travels through the wall or ceiling to reach daylight, when the run has never been cleaned and is packed solid, or when the exterior hood has to be replaced. We can tell you what applies to your setup once we see where the dryer sits.

5. Can you come out today? My dryer is taking three or four cycles to dry a load.

   Sometimes, depending on what's already on the schedule. That symptom usually means the line is blocked, so call and ask rather than waiting. If we can't get there same day we'll tell you straight. In the meantime, pull the dryer out far enough to unkink the duct and run it on the lowest heat you can. Don't leave it running when the house is empty.