Since putting in the new kitchen we had one problem that I did not anticipate; how to
run the dryer vent. Some people vent the clothes dryer into the basement, or someplace else inside, but this, in my opinion, is asking for trouble. All that water that was in your clothes is now in whatever space you have your dryer vented to, inviting mold, mildew or worse.
In our house, the washer and dryer have their own little closet to the left of the door in the kitchen. Directly below the washer and dryer is a crawl space, which is pretty easy to get in and out of. The problem is the the deck attached to the outside corner where the french doors are and the door that leads to the master bedroom. Also the ground elevation there is only a few inches below the level of the deck. I did not want to blow hot steamy dryer exhaust on the underside of my deck.
I had no choice but to go up into the wash room ceiling and through the attic. This is a picture of the 6 to 4 inch reducer poking through the ceiling. I need to finish sanding this down and paint it to match the ceiling.
For the attic run I used 6 inch galvanized duct work even though the dryer vent is only 4 inches. I figured the increased cross area would mitigate the longer vent run and 45 degree elbows required.
On the outside of the house, I used a 6 inch exhaust vent. This particular vent
had a plastic grid criss crossing the output, I suppose to keep birds out or something. What
happened is the grid got clogged with lint, which it turn made the dryer not work so well.
I cut the grid out with a pair of diagonal cutters and used a shop vac to get all to accumulated lint out. It has worked fine ever since. I have never had a problem with critters in the dryer vent thus far.
Say What?