Dryer Vent Replacement in San Antonio, TX

When a dryer vent needs replacing, not just cleaning

Clothes still damp after two cycles. You cleaned the vent last year. The duct itself is likely the problem now. Flexible foil and vinyl duct collapses behind the dryer. Pedestal washers in tight laundry closets crush it flat. Old vinyl duct goes brittle and tears at the seams. Cleaning a torn duct accomplishes nothing. The lint just reloads into the same low spot.

Replacement means rigid metal where it can be reached: smooth-wall rigid pipe through the run, foil-faced transition at the appliance only. On 1950s-70s ranches the exterior-wall run is short. That job is usually a half-day of careful fitting. Long attic runs on two-story subdivision homes are different work. Twenty to thirty-five feet with elbows, ending at a roof cap.

Sagging duct between attic joists is the one we replace most. Lint settles in the belly. January cold fronts condense moisture in there, and wet lint packs hard. Strapping the new run level across joists is the fix.

Terminations get replaced too. Roof caps with fine bird or wasp screens mat solid with lint, cedar and oak pollen, and caliche dust from nearby construction. We replace those with a proper damper hood. Rodent and bird nesting in sidewall terminations usually means the cap is gone or stuck open.

Honest answer on scope: if the existing duct is rigid, intact, and properly pitched, clean it and leave it alone.