Dryer Vent Update

So, once again, between rain showers, I've been pulling tools and lumber out of the shed so I can finish my dryer vent repair.  As rain showers would approach, I would quickly put everything back into the shed...  then back out again...  then back in...  etc.  

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To update - After all the moist, rainy weather over the past month or so, we noticed that our clean clothes were coming out of the dryer smelling terribly.  Once we opened the dryer door and stuck our head in the dryer, it was clear why our clothes were smelly after being in the dryer.  The dryer itself smelled terribly!

It sort of smelled like a mouse nest or dead animal so I was originally thinking that I would find one or the other in the vent or inside the dryer.  I disassembled the dryer and found nothing.  Then I ran our shop vac up the vent from the outside to see if it would grab a dead animal.  Once again, I found nothing but some lint.  

The photo, at right, shows the dryer duct after snaking the shop vac up the duct.  As you can see, more lint remained.

In order to snake the shop vac into the dryer vent, I needed to remove the exterior vent from the house.  In the process of doing this, the old plastic vent just crumbled in my hands as I attempted to pull it off the house.  With each step of this little project, the project became larger.  

I ordered a new exterior dryer vent as well as a brush for cleaning the dryer vent duct.  This brush attaches to a drill and it can be extended up to 30 feet.  I would need only about six or seven feet but the extra length is nice to have on hand.  

While waiting for parts to arrive, I cleaned the inside of the dryer drum with vinegar...  it still smelled except that now it also smelled like nasty vinegar too.  (I hate the smell of vinegar...  I think I'd rather smell a dead animal!)

I cleaned the inside of the dryer drum with household cleaner to clean off the nasty smelling vinegar and the drum smelled clean.  If I put my nose at the lint trap, I could smell the nasty smell very strongly.  The lint trap is where the dryer vent starts so it was clear that the smell was emanating from the duct.  On the positive side, now the dryer itself was cleaned like new again! 

The outside of the house around this dryer vent was all rotted too so I had some repairs to do with this too.  Fortunately, I had enough wood and building supplies on hand to accomplish this part of this growing "small" project.  

While waiting for the dryer vent brush and the new vent itself, I cleaned out the duct as best as I could using my shop vac.

Since I found no animals, dead or alive, the assumption was that all the moisture and rain we've had caused the lint that was stuck to the walls of the dryer vent duct was moldy.  The moist, hot air from the dryer was likely making this mold problem worse.  When heated up, this old moldy lint smelled horrendously.  It smelled sort of like a cross between a wet dog and a dead animal and this was making all of our clothes to absolutely stink!

Now, we just needed to clean out the duct, replace the exterior vent and then repair the exterior of the house.

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When the vent brush arrived, I immediately assembled it to a six or seven foot length and snaked it up the dryer vent while it was attached to my cordless drill.  The brush would go into the duct about four feet and then it would dip while turning to the left...  then, after a couple of feet, it would rise up into the wall behind the dryer.  We could see the brush in the vent behind the dryer when it was fully inserted.  When I pulled the brush back out of the duct, a bunch more lint came with it.

My plan was to repeat this process until the brush came out without any lint.  If lint comes out with the brush, then I would just insert the brush fully again using my drill and then pull it out and hope it comes out clean.  I had to repeat this about three dozen times before the brush was no longer pulling out more moldy lint!

The photo below shows the duct after using the new brush attached to my drill...

Here, below, is what we pulled out with this new 30 foot long dryer vent brush.  It is not a lot of lint for six or seven feet of duct but, apparently, it was moldy, stinky lint so getting this out of the duct made a tremendous difference.

The photo below shows the brush that I used.  It comes with 30 flexible sections to add to the brush.  Each section is a foot long...

The good news is that, after fully cleaning out the duct, the dryer no longer smelled.  Now I needed to repair the exterior of the house and install a new dryer vent.

I cut a large piece of wood to size and shape so it would fit perfectly.

I needed to remove a lone electrical outlet that was above the dryer vent.  I figured that if I was going to have to remove this electrical outlet, I should improve that as well.  So I added two additional outlets.  

In this location, the exterior electrical outlet box had water dripping on it occasionally.  It was an exterior electrical box but that doesn't mean it is completely waterproof.  I decided to add a custom-made drip edge above this wood repair and then add a small roof over the three new exterior electrical outlets.  

For those wondering why there are no exterior covers on these outlet boxes, the answer is that the covers are designed to only be effective when in the closed position.  I never unplug what is plugged into these outlets so the covers would never be closed.  Additionally, these covers were interfering with easily plugging things into these outlets and I found that, if left open, water would run down the covers and into the electrical boxes.  I found it to be safer if I put a roof over the custom drip edge and the outlets.  

After all of this was repaired, I then painted the repaired area.  I applied two coats of paint and then caulked all around the repair.  

This is looking much nicer now and our dryer no longer stinks!

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POST EDIT:  26 July 2023 - All this working close to the ground turned out to be extremely painful for my spinal injuries.  Additionally, I am still dealing with inflamed joints due to multiple bouts of COVID-19 too so my knees took a beating.  I have lingering problems with my lungs as well as my joints due to the virus.  These are everyday problems but these problems worsen significantly with activity.

Kneeling even momentarily is extremely painful but kneeling constantly and on hard surfaces like the little deck in the above photo is absolutely brutal.  My knees actually deform when I kneel on a hard surface for just a minute.  

I was having a difficult time getting around for a couple of days after the first day working on this project.  I was having such a difficult time getting around that I went looking for my cane again.  

My cane comes in handy and is a necessity a few times each year and this was one of those times.  My spinal injuries are debilitating and painful enough but when you add the inflamed joints from COVID on top of that...  well, I don't get much sleep, the pain is brutal and I have difficulty with mobility.  It is a few days later and I'm still in more pain than usual and my joints are swollen again.