Dryer vent cleaning

Of everything on a house's quiet to-do list, this is the one that's genuinely about safety — not just upkeep.

Every load of laundry pushes lint past the little screen you clean by hand. It settles in the duct that runs from the back of your dryer to the outside of the house, and lint is close to ideal fire fuel — dry, fluffy, and sitting in a hot metal tube. The longer the vent run, the more it holds; plenty of homes around here had laundry moved during renovations decades after the house was built, which means long runs with bends.

Signs yours is overdue

• [✓]Towels take two cycles to dry
• [✓]The dryer top or the laundry room gets noticeably hot
• [✓]A faint burning smell while it runs
• [✓]Lint collecting around the outside vent flap — or the flap not opening when the dryer runs
• [✓]You can't remember the last time it was done

What a cleanout involves

Pull the dryer, disconnect the duct, brush and vacuum the full run to the exterior, clear the outside flap so it opens and closes freely, reconnect everything, and test the airflow. Twenty minutes to an hour depending on the run. Once a year is right for most homes — more often with a big family or pets.

A bonus you notice immediately: clothes dry faster, which also means the dryer stops working overtime.