Our laundry situation hasn’t always been the best. Our washer is in one room and our dryer is in another. Until recently sitting right next to our dryer was a weird, non-functional toilet. We’ve always thought about moving the washer in with the dryer, but that would require some plumbing work that we’re not really ready to undertake right now.
For now we’re tackling little projects and small victories. In this case, we’re improving our current set up and making it more efficient. Let’s start outside. Recently we started noticing lots of lint in the driveway. As it turns out, our dryer vent system needed a cleaning. This of course leads us from dryer vent cleaning to dryer vent improvement.
The old dryer vent hood on the outside of our house was in worse shape than I thought. When I took it off, I found that it was permanently held open by old lint and who knows what. This was a great opportunity to clean out the entire pipe system and replace the dryer vent hood.
This simple hood cost less than 10 bucks at Lowes, and only required some concrete screws and a little bit of silicone sealant.
For those of you reading this that aren’t familiar with wacky alternative ways to heat your home in the winter, you might not know about dryer heat diverters. For the un-initiated, it is a small device that goes inline with your dryer exhaust.
In theory this thing makes sense. In the winter time, flip the switch and divert all that wasted heat back into your home. In practice, you’re sending moist air back into your basement. I can understand the concept of wanting to use it like a heater and humidifier in one, but it makes us really uncomfortable. Moisture is something I don’t want in the basement ever, let alone in our utility room with our heater and hot water heater. This device was promptly removed once I figured out what it was.
To replace the heat diverter, I installed this draft blocker. This will prevent the cold air from coming in through the vent. Not that we had a problem with this or anything, but why not?
OK, so I’ll be the first to admit it, our utility room is far from luxurious. Keep in mind this is a work in progress. Our washing machine is still in the finished part of the basement. Now that the toilet is gone, maybe we’ll move it over there. The plumbing is there for it, sort of. It might need an upgrade. For now, I’ll take this small victory, of a slightly more efficient and practical laundry clothes dryer area.
Fresh Nest Blog 
Hi, Andrew—–This blog is so interesting I had to read it several times. First, I never heard of a Dryer Heat Diverter. It’s probably good you got rid of it. I’m glad you cleaned and replaced your dryer vent hood. Kudos to you–You are really on the job. It ain’t easy keeping house!!
Thanks for the kind words! We’re trying to do every little thing we can.
If you ever come across a dryer inverter, let us know. We’ll take care of it!
-Andrew