No, I did not hire a maid. Though the thought is tempting . . .
A few posts ago, I mentioned how much I despised doing laundry. It drove me nuts. Piles and piles, everywhere. A few people agreed with me that laundry stinks, and others told me to
"just do it".
I was good with "just doing it" but it seemed like such a consuming task.
I mean overly consuming -- not normal.
Little did I know that I actually had a REAL PROBLEM. You see, I thought it was normal to have to run your clothes through the dryer more than once, always twice, sometimes three times. For the last 3 years I have had to do that, and my clothes would still not totally dry. Hence, laundry took FOREVER and (3 cycles instead of 1) made me really loathe laundry.
The Dryer.
Breath-in, breath-out . . . Shudder.
Recently, it was getting worse. I was on to drying clothes in a 4th cycle. I thought maybe my dryer was dying, but my dryer still got warm, even hot. Often the clothes would come out stinky and musty-smelling.
And then it dawned on me that maybe it was deeper than the dryer. Maybe it was THE DRYER VENT. Not the little vent on the actual dryer -- which I clean out faithfully -- but the vent that runs through the house.
I was right.
I called a professional vent cleaner. He came, he cleaned my vents AND the inside of my dryer. Apparently, I had an air-flow hole about the size of a quarter. He said something about the flow being about 5 miles per hour (which is horrid) and after he cleaned it -- 45 mph!!
Talk about an extreme fire hazard.
(I have seen lint catch on fire before in an apartment building,
and it is NOT pretty!) The vent-guy probably saved our home!
And at the very least, my sanity . . .
Guess what?
It is a MIRACLE!!!
MY DRYER DRIES ON THE FIRST CYCLE!!!
AMAZING!
I shrieked with joy as I pulled out my first DRY LAUNDRY after only 1 cycle!!!
Oh Happy Day!
Now, I smile instead of shudder when I walk into the laundry room.
Laundry is almost enjoyable!
Almost.
But that is progress!
Don't forget to clean those dryer vents. It changed my life!
HALLELUJAH!
ReplyDeleteWow! Good to know. How much did it cost to have the guy come out and clean, and how much did he do?
ReplyDeleteBecky, it cost a ridiculous amount, $250. Ouch! But it was a HAD to do thing. The dryer basically stopped working. The lint build-up was a HUGE hazard, too.
ReplyDeleteThe guy sucked all the lint out from inside the laundry room vent (behind the dryer) and then he went on our roof and sucked it out/cleaned it out. He went in our crawl space to check things out in there, too. He also opened the dryer and cleaned out the lint build-up that was deep inside the machine.
I was kind of shocked at the price, BUT it was WORTH IT!!! I thought I needed a new dryer, but if I had bought a new dryer, that would not have worked either, because of the clogged vents.
It is like night and day. From not drying at all, leaving clothes stinking and wet -- to drying really well and clothes not stinky. It has made ALL the difference!
Now if only someone would fold the laundry . . . :-)
too bad you paid that much...the guy that did mine a month ago charge $50...wish we could have had this conversation before!!!
ReplyDeleteErin, I will be getting in touch with you about that price gap . . .
ReplyDeleteJust so you know . . . Holden and I had different services done, hence the different prices. :-)
ReplyDeletedid the service guy say how often you're suppose to have the vents cleaned out? We've lived here 4 years now and have never had that done. Our dryer is drying perfectly fine after one 45 min cycle. It's pretty powerful, but I want to make sure I don't have a fire hazard.
ReplyDeletelove
Kary
PS. the money jar and candy jar I put in the laundry room are helping my attitude about laundry (sort of) : )
Kary, the vent-dude said annually is ideal, but every-other year, at least. I would think with your home being made of logs, you may want to consider sucking out the crud. Even though your dryer works fine, you probably still have some decent build-up. I am no professional, just guessing! I seriously never thought about vent-cleaning before! Maybe there is someone in your ward who could do it??
ReplyDelete