Roof Dryer Vents

Look outside for a vent cap near your dryer's side of the house. If there is no 4-inch cap on any exterior wall and your laundry is on an upper floor or an interior wall, look at the roof for a small hooded cap, usually gray or black. During booking we show animated pictures of both so you can pick.

Hot moist air has to travel straight up, and lint falls back down when the dryer stops, so lint stacks at the bottom elbow and mats against the cap screen at the top. Roof caps also have a damper or screen that catches lint and is rarely inspected because no one goes on the roof.

Yes, when roof pitch and weather allow. We clear the cap, remove any screen or nest, and run the brush down from the top while vacuuming at the dryer. On very steep or icy roofs we clean from inside with an extended rod system and inspect the cap with a camera.

Yes. We clean from inside the home with an extended brush system and verify flow at the cap. If the roof is safe to walk we clear the cap from above; if it is iced, we schedule a quick free follow-up visit to check the cap when it melts.

It is allowed by code and common in two-story homes, but it is the highest-maintenance vent type. We recommend cleaning roof vents every 6–12 months and replacing screened caps with a louvered dryer-specific cap.

A dryer-specific roof cap with a large hood, a free-swinging damper, and no screen. Screens trap lint. We can install a pest-resistant cap for $89 that keeps birds out without blocking lint.

Sometimes. If the laundry room shares an exterior wall, rerouting to a wall vent shortens the run and eliminates roof clogs. We can assess feasibility during the cleaning; rerouting itself is a separate HVAC or handyman job.

Warm moist exhaust meets freezing air at the cap and condenses. Some frost is normal in a Minnesota January. Heavy ice buildup means slow airflow is letting the moisture linger, which points to a partial clog.

For pricing we treat soffit vents like wall vents ($139) when they are reachable from a standard ladder. Soffit vents often have the same screened-cap problem as roof vents, so we check and clear the cap every time.

Usually 10–25 feet vertically from a second-floor laundry room through the attic to the roof. Longer runs with offsets in the attic collect more lint at each turn.