Dryer Vent Inspection in Petaluma, CA

What a dryer vent inspection actually finds here

Petaluma housing stock splits the job in two. Postwar ranches have short runs: four to ten feet, garage wall or hall closet, often the original crimped metal. Two-story tract homes are the opposite. Twenty to thirty-five feet through the attic, three to five elbows, terminating at a roof cap.

Inspection starts at the termination, not the dryer. A wall hood flap that won't swing tells you most of the story. Roof caps get checked for nesting material and packed lint. Then a camera goes up the duct. We look for crushed flex behind the dryer, sagging foil, joints screwed together instead of taped. Screw tips inside a duct catch lint and build a dam.

Cold-side buildup is the pattern people miss. Where a run crosses an unconditioned attic or a north-facing exterior wall, moist exhaust condenses and lint pastes itself to the metal. That section clogs first. Vineyard and pasture dust plus wildfire-season ash load exterior hoods from the outside in.

Victorians with basement or back-porch retrofits usually need the foil replaced, not cleaned. Condos venting through a stacked chase often have no cleanout at all, which changes the approach.

Annually is right for most households. Every six to nine months for long upstairs runs, larger families, or homes on unpaved and agricultural edges.