Birds have been using our dryer vent as a nesting area. It runs from the floor to the ceiling, behind the wall, and emerges about 8 or 10 feet from the ground on the side of the house. I've used a 4.25 HP shop vac on it, sealed tightly at the vac hose end, and it still failed to blow out (remove) the blockage. I got my wife to observe the little flap outside the house while I tried to blow it out, and it did come open, but you could tell that obviously the vent was still majorly clogged. Nothing came out, in other words.
(the birds actually lifted the little flap thing with their beak and entered the pipe, I saw one of the little bastards doing it)
What's the best way to get this thing clean? I'm thinking that I'll have to get a ladder on the outside of the house and try to use some kind of thin hook type apparatus to snag the debris and attempt to pull it out. I'd have to remove the little hood thing that covers the end of the vent somehow, it looks like it's hooked on to the vinyl siding. I'm sure that'll be a pain in the ass. The 4.25 hp shop vac blows (and sucks) pretty hard, and since I had no luck with it I imagine that the vent is fairly packed with bird nest materials. Any ideas?
If I fail to clean it out myself, how much would something like this cost? 50, 100, maybe even 200 bucks? There's really no way to access it other than from either end. It has two 90 degree turns in it. Any help appreciated.