Laundry room remodel - moving dryer vent

[Andrew.B.Jones]

My wife and I are planning a remodel of our laundry room. Currently, the refrigerator is placed in a doorway between the kitchen and laundry room (previous owners - don't ask me). The dryer sits behind the refrigerator against the outside wall, with the vent directly behind that. Due to some exposed plumbing from an earlier remodel, we plan to move the wall with the doorway in it (and ditch the doorway) by 6". We also want to move the dryer so that it can sit next to the washer instead of the awkward arrangement it's in currently. (ie: It will sit where the refrigerator is currently - sans the doorway)

Now for the real question. Our house has new vinyl siding on it. Moving the dryer vent on the outside of the house seems like it would be fairly expensive due to the patching that would need to be done (correct me if I'm wrong) so we want to use the existing vent on the outside. Is there any way to route the vent through the wall to sit next to the new dryer location? We want to avoid a metal vent running along the wall if at all possible, since that negates a fair part of why we're doing the remodel in the first place. Does anybody have a creative solution?

[trader4]

terms of where the existing hole is and where the new location is. However, I can give you one bit of good news. If you have new siding, that is a plus. Because to close the old hole and replace vinyl siding over it really isn't that difficult or expensive. Most important is getting some siding material that is an exact match. If it's new, that should be easy. In the case of older siding, if the patch area is highly visible, you can remove a piece of siding from a location that is hidden by bushes, etc, and use that for the repair. Then you replace the taken material with the new, where the match isn't as critical.

First choice would of course be to just use dryer hose to the existing vent. But if that isn't practical, closing off the hole and taking care of the vinyl siding is not a big deal. The siding portion of the work is maybe a couple hours.

[Andrew.B.Jones]

Sorry for the poor description. The back wall to the current laundry room is approx (I'm at work and don't have the measurements with me)

10' across. The dryer currently sits in the middle of that exterior wall, with the vent directly behind it. We want to turn the dryer and move it against the left wall in the room, but we really don't want a 6' easily visible dryer hose running along that wall. I can put up some sketchup files of the existing room and what we want it to look like. We may run into a problem with moving the dryer vent on the outside, since that may place it too close to our deck.

[charlie]

what is above or below it? can you go into the attic or basement, across to the wall, then down (or up) to the existing vent inside the wall? you can get smooth metal ducts that fit inside a stud cavity. you may have to put in a power vent assist if it's too far or too many bends. rtfm for your dryer; it should state how far and how many bends it can push through.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You don't have a lot of choices. You want to keep the run as straight as possible, You may be able to run the vent along the floor, less visible. You may be able to go into the wall, up and over, but that is fraught with potential problems in installation and maintenance. You want to be able to get to the vent pipe at some point, be it a month or ten years from now.

I'd start thinking about decorative soffits to hide hte vent and be able to have it removable or at least accessible if you ever have to replace the vent pipe.

[RayV]

Not creative solution but an easy cheap one.

Take off the necessary piece(s) of vynil siding.

(It is even easier than shown after you do it once) Cut your new hole for the dryer vent avoiding studs, HVAC ducts, wiring, plumbing or anything else inside the wall. Patch the hole in the exterior plywood and on the inside like this or similar would just caulk around the patch on the outside and repair any vapor barrier) Pop in and nail you new piece(s) of siding and nail.

A hole saw for the new hole would make it easier but isn't necessary. Job would take a carpenter/handyman about two hours if he took a break.

Don't worry about the vent being too close to the deck you can get dryer vents that can be angled so they shoot away from the deck.

[Andrew.B.Jones]

The house is a single-level with a crawl space. I also have access to the attic. We'll be tearing out the drywall on that outside wall anyway, so rerouting the duct wouldn't be a problem. My main concern there would be that it would require 4 90 degree bends (down to crawlspace, over to wall, up into wall, outside). It may be best just to move the vent... I'll check at home.

[hallerb]

the shorter the run the faster clothes dry, the less energy used, and for long runs leave clean out ability./

might be better to move washer to dryer location.......

[Andrew.B.Jones]

I had considered that. The problem there is that the breaker box is to the left of the dryer. Moving the washer to the other side would require adding a drain and running water lines. I think that it will be much easier to just move the dryer vent.

[<aemeijers]

Just put in a new vent, and plug the existing vent with sheet metal under the flipper cap. Nobody will notice or care. You can alway put a bush or larger potted plant in front of it. Like the other guy said, changing out that stick of siding isn&#39;t a big deal, if it bugs you and you can get matching material. I&#39;ve even seen it faked with the aluminum tape used for quick&#39;n&#39;dirty auto body repair, and paint to match. (Probably wouldn&#39;t work on textured siding.)

aem sends...

[HeyBub]

Why not vent straight down into the crawl space?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

With an elbow to then bring it outside. You don&#39;t want the dryer pouring damp air into the crawlspace itself.

[Andrew.B.Jones]

it outside. You don&#39;t want the dryer pouring

Exactly - venting into the crawlspace would add a lot of dampness down there. Dampness encourages mold growth, rot, and a number of other things I really don&#39;t want.

[MRS. CLEAN]

HeyBub is always refreshing. I like the way you think.

crawl space?