Chatham Chatlist Highlights

Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 18:37:38 -0400
From: Patrick Inman
Subject: Recommendations for someone to replace dryer vent through basement?

We own a half duplex near Cole Park. The W/D hookup is in a large closet in the kitchen with interior walls. The original dryer vent simply dumped into the crawl space–which is a recipe for mold. The first repair person we hired installed floppy metal ducting through the crawl space to the back wall–it sagged and clogged and did not work. The second attempt used rigid heavy PVC pipe. It also clogs.

We’d like to hire someone to re-do the hole through the floor and the piping so that it:

– is up to code (galvanized metal seems to be required, according to several sources)
– avoids multiple sharp bends
–slopes appropriately
– and vents outside.

If there is a need to periodically clean out the system or clean a filter, we’d like that to be easy to do.

Any recommendations? Our heat pump company and a very good handyman who has done other work for us said to find a small HVAC company, that this is too small a job for the big firms. Just today I’ve seen three recommendations for other HVAC work: Kim Birmingham of Birmingham Mechanical (by Clay Revels), Barry Horton at B&T HVAC (by Ed Williams), and Burton T. Moore (by Susan Turner). Does this sound like the sort of job one of them would handle well? Or can you suggest someone else?

Thanks,

Pat Inman