Lawson Home Services Before & After Photos

Energy costs for a dryer are the most expensive of all the appliances inside your home. Did you know that a clogged dryer vent can seriously decrease the efficiency of your clothes dryer and significantly drive up energy bills? It is the flow of warm air through the dryer that dries your wet clothes., and that moist air has to go somewhere - the dryer then exhausts it into the duct work which carries it outside the home. Each time you dry a load of clothes some of the wet lint gets past the screen inside your dryer (you know, the one you're supposed to clean after each load - you do that, right?). As this lint travels through the ducts it sticks to the inside. When this lint builds up the air flow through the duct can become so restricted your dryer might run for an hour or more and still your clothes might be damp. Simple enough to understand, right?

The dryer vent of this Dewey Beach, DE home was seriously clogged, which undoubtedly was causing the dryer to run much longer than necessary. As you can see from our before and after pictures, Lawson Home Services took care of the problem. 

Now the occupants of this home won't have to wait for hours for their clothes to get dry. "Ain't nobody got time for that." :-)

Home builders were just beginning to understand the harmful effects of moisture in crawlspaces back in 1985 when they installed overlapping plastic sheets directly onto the dirt crawlspace floor beneath this townhouse in Berlin, MD.  Their efforts, though well-intended, were not entirely effective.  Ground water water, which seeps into the dirt of the crawlspace, evaporates into water vapor, and then travels right around the edges of the thin plastic sheets.  That moisture is then absorbed by the wooden structure inside the crawlspace, somewhat like a sponge.  You may be surprised to learn the vents those builders installed in the foundation walls for the purpose of venting moisture out of crawlspaces actually provide one of the primary ways moisture gets into a crawlspace. This is especially true in warmest months here in the Mid-Atlantic region when the relative humidity of the outside air is most often above 80% (100% when it is raining). The recommended indoor relative humidity should be maintained between 45%-55%.  But that’s not the end.  The old methods of venting crawlspaces to allow outdoor air to circulate through the crawlspace results in another big problem, especially in Winter: cold floors.  

The owner of this home opened the access door to her crawlspace and noticed a foul, musty smell. When she looked up at the structure above the crawlspace, she discovered mold was growing, not only on the underside of the subfloor plywood, but on the wooden floor joists that supported it all.  She made a great decision to call Lawson Home Services.

You can see in the “Before” picture, what Lawson Home Service’s energy auditor saw when he opened the access door and went inside to inspect the crawlspace:  a cold, damp, nasty environment full of moldy wood, the perfect home for all kinds of creepy crawly things and the spiders who love to eat them.  Who wants to live in a place like that, knowing all the nastiness that is going on just inches below your feet?

Our production team had their work cut out for them before they could begin “encapsulating” the crawlspace. The first thing they did was remove the old plastic sheets and junk from the crawlspace. Next, they sprayed the wooden structure with Mold-X2, special, all-natural anti-microbial product which kills the mold and bacteria, cleans the stains off the wood, and removes the “musty” odor of mold. They sealed off the foundation vents from the inside. And finally, trenches were dug around the edges of the foundation for the drainage system.  Once the preparation was completed the team installed the following:

·      SmartSump™ and Hydrolink XG™ groundwater removal system

·      TerraBlock™ drainage mat and CleanSpace™ liquid water and water vapor barrier

·      Sedona SaniDry™ dehumidification equipment

·      Everlast™ Crawlspace access door

As you can see in the “After” picture, this crawlspace is now a nice white, clean, dry space.

Lawson Home Service's technician got a little surprise when he arrived to clean out the dryer ductwork in this Berlin, MD home.  The ductwork was completely missing and the dryer had been exhausting all the moisture and lint from the dryer directly into the crawlspace beneath this home.

We could write an entire chapter about the problems this creates for a homeowner.  Without going into a lot of details lets just throw out a few words to give you an idea:  rotting floors, mold, pests, bacteria,  poor indoor air quality, allergies, and chronic illness.  Sound bad? It is. 

Our technician installed new ductwork, including a flap and birdcage to prevent pests, vermin and birds from intruding. Now the moist air is exhausted to the outside where it should be. 

Did you know a clothes dryer uses more energy than any other household appliance? That's why it's important to keep it running as efficiently as possible. Keeping the dryer duct clean is the most important thing you can do to ensure your dryer is running as efficiently as possible.

A dryer works by moving hot air over your clothes, causing the moisture to evaporate. That moist air is then blown out of the dryer and through the ductwork where it is exhausted outside the home. If too much lint accumulates in the ductwork the airstream is restricted and the dryer cannot operated efficiently.

Look at this dirty lint filled dryer duct in this Clarksville, DE home. The airstream in this ductwork was restricted to 7 miles per hour. Look how bright and shiny it was when Lawson Home Service's technician finished cleaning it.  The airstream in this clean ductwork now moves twice as fast, 16 miles per hour, which translates into big energy savings for the home owner. 

Did you know a clothes dryer is the most costly appliance to use in your home? That is because clothes dryers use large amounts of energy to generate the heat necessary for  drying wet clothes, heat that must then be expelled through the vents which carry the moisture outside the house.  Therefore it's critically important to keep dryer vent hoses clean and clear, since the faster the air can move through the vent line the quicker clothes dry, saving energy and money. Clogged dryer vents not only waste money, but create a dangerous fire hazard as well.

This homeowner in Ocean View, DE was aware of this and called Lawson Home Services to perform a dryer vent clean out. This service doesn't take long to perform and the cost savings far outweigh the cost of the service. Just look at the difference. After cleaning this vent looks like it was just installed brand new.

Your clothes dryer seem to be taking a long time to get your clothes dry? Then call Lawson Home Services today to schedule a dryer vent clean out.