Seems like this dryer vent is a “cut-and-dryer” case of what were they thimkin?!
As anyone that regularly reads my posts knows–I love standing seam metal roofs. Inspecting them is difficult if they are steep, but because a fair amount of skill is necessary to install them, they usually don’t have a lot of issues that are not going to be apparent from the eaves–assuming you can get to the eaves. I was able to get to the eaves at two locations on this duplex, and overall the roof looked great.
The pitch is 7/12–not an exactly friendly pitch for an asphalt roof–and certainly not for a steel roof. A slippery slide at the playground is not much steeper than this–some are less steep. Add to that, that it was raining at the time of inspection, guaranteed that I would not be venturing onto the roof. From the eave I did note one thing on this 5 year old home.
The dryer exhaust cap.
How is anyone going to do routine maintenance on this vent cap? While the installation meets code requirements, I still find the installation seriously lacking.
Even with the best filter/screens in dryers, these caps will eventually plug with lint. Cleaning at least a couple of times a year is typically necessary–but at least there was no screen in this cap like is so often the case.
The “close-up” of the cap shows a fair amount of lint building up inside the cap–who can tell whether the flap opens properly or not?
I have no clue as to a viable solution to this problem, when the dryer is not located on an outside wall of the home–but surely some solution is warranted. If no other route for the exhaust can be found, then establishing a maintenance program with someone trained and qualified to be on this type of roof a couple of times a year may be warranted.
Perhaps it is time to make an adjustment to the codes–and/or good sense.
By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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Amen. I completely agree.
For years I have been railing against dryer vents on roofs – hard to see, hard to clean and very close to the roof surface so snow clogs them easily. But this one is even more in its danger due to roof slope, as you point out.