Dryer venting

[mithesaint]

I'm in the process of fixing up my dear wife's laundry room, and discovered the dryer vent is a huge source of air infiltration. The vent goes through a large hole in the drywall, larger than it needs to be. Does anyone know of any sort of interior trim plate or something similar to cut down the air infiltration? The hole appears to be 5" for a 4" vent.

Thanks.

 

[Highbeam]

There are plenty of trim ring type of things to put on your oversized hole in the sheetrock. Is air pouring in? If so then I would also be looking at the siding pentration. Should be sealed up tight.

 

[semipro]

Mike, unless your house is built with airtight drywall construction techniques, which are not common in the USA, the point of leakage you really need to address is at the outer shell (sheathing and infiltration/rain barrier).
I'm going to guess that you can only get access through the gap between drywall and vent. In that case I'd recommend you seal it with expanding foam. You probably ought to use the low expansion type made for doors and windows to prevent potential problems with over expansion and drywall bulging.
You'll need to seal against the outer sheathing first and may have to work around insulation to get there. As you fill gradually work backwards towards the drywall.

 

[greg13]

Use a section of 4" pipe through the wall to the outside and foam the area around it.

 

[mithesaint]

Highbeam - any idea what those are called? I searched around and found a bunch of kits to let me vent my dryer inside, which is obviously a terrible idea, but nothing resembling a ring to seal things up, or at least slow airflow down.

semipro - I'd love to address the problem at my sheathing and infiltration barrier...problem is that my house doesn't have either. My house was built (not by me) by the local el-cheapo building company. There is NO plywood sheathing. There is NO housewrap. The only thing resembling either is blue foam board, which they never bothered to even tape the seams. The air sealing is dismal. I don't really know how to attack the air sealing problem properly without tearing off the siding and starting over. In the meantime I'm left with making the drywall as airtight as possible.

When I was preparing for my pellet stove install, I opened up the drywall because I had to move a drain pipe. Cut the drywall out and ....SURPRISE...I was looking at blue board. Not only that, but I could see a bit of light. It was a sunny day, and there was light coming up from where the blue board met the foundation. Nice little breeze too. Ugh.

 

[maple1]

You don't have any sheathing, housewrap - or insulation in the cavity?

Holy drafty shoe box, Batman.

Is that company still in business?

Venting inside is not that terrible of an idea as long as you have a lint trap in place. Especially in the winter months - your indoor air must be very dry with all the leaks? And all the hot air your dryer is sending out through the wall has to be replaced by cold air that is being sucked in through your walls in other places. Mine is vented to my basement, has been for years. I might consider that at least temporarily for this winter - then maybe bite the bullet & pull all the siding off in the summer and do the big fix. I'm not understanding how water is not making its way into your walls & house?

 

[mithesaint]

There's fiberglass R-13 in the wall cavity. The blue foamboard is probably keeping the water out good enough. Between the fiberglass and the blueboard, it actually holds heat ok...if it's not windy. If the wind is blowing, all bets are off. Fortunately, NW Ohio has a moderate climate compared to most people on here. It's currently 16 degrees with a windchill of 2, which I would classify as being pretty cold. Not nearly as bad as Minnesota/Maine/Canada, etc.

The company is still in business, but I hate the way they do business. They have tons of options, and have the ability to build a decent house. They also will happily allow a homeowner to build much more cheaply and crappily than should be allowed. They have an advertisement on the local FSBO.com website where they will build a 1800 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath house for $116,500. Think that's a well built house?

I'd love to pull the siding down, but it's 16 years old and pretty faded. The windows are also 16 years old and poor quality. Some of them need replaced already. I think that sometime in the next 5-10 years I'm going to start fresh. Rip the siding down, tear the windows out, have it sheathed, wrapped, new windows, new siding etc. Do it once, do it right.

 

[woodgeek]

I need a trim ring for a 4" vent pipe too....sealed up tight, but haven't found a trim ring for trying.

 

[semipro]

There's fiberglass R-13 in the wall cavity. The blue foamboard is probably keeping the water out good enough. Between the fiberglass and the blueboard, it actually holds heat ok...if it's not windy. If the wind is blowing, all bets are off. Fortunately, NW Ohio has a moderate climate compared to most people on here. It's currently 16 degrees with a windchill of 2, which I would classify as being pretty cold. Not nearly as bad as Minnesota/Maine/Canada, etc.

The company is still in business, but I hate the way they do business. They have tons of options, and have the ability to build a decent house. They also will happily allow a homeowner to build much more cheaply and crappily than should be allowed. They have an advertisement on the local FSBO.com website where they will build a 1800 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath house for $116,500. Think that's a well built house?

I'd love to pull the siding down, but it's 16 years old and pretty faded. The windows are also 16 years old and poor quality. Some of them need replaced already. I think that sometime in the next 5-10 years I'm going to start fresh. Rip the siding down, tear the windows out, have it sheathed, wrapped, new windows, new siding etc. Do it once, do it right.

I understand your situation fully. My house has similar problems.
I still think you should target sealing at the point where the dryer vent goes through the blue foam.
At least the foam board was an attempt, albeit a poor one, to build an airtight shell. It doesn't seem likely any such attempt was made with the drywall.
Sealing at the drywall may make it look better but the air will just find another way through.

 

[Highbeam]

I'll look for a trim ring too, how big is the oversize? We talking a half inch? How good are you at mud and tape?

 

[semipro]

would this work?
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/2521554409928652200?q=4" trim collar&client=firefox-a&hs=l1S&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.58187178,d.cWc,pv.xjs.s.en_US.EeLgqkzqnSg.O&biw=1280&bih=935&tch=1&ech=1&psi=IjXDUtyIAabNsQT1ioGoDQ.1388524836356.3&ei=KTXDUqigGKazsQSM_oDwDQ&ved=0CPUBEKYrMAg

There seem to be lots of trim rings to fit 4" can lights that might work for you.
http://www.lightingdirect.com/elco-...!27796015889&gclid=CM6iyIC127sCFQ7xOgodNDEA7A

 

[gyrfalcon]

Venting inside is not that terrible of an idea as long as you have a lint trap in place. Especially in the winter months - your indoor air must be very dry with all the leaks? And all the hot air your dryer is sending out through the wall has to be replaced by cold air that is being sucked in through your walls in other places. Mine is vented to my basement, has been for years. I might consider that at least temporarily for this winter - then maybe bite the bullet & pull all the siding off in the summer and do the big fix. I'm not understanding how water is not making its way into your walls & house?

My dryer, in 1st floor bathroom, vents inside through a shoebox-sized container I fill with water periodically. Does a great job, no lint flying around or anything, and it's such a good humidifier, I sometimes do a load of laundry just because the winter air is so dry. Probably not a good idea if it's a large household and lots of laundry to do every day, but it works great for me.

 

[Highbeam]

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1273478&cp=2568443.2568452.2631243.2631512

Many of the vent kits come with an interior trim ring.

 

[semipro]

My dryer, in 1st floor bathroom, vents inside through a shoebox-sized container I fill with water periodically. Does a great job, no lint flying around or anything, and it's such a good humidifier, I sometimes do a load of laundry just because the winter air is so dry. Probably not a good idea if it's a large household and lots of laundry to do every day, but it works great for me.

This really works, the water trap?
Does it feature cyclonic separation or anything like that?
I thought of doing the same with a 5 gal. bucket but was convinced that lint would still make its way past.

 

[gyrfalcon]

This really works, the water trap?
Does it feature cyclonic separation or anything like that?
I thought of doing the same with a 5 gal. bucket but was convinced that lint would still make its way past.

Works a beaut. No lint, even when the contraption that holds the hose comes slightly askew from the water container. It does fog up the windows in the bathroom, and in more humid summer weather if I go on a laundry binge, sometimes the windows in the kitchen adjoining. But no lint ever.

I think the trick is to have the hose end above a pool of water, not actually in the water. I'd think you could do it easy by cutting a hole in the bucket lid you can stick the hose into. But I should emphasize that my set-up is in no way airtight. The lid of the water container is vented itself, and in any case, the little plastic doobie that's supposed to snap over the lid to hold it down was broken off before I ever got it, so it's never fit closely.

Futz around with it a bit when the wife's not home and you'll see what I mean. The air blows right into the water, which traps the lint nicely.

Cyclonic what? Whatever that means, it's nowhere near that complicated. Lint is forcefully blown onto the water, sticks to the surface, immediately becomes waterlogged and then sinks.