Question: Who ya gonna call?

[arib]

So, here's a minor house problem I've had lately, surrounding the washer/dryer.

See, the dryer connects to a weird looking metal thing that's supposed to vent all of the hot, damp air to the outside.

However, the metal thing's kinda loose, and won't stay connected to the hole in the wall, so the hot air vents directly into the narrow washer/dryer nook thing. Thus, we've got water on the walls, and it's starting to affect the paint.

So, who do I call? plumber? carpenter? Sears?

Comments

who you gonna call?

[cathi-eirye.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Lifts hand in response to question... How about yourself? This one is easy - get yourself down to Canadian Tire or Home Despot or Home Hardware or the like and buy the infamous Duct Tape. No really! This is duct tape at its finest, taping ducts! This is what you need to fix this. Crimp the vent hose (the round metal thingme that is ruining your life) so it is kind of snug around the exhaust pipe to the great outdoors then duct tape it like crazy around and around and you are all set. Soon you will be smelling the delightful smell of freshly drying laundry outside instead of inside.

It's not for nothing I survived on my own for so long, lol.

Cathi

Re: who you gonna call?

[arib.livejournal.com]

I've tried that, and have hit on a few problems:

The exhaust pipe's bigger than the vent hose, so it won't crimp well. The exhaust pipe connects to this weird metal rectangle thing that connects to the hole in the wall. The rectangle doesn't quite sit on the hole right.

Also, duct tape's not so great for fixing ducts. Hot air makes the glue on the tape get mushy and loose.

Re: who you gonna call?

[cathi-eirye.livejournal.com]

Hmm. That's not good. You could get mice and cold air and stuff. My thought on this would be to try to get the hose into the vent instead of the other way around - also you can get connectors that are bigger on one end than the other (a 4" to 3" for instance). Duct tape will work on this because the outside is cool - the heat goes on the inside of the vent, the outside should be fine. Also, metal strips with the screws in them (not sure what they are called) that you wrap around and tighten would work but maybe not in your case.

Perhaps like the previous poster said, when all else fails, call a general handyman.

Good luck!

Cathi