Before & After Photos

Sometimes the flaps on your dryer vent get dirty and don't close properly.  This allows all kinds of dirt and debris to get inside the dryer ductwork, including things brought in by vermin seeking a nice warm home.  That appears to be the case here, in this Lewes, DE home.  As you can see in the picture, in addition to the lint left behind by the dryer exhaust there are seeds and grass, which indicate mice, rats, or birds have been hanging out in this nice warm shelter.

Lawson Home Service's technician cleaned out the flex-ductwork and flap to improve the amount of airflow and ensure the unwelcome visitors did not return in the future to wreak havoc upon this unsuspecting homeowner. 

It happens all the time, "My dryer runs forever and my clothes never really get dry." The numbers in the picture may not make much sense. But look at the "Air velocity before cleaning - At termination with dryer on." The number is ZERO, meaning this Lewes, DE homeowner's dryer vent was clogged COMPLETELY SHUT.

Not only does that run your energy bill sky high, it creates a dangerous fire hazard.  The US Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that clogged dryer vents are responsible for more than 15,000 dryer fires each year.  
Don't be a dryer fire statistic. Call Lawson Home Services today to schedule your dryer duct clean out service. 

Lawson Home Services performs many useful services in Delaware, including the dryer vent clean out service we did at this Frankford, DE home. 

Keeping dryer vents clean is an essential thing that should be done in order to keep energy bills low, since the clothes dryer is the most expensive of all household appliances to operate. Moist lint sticks to the inside of the vent, over time restricting the airflow and increasing the amount of time it take for to dry the clothes. Lawson's technician will be in and out in a jiffy, and when he is done your dryer ducts will look brand new. 

So why not give us a call to schedule your clean out. While our technician is there he can also give you other ideas how Lawson Home Services can improve the comfort of your home and help lower your energy bills. 

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.