It’s a beautiful Sunday morning. Your home smells like fresh coffee, sunlight streams through the windows, and birds chirp happily in the distance. You pause as the chirping grows louder, as if it’s right inside your kitchen! You open the sliding back door to investigate. Maybe a bird fell into your yard? Out of the corner of your eyes you see two birds fly from the dryer vent sticking out of the slant of your roof. Small bits of leaves and grass stick out of the vent as well. The metal vent door lays in the grass below it, bent and discarded. You are thoroughly shocked. But now that you come to think of it, your clothes have been taking an awfully long time to fully dry…
Signs of Bird Activity
Birds nesting in dryer vents might be more common than you realize. While most dryer vents have vent covers, sometimes they rust and fall off or get damaged by local wildlife, trying to find refuge and a place to nest. The fictional story above tells about the most obvious way to know you have birds in your dryer vents. You might be lucky enough to have a low positioned vent that you can visibly see the birds come out of and you might also hear chirping from various spots around your home.
Sometimes the signs are small and could be confused with other issues. Your clothes might come out of the dryer still damp after several rounds, a sign that your dryer is not ventilating or heating properly. There are several reasons why you should remove birds from your dryer vent, from fire hazards to health concerns and even the safety of the birds. Removing the nest can be as simple as that, but birds are creatures of habit and might keep coming back.
Risks of Birds in your Vents
With a large enough nest causing an almost complete blockage, your dryer system will begin working overtime to pump hot, dry air in, and kick debris and lint out. The struggle of doing this while blocked puts a strain on your entire system, jeopardizing its longevity and your safety. Bird nests in your dryer vent, made up of small sticks and leaves are highly flammable. Combine that with the hot air from your dryer, it can ignite like a match, causing a house fire.
Another risk of birds nesting in your dryer vent comes from the birds themselves. Some birds carry diseases like histoplasmosis or mites and worms. Damp nests might create mold growth as they interact with warm air. For people with allergies or other chronic respiratory conditions, compromised air flow in your home can quickly make your symptoms flare up. Even healthy people can suffer from poor air quality.
Why Professional Bird Removal Is the Safest Option
Hiring a professional service for removal is often the safest choice – for both you and the birds. You don’t want to risk getting injured or causing harm to birds or their eggs by dragging them out of the vent or blowing them out with a leafblower. Furthermore, you might accidentally push pieces of the nest down into your dryer vent, which can settle at the back of your dryer and increase the chances of a house fire. Reaching out to your local wildlife removal company will be the safest way to ensure the birds are safely relocated and can’t come back.
Like any other ductwork in your home, it’s good to have routine maintenance to keep them clean and properly functioning. Once the birds are removed, it’s a good idea to have your air duct technician come out to inspect and clean the vent out. This includes removing the nest, checking the vent connection to your dryer, air-flow testing to determine blockages, and examining the ductwork itself for claw marks and scratches that can harm its functionality.
Future Prevention
While living like Snow White might sound fun, the truth is that wildlife in your ductwork can cause a multitude of safety concerns. Once your dryer vent is bird-free and thoroughly inspected for damages, you can have your technician install special vent covers that birds can’t get through or break. These vent covers will do more than protect from birds, almost acting as a filter to prevent unwanted materials falling deeper into your ductwork. Continue with routine inspections and visually checking your vents yourself to ensure more birds don’t move in.
Unwelcome Guests No More!
At the end of the day, birds nest in your dryer vents because they are small, enclosed, and safe spaces to nest. Nests can block the airflow to your dryer, causing it to work overtime to run properly. Birds can pass unwanted diseases to people, especially if they fall into your vent, get stuck and don’t survive. While removing them is imperative to keep your home safe, we want to do right by the birds during removal. You should act quickly once you suspect you have birds in your vent, to keep the damage to a minimum and lower your risk for diseases or even a house fire. Professional wildlife technicians can properly relocate the birds and their eggs, while your air duct technician can inspect and secure your dryer vent to keep them out for good.
