Sunday afternoon at our house is usually pretty calm and almost always consists of me doing laundry. This past weekend was no different. I was working on my second load of clothes when I noticed the dryer just wasn't drying. Being the nerds that we are, I ran downstairs to check the inside and outside humidity level thinking it could be the culprit for the slow drying time. I was perplexed when I read that it was hovering around 48-50% (pretty low for around here - and normal for April). Hmmm. I checked the lint trap again - empty. I unloaded 1/2 the clothes and attempted another drying cycle. 45 minutes later - Damp clothes! It took 4 cycles to mostly dry a medium sized load. Perplexed!
So yesterday afternoon I had to work on laundry again since I couldn't finish it as I normally do on Sundays. This time I pulled out our new fancy vacuum and sucked every nook & cranny I could until my dust cup was FULL of lint. Wow. I was impressed. Although I really shouldn't be since this was the first time I had throughly cleaned out the lint collection area since purchasing the thing back in 2002. I was positive I had solved my problem so I threw in my recently washed load and promptly starting washing another. I felt all warm and smart. I was...WRONG WRONG WRONG! The dryer still didn't dry! UGH! What are we going to do!? We don't want to buy a new dryer because then the washer wouldn't match and we'd have to get a new set and haul them up/down the stairs and then I'd want one of those new fancy front loaders, in blue of course, that cost more than my college tuition... it was not looking good.
At this point is was 8:30pm. I had wet clothes in the washer and damp clothes in the dryer. In between my ranting and raving over a sink full of dishes, Paul had an idea! DING! He walked outside with a flashlight and checked the exterior dryer vent (which is conveniently located on the 2nd story on the highest side of the house). DING DING DING! We've got a problem and hopefully a solution to our dryer issue! Can you guess?
About a half hour later, Paul returned from Home Depot with a 24 foot ladder. TWENTY FOUR FEET. Yes. We are insane. Thankfully he did 'shop around' and got a better deal at the Home Depot - Lowes wanted $35 more for the exact same thing (I would have paid it b/c I just love Lowes - they are all clean and pretty and helpful)!
A rough visual of the location of the vent (since I'm all about the visuals) -
(photo from the lovely county tax website so I don't have a photo from this angle and it was easy to snatch)
Picture this: it's dark, windy and we're wrangling a 24 foot ladder up the side of the house to remove a bird's nest. A HUGE, thick, fluffy birds nest, IN the D*A*R*K. Thankfully our lower neighbors spotted Paul with the MASSIVE ladder and came to my aid in holding the darn thing steady while Paul climbed up and dug out the nest. There were a couple of scary moments - especially when the frightened, angry bird came flying out straight at Paul's head!
So, that was our Monday evening.
2 loads of laundry done
$100 spent on 24 ft ladder we have no room to store
1 bird's nest removed
Ahh, the joys of homeownership! Best wishes to all of you who are looking/buying your first home! It's so much fun (and so much work)! :)
