As the seasons shift from winter to spring, you’ll naturally notice the birds returning to your yard and looking for a safe place to build a nest. One of their favourite places to build one, believe it or not, is in the ventilation tube for your clothes dryer! This area is warm so it makes the perfect place to lay and incubate their eggs, and your dryer vent generally sits a couple feet off of the ground so it makes for a safe place from predators. Sounds cute and all, but this can actually be very dangerous for your home and family! Having anything stuck in a dryer vent can potentially cause issues, but a birds nest in there takes the cake. In this post we’ll talk about why this can be so dangerous, and how to remove the hazard and prevent it from happening to your home.
The dangers of birds nests in dryer vents
There are 2 main reasons why a bird in your dryer vent can be so dangerous. First, because the dry materials from the nest could get sucked into your dryer, creating a fire hazard. Second, it’s possible that the nest could clog the vent, causing a build up of carbon monoxide in your home.
Removing the nest from your dryer vent
If you suspect you might have a bird’s nest in your dryer vent, there are 2 ways to go about removing it. You can gently remove it yourself- if it is close to the front of the vent you can use kitchen tongs to gently grip it and remove. Or, you can call a professional pest removal company to remove it for you. Whichever option you choose, it is recommended to have a professional vent cleaning service pay you a visit afterwards, to ensure no loose particles remain, as they can still make their way to your dryer and present a fire hazard. Be careful, there may actually be restrictions when removing birds from certain locations.
How to protect your home from birds in dryer vents
Prevention of bird nests in dryer vents is actually very simple. You just need to install a vent cover that will prevent birds from entering the vent when it is not running, but still open when your dryer is running. You can pick this up from most hardware stores to install yourself, or contact a professional service to install it for you. If you do it yourself, just make sure to measure your dryer vent before you head to the store.
You wouldn’t think that a bird building a nest in your dryer vent would be a very big deal, but after reading this you can see that it can actually be quite dangerous! If you don’t have protective covers on your dryer vents, make sure you check them for any feathered friends, then look into getting a vent cover to protect your home.