Clothes Dryer Vent

Our Clothes Dryer (more DotCom Kitchen fun) has a strange venting-hose, and not sufficient clearance with the cabinets flush around the dryer. So, since you occasionally pull the dryer in/out when you have leaking issues, etc., you yank the vent-hose out. It lines up pretty well on its own, but that's leaving plenty of venting of hot air and lint back behind your cabinets. (Is that lint on my walls, rather than Kitchen Mold?)

The vent hose is running behind our cabinets (up to the soffett). So I had our handyman cut an access hole.

FlickR:Clothes DryerVent http://static.flickr.com/91/238673383_01eb7e0ccd_t.jpg

One tricky part was figuring out how to keep the square cut-out cabinet-back in place, since sawing obviously removes a chunk of material, leaving a non-snug fit. Ideas (DIY) I played with:

• clear tape? Will probably dry and peel.

• velcro on the stirs and square - too much thickness

• rubber cement, either on stirs, or just a blob globbed into a corner - afraid it will dry out and shrink

• screw in a little metal flap, like used in the back of some picture frames to hold the picture/mat/glass into the frame. Not sure where to get one (local art supply store?), and afraid that particle board can require fat ugly screws to get a grip, etc.

• put pairs of screws outside opposite corners and get some elastic string to pull across the corners. That would be 4 ugly screws.

• Wedge something in

  • paper? can be hard to get the thickness and width right, plus might compress more as it dries out.

  • plastic shim? I have such things from various projects, but getting the right thickness, without having anything sticking out into the cabinet smells like a challenge.

  • rubber sheeting! Thanks to the rubber supply place down on Canal St, I have some leftover rubber sheeting in black (our round living room table is covered with the world's largest coaster) and off-white (used under our table-top humidifiers). Cut some strips, and it worked.