Whole-system duct and dryer vent check with before-and-after photos - you see exactly what came out of your vents
That "$99 whole-house special" is a bait ad - the real number appears once they are in your hallway, or the "clean" is a shop-vac at the register. We photograph the inside of your ducts before and after instead.
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AfterFast, Reliable Dryer Vent Cleaning Across Somerville
Dryer vent cleaning in Somerville typically costs $149 – $249 for a single-family home with a standard vent run, and $189 – $329 for a two- or three-family with a longer, elbow-heavy basement run. Most jobs take 60 – 90 minutes once our technician arrives. That’s the honest answer, and every job comes with a written price before we touch a single duct, plus before-and-after photos of your own vent so you can see exactly what was cleared. If you live in a Somerville three-decker or a condo near Davis Square, you already know the dryer takes forever and the trap fills fast. Call (737) 727-2314 and we’ll get you on the schedule.
We’re Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning, part of the Relay Home Co. family, founded 2005. Our crews know Somerville’s housing stock inside and out because we work these streets every week: Winter Hill, East Somerville, Prospect Hill, Magoun Square, and everywhere between Broadway and Highland Avenue. We know what a basement run through a fieldstone foundation does to airflow, and we know what to do about it.
Why Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning Is Somerville’s Preferred Dryer Vent Cleaning Company
Somerville homeowners call us because we treat dryer vent cleaning like the fire-safety job it is, not a quick upsell. Our Dryer Vent Cleaning team runs professional-grade equipment and documents every job. We don’t guess at what’s inside your vent. We put a Nikro camera down the run and show you what we found.
Every job is backed by our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the work isn’t right within a full year, we return and correct it at no charge. That’s not a marketing line. It’s written into every invoice, and it covers every booking without exception.
Omar Haddad leads our team, and he holds every tech to one standard: a written price before work starts, a live trackable arrival window, and photo proof when the job is done. That’s The Relay Standard, and it’s how we operate in Somerville and every city we serve. When you book, you’ll know your technician’s name before they knock.
We answer the phone 24/7 with a live person. Not a voicemail loop. Not a callback tomorrow. If you call at 9pm from your East Somerville condo because the dryer won’t finish a cycle, you’ll get a human on the line and a real answer about next steps.
Dryer Vent Cleaning Service in Somerville
A Dryer Vent Cleaning Service in Somerville starts with a camera inspection of the full run from the dryer to the exterior termination, then we clean the entire length using a Rotobrush rotary agitation system paired with negative-pressure extraction, meaning the loosened lint goes straight into the vacuum, not back into your laundry room. The price includes the inspection, the cleaning, and photo documentation of the completed run.
Somerville homes need this work more often than suburbs like Medford or Cambridge because the housing stock is older and denser. Wood-frame three-deckers from the 1890s through the 1930s dominate whole blocks, and their dryer runs were often retrofitted, not designed. That means sharp elbows, long horizontal stretches, and terminations at awkward interior or shared walls.
What the job actually involves
We access the dryer, disconnect it, and run a camera through the vent to find blockages. Then we agitate the lint with a rotary brush while a HEPA-filtered vacuum pulls debris out under negative pressure. We finish at the exterior termination to confirm full airflow, then photograph the before and after so you see the difference yourself.
When to schedule it
If a full dry cycle takes longer than about 45 minutes, if the trap fills after every load, or if the exterior flapper barely moves when the dryer runs, the vent needs cleaning. Somerville’s long basement runs mean lint compacts hard at the elbows, not just at the trap. Most Somerville homes should be cleaned every 12 – 24 months depending on household size and pet hair.
Dryer Vent Installation in Somerville
A Dryer Vent Installation in Somerville means replacing or rerouting an existing vent run that’s unsafe, blocked beyond cleaning, or too long for code. A typical full replacement in Somerville runs $289 – $429 for a standard short run, and $429 – $729 when our techs need to reroute a long basement or interior-wall run with rigid metal ducting and a proper exterior cap.
Many Somerville homes have runs that should never have been built the way they were. Flexible foil or plastic ducting stuffed behind a wall, runs longer than 25 feet with no booster fan, terminations dumping into a crawl space. We replace all of that with rigid metal ducting, correct slope, and a wall cap that actually seals when the dryer isn’t running.
Rerouting a bad run
When a vent run is too long or has too many elbows to clean effectively, we reroute it. We map the shortest legal path, install smooth rigid ducting with elbows that don’t trap lint, and terminate at an exterior wall with a proper cap. Every installation includes our written guarantee and the 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Bird guards and caps
Somerville’s dense neighborhoods mean birds and squirrels are constantly looking for a warm, safe opening. A bird’s nest inside a dryer vent is a serious fire hazard. We install bird guards and replacement caps as part of most installations, and as a standalone service when the existing cap is damaged or missing.
Trusted Brands We Service in Somerville
We work on every major dryer brand you’ll find in Somerville homes: Whirlpool, Maytag, LG, Samsung, GE, Electrolux, Speed Queen, Kenmore, and more. Our trucks carry the parts we most often need for local jobs, including common vent caps, guards, and rigid ducting. When we do need something specific, our parts network gets it to Somerville fast, usually same week.
We run our own professional-grade equipment, including Nikro HEPA-filtered vacuums and Rotobrush rotary cleaning systems. If your current dryer vent was installed with flexible foil or vinyl, plan on replacing it with rigid metal, which is what code requires and what we install on every job.
Common Dryer Vent Cleaning Problems We See in Somerville Homes
- Deep blockages hidden in basement elbows. On a Highland Avenue three-family near Davis Square, our tech pulled a Nikro camera through a second-floor dryer vent and found the run reduced to a pencil-thin opening at the first elbow. Years of lint had packed behind a run that a homeowner had vacuumed only at the trap. We set up negative pressure with HEPA filtration, worked the blockage loose with agitation tools, and photographed the before-and-after of that homeowner’s own duct before we left.
- Shared wall terminations that no one can reach. Many Somerville two- and three-family homes vent a second-floor dryer through a shared interior wall, with a flapper cap mounted high on a wooden exterior. Those caps clog and seize without anyone noticing, because the lint backing up is invisible until the dryer fails.
- Long retrofit runs that never met code. Homeowners in East Somerville and Winter Hill often find their vent run was added decades ago with the wrong material. Flexible foil ducting is flammable, traps lint, and violates current building code. We see it constantly.
- Floor-level terminations buried by snow or landscaping. Some Somerville basements terminate at ground level, where winter snow or a partially buried cap blocks airflow entirely. A clogged exterior cap is the simplest and most common cause of a dryer that suddenly takes two cycles to dry a load.
Pricing for Dryer Vent Cleaning in Somerville, MA
A standard Dryer Vent Cleaning in Somerville runs $149 – $249 on a single-family home with a straight sidewall run. Longer basement runs, second-floor runs through shared walls, or three-decker configurations run $189 – $329. That’s the whole-system price. We don’t charge per vent, we don’t add a surprise line item, and we don’t quote one price on the phone and another at your door.
What affects the cost is the run’s length, number of elbows, and access difficulty. We write the price before any work starts and it doesn’t change. Every quote is free. Call (737) 727-2314 and we’ll talk through your specific setup, give you a real number, and book the visit.
We Also Serve Cities Near Somerville
Beyond our work in Somerville, our team covers Cambridge, Medford, Boston, and Everett. If you’re on the Charlestown line or across the Mystic in Medford, we’ll bring the same written price, photo proof, and 365-Day Promise across the bridge. We serve all of these communities from our Somerville area scheduling.
Serving Somerville, MA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Somerville area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Dryer Vent Cleaning in Somerville
We clean the entire run from the dryer connection to the exterior cap using a rotor brush and negative-pressure extraction, even when the run spans 25 feet or more with multiple elbows. For runs over roughly 25 feet, we recommend installing a booster fan to maintain proper airflow, and we can do that as part of the same visit. Call (737) 727-2314 and we’ll assess your specific run and give you a written quote before any work begins.
Most Somerville homes should have the dryer vent cleaned every 12 to 24 months. Homes with multiple occupants, pets, or long basement runs like those in Winter Hill and East Somerville tend to need it closer to every 12 months. If your dryer takes longer than 45 minutes to dry a normal load, or the exterior flapper isn’t opening, schedule a cleaning sooner. We’ll camera-inspect the run and tell you honestly whether it needs work.
We charge one flat price per system, agreed in writing before the work starts. There’s no per-vent pricing, no add-on once we arrive, and no surprise invoice at the end. The only thing that changes the price is the actual length and configuration of your vent run, which we confirm with a camera inspection as part of the quote. Call (737) 727-2314 for a free estimate specific to your home.
Yes. Every Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning job includes before-and-after photographs of your own vent run, taken with our inspection camera. You’ll see the blockage we started with and the clear run we finished with. That’s part of The Relay Standard, and it’s non-negotiable. No photos, no claim.
Yes, we install and reroute dryer vents every week in Somerville. If your current run uses flexible foil or vinyl ducting, or if it’s too long for effective cleaning, we’ll replace it with rigid metal ducting, add an exterior cap, and rebalance the path so it meets building code. Installations are backed by our written guarantee and the 365-Day Done Right Promise. Call (737) 727-2314 to schedule an inspection and get a written price before any work begins.
Call (737) 727-2314 for a free estimate on dryer vent cleaning in Somerville. We answer live, we quote honestly, and we show you the proof when the job is done.
Written by Omar Haddad, Owner at Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning, serving Somerville, MA.