Starlings excluded from Spring Lake, NJ dryer vent.

This homeowner from Spring Lake, NJ had starlings roosting in her dryer vent. Starlings are one of the more common nuisance birds that we regularly deal with, right up there with pigeons, sparrows, seagulls, and Canada geese. While all of these birds are a nuisance, sparrows are one of the most destructive. They can form exceptionally large flocks that can number in the thousands, ravishing crops and spreading disease with their toxic droppings containing many dangerous pathogens. They also compete for nesting cavities, ousting and killing our original native birds, and destroying their eggs and young.

For homeowners, it is quite common to find birds building nests inside dryer vents because of the heat. Unfortunately, with the nesting materials building up inside the vent, it is a serious fire hazard. Before these birds could get established in the spring, we wanted to nip the problem in the bud by excluding them and making sure that they would be sealed out for good.

We opted to go with The Defender vent cover for the dryer vent. Constructed of thick-gauge zinc-coated powder-coated steel, these USA-made covers are built to last. Also, its vertical bars are tailor-made for dryers because they minimize lint buildup (another major dryer fire hazard) while, at the same time, keeping out critters, especially birds and squirrels. From our experience, these dryer vents require cleaning far less often than with other vent covers that tend to accumulate lint because of their design. we also cleaned and sanitized the dryer duct before sealing.

When this job was completed, there was no indication that there once was a bird infestation. This homeowner was left with an aesthetically pleasing vent cover that's will last indefinitely, but is still a snap to remove for periodic vent cleaning.