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 San Francisco
Dryer vent cleaning in San Francisco typically runs $150 – $280 for a standard single-family vent run, with most jobs completed in under two hours. We dispatch from our San Francisco Bay Area office and serve homes from the Sunset to the Richmond, Bernal Heights to the Mission, and everywhere the fog rolls in thick.
San Francisco’s cool, damp marine layer does something to dryer lint that inland homeowners rarely see. The salt-heavy fog that drifts through the Avenues doesn’t just make your windows streak; it turns fluffy lint into a dense, crusty mass inside your vent run. That crust traps moisture, corrodes galvanized steel, and creates the exact conditions where dryer fires start. We’re Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, part of the Garrison Partners family since 2004, and our Dryer Vent Cleaning crew knows the difference between a vent that looks clean and one that actually is. Call (361) 326-5060 for a free estimate.
Why Hollis Air Duct Cleaning Is San Francisco’s Preferred Dryer Vent Cleaning Company
We’ve been working in San Francisco long enough to know that a dryer vent here is not the same machine as a dryer vent in Sacramento or San Jose. The pre-war housing stock, the shared wall chases, the original Edwardian siding that hides rotted vent hoods – these are daily realities for our technicians, not exceptions.
Our customers in San Francisco tell us the same story: the last crew fogged their ducts with a “sanitizer,” charged them for the privilege, and the dryer still took three cycles to finish a load. That’s because fogging doesn’t remove lint. It perfumes it. Hollis operates under The Garrison Standard: written price before any work starts, background-checked and uniformed technicians, and a 365-Day Done Right Promise that covers every job in writing. If the work fails within a year, we come back and make it right at no charge, including a free second visit.
Phones are answered by a live person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No voicemail loops. No callback queues. When you’re staring at a dryer that won’t dry and wondering if it’s safe to run another load, that matters.
Dryer Vent Installation in San Francisco
Dryer Vent Installation in San Francisco often means correcting decades of improvised routing through uninsulated wall chases, shared light wells, and structural cavities that were never designed for mechanical ventilation. A proper installation here starts with understanding the building envelope, not just connecting two points with flex pipe.
Most San Francisco homes we see were built before modern dryer vent codes existed. The original vent run might be galvanized steel crushed behind lath-and-plaster, or a flexible duct jammed through a floor joist cavity that also serves as a gravity-furnace return path. Neither is safe. Neither is efficient. Our crews map the full pathway with camera inspection, then install code-compliant rigid or semi-rigid metal ducting with proper slope, support, and termination.
When Installation Becomes Necessary
You’ll know installation is the right call when your vent run exceeds 25 feet (including elbows), terminates in an enclosed crawlspace, or passes through a wall chase shared with other units. In San Francisco’s row houses, particularly in the Richmond and Sunset, we regularly find vents that were “extended” by previous owners with multiple flex-duct couplings, each one a lint trap and fire risk. A proper installation eliminates those failure points.
What San Francisco Installation Costs
A standard Dryer Vent Installation in San Francisco runs $350 – $650 for a single-family home with accessible routing. Complex jobs – rerouting through multiple stories, cutting access panels in original plaster, or coordinating with HOA or landlord permissions in multi-unit buildings – can reach $800 – $1,200. We write the price down before we touch a tool. It does not move at the door.
Dryer Vent Repair in San Francisco
Dryer Vent Repair in San Francisco is usually about fixing what the fog and salt air have destroyed: corroded vent hoods, crushed runs behind original siding, and backdraft dampers seized shut by moisture-caked lint. The repair that solves the problem is rarely the repair that looks obvious from the laundry room.
We were called to a 1930s Richmond District row house after a homeowner’s dryer kept shutting off mid-cycle. Camera inspection showed the 4-inch galvanized run was crushed flat behind the original lath-and-plaster wall chase and the exterior hood was hidden behind a fog-weathered redwood casing. We cut an access panel, ran a Rotobrush whip and agitation tools through the full lint pathway, verified negative pressure with a HEPA vacuum, and installed a new Guardsman vent hood with a proper backdraft damper.
Common Repair Scenarios
The most frequent repair we perform in San Francisco is replacing exterior vent hoods that have rotted, been painted shut, or were never proper hoods to begin with. Original Edwardian and Victorian homes often terminated vents through decorative siding with no hood at all, or with a simple flap that corroded solid decades ago. We install code-compliant terminations with backdraft dampers and bird guards where appropriate.
Repair Pricing in San Francisco
Most Dryer Vent Repair in San Francisco falls between $200 – $450, depending on access difficulty and materials. A straightforward hood replacement with accessible exterior access might run $180 – $250. Repairs requiring interior access panel cuts, plaster repair, or coordination with multiple units in a shared chase run higher. We inspect with a camera first, show you what we found, and write the repair price before we start.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
Our San Francisco crews carry professional-grade equipment from Rotobrush, Nikro, and Abatement Technologies, plus replacement vent hoods and filtration products from Guardsman. We stock parts sized for the older duct dimensions common in San Francisco’s pre-war housing – 4-inch galvanized transitions, specialized wall caps for narrow siding profiles, and backdraft dampers rated for coastal moisture exposure. That local inventory means most repairs finish same visit, not after a parts order from somewhere inland.
Common Dryer Vent Cleaning Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Moist lint caking at the terminal. San Francisco’s marine layer keeps exterior vent hoods damp, especially on north-facing walls in the Sunset and Richmond. Lint that would blow clear in a dry climate adheres to the hood screen and hardens into a crust that blocks airflow completely. We remove the hood, clean the terminal mechanically, and verify airflow with a manometer.
- Corroded galvanized runs behind original siding. Salt fog penetrates wall cavities in homes without modern weather barriers. The zinc coating on old vent pipe fails, steel rusts, and the rough interior surface traps lint that smooth metal would shed. Camera inspection reveals the damage; replacement with proper materials solves it.
- Shared wall chases recontaminating cleaned runs. In multi-unit buildings common in the Mission and Bernal Heights, one unit’s vent cleaning means nothing if the shared chase still holds lint and moisture from neighboring systems. We inspect the full chase when access allows, and document what we find for property managers.
- “Sanitizer” fogging masking real blockages. Competitors charge for antimicrobial fogging that coats lint with chemicals but removes nothing. The dryer still overheats. The fire risk remains. Source removal – mechanical agitation and negative-air extraction – is the only method that actually cleans a vent.
Pricing for Dryer Vent Cleaning in San Francisco, CA
A standard dryer vent cleaning in San Francisco runs $150 – $280 for a single-family home with accessible exterior termination and a run under 15 feet. Multi-story routing, concealed access requiring panel cuts, or severe compaction from salt-moistened lint can push the range to $300 – $450. Bird guard installation adds $75 – $125. Vent cap replacement with a Guardsman hood runs $120 – $200 installed.
What affects your price: run length and elbows, access difficulty (crawlspace, attic, concealed wall chase), severity of compaction, and whether the exterior hood needs replacement. We do not quote per-vent teaser prices that balloon once we’re inside. We inspect, we write the price down, and that price does not change.
Estimates are free. Call (361) 326-5060.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our Dryer Vent Cleaning in San Francisco crews also work in Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco. The same marine-layer conditions affect vents across the Bay Area peninsula and southern Marin, and we bring the same written pricing, camera inspection, and 365-Day Done Right Promise to every job.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco 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 San Francisco
The marine layer keeps your exterior vent hood and terminal damp for much of the year, especially if you live west of Divisadero or north of Golden Gate Park. Moist lint sticks instead of blowing clear, then salt in the fog hardens it into a dense mat. Inland suburbs with drier air and more direct sun see this problem far less often. Call (361) 326-5060 for an inspection and exact quote.
Yes, if the vent runs through a shared wall chase or serves multiple units, we need written access permission from the property owner or manager before we open any common building elements. We document our findings for all parties and can provide a written report for HOA or landlord records. For single-family homes, no permission beyond yours is required. Call (361) 326-5060 to discuss access for your building.
A real cleaning uses mechanical agitation – rotary whips, brushes, and negative-air HEPA extraction – to physically remove lint and debris from the full run, verified with before-and-after camera inspection. A fogging “sanitizer” sprays antimicrobial chemicals that coat surfaces but remove nothing. Your vent is still blocked. Your dryer still overheats. The fire risk is unchanged. Hollis does not sell fogging as a substitute for source removal. Call (361) 326-5060 for a cleaning that actually cleans.
You need a crew that understands San Francisco’s pre-war basement layouts, where the dryer vent often shares space with or passes through the gravity-furnace return cavity. Cleaning the vent without inspecting that relationship can leave lint and rodent debris that recontaminates the system with the next damp cycle. We camera-inspect both pathways when they’re adjacent and document what we find. Call (361) 326-5060 to schedule.
Most San Francisco homes need dryer vent cleaning every 12 – 18 months due to the marine-layer moisture factor. Homes with longer runs, multiple bends, or north-facing terminals exposed to direct fog may need service annually. If your dryer takes more than one cycle to dry a standard load, or if the exterior hood shows visible lint accumulation, you’re overdue regardless of the calendar. Call (361) 326-5060 for a free estimate.
Written by Roy Castellanos, Owner at Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, serving San Francisco since 2004.