Dryer Vent Rerouting in North Jersey

When you need a reroute, not a cleaning

The IRC and most NJ municipal codes cap total dryer vent equivalent length at 35 feet, with each 90° elbow counting as 5 feet. Older homes routinely have runs of 50, 60, even 80+ equivalent feet — usually because the dryer ended up in a finished basement decades after the house was built, and someone ran flex duct the long way around.

Symptoms of a vent that needs to be rerouted, not just cleaned:

• Cleaning helps for a few weeks, then everything goes back to slow drying.
• Visible flex duct sagging between joists, full of standing lint.
• Vent runs up for more than a few feet (gravity works against you).
• Multiple 90° elbows clustered together.
• Vent terminates inside the house — into an attic, soffit, or crawl space.

How we approach a reroute

1. Camera inspection first. We document what's there before we recommend tearing it out.
2. Path planning. Shortest run with the fewest elbows. When the dryer can be relocated a few feet, we'll tell you.
3. Rigid metal duct only. No flexible foil. Joints sealed with foil tape, not screws (screws catch lint).
4. Proper exterior termination. Metal cap with a working damper, screened against pests.
5. Airflow test. Anemometer reading at the cap to confirm performance.

Pricing

Reroutes are quoted per job because every house is different. As a rough guide:

Scope	Typical Range
Short reroute (under 15 feet, exposed)	$450 – $700
Standard basement-to-side-wall reroute	$700 – $1,200
Long or complex reroute (joist bays, finished ceilings)	$1,200 – $2,200

We give a flat written quote after seeing the job. No "we'll figure it out as we go."

Reroutes across North Jersey

Common in older homes throughout Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Maplewood and South Orange, where dryers were retrofitted into basements long after the houses were built. Also common in West Orange split-levels and Livingston finished basements.