The Surprising Stuff We Find in Dryer Vents (And How to Get It Out)

Spoiler alert: We find more than just lint.
You know that sock that disappeared one day, and you never could quite figure out what happened to it?
As crazy as it sounds, it might be in your dryer vent.
Add this to the list of things blocking airflow and slowing down your laundry day.
The good news? That sock isn’t lost forever—a professional dryer vent cleaning can recover it while removing the lint and giving you back time in your day. (We’ll leave it up to you to decide if the sock is salvageable.)
Schedule your dryer vent cleaning today, and let the treasure hunt begin!
How could something besides lint get into the dryer vent?
When you look inside the dryer, it seems like there’s nowhere for something as large as a sock to escape to.
But if your lint trap is dislodged during a cycle, or if you don’t put it in quite right after cleaning it, there may be enough space for the sock to be sucked up by the vent.
Yep, the vent is that powerful. And it’s even more likely that it will suck up other small non-lint particles that find their way inside the dryer.
What Else Could End Up in the Dryer Vent?
Pet hair
That’s right: nowhere in your home is safe from pet hair, and that includes your dryer vent. Just think about how much hair sticks to your clothes every day.
Since the hair continues to stick to wet clothes in the washing machine, most of it flies off in your dryer. That’ll add up as quickly as the tumbleweeds floating throughout your house!
And that’s without mentioning the hair from washing beds, blankets, towels, etc. that your pet uses regularly.
Objects that flake off as you dry
Just like lint flakes off your laundry, other things can also shed from whatever you’re drying. Some examples:
- Fragments of dryer sheets
- Fragments of tissues from that rogue pocket tissue that made its way into the washing machine
- Threads from clothing, towels, blankets, etc.
- Plastic fragments from anything with a hard outer shell, like sports equipment (think hockey, lacrosse, etc.)
Objects from clothing pockets
Just like a sock, small toys or pieces of candy can get sucked into the lint trap and end up in your dryer vent. Let’s face it: if you’ve got kids, you’re pretty likely to have some of these things in your vent.
Wildlife (Yep, You Read That Right)
Don’t freak out. No woodland creatures are inside your dryer. But the outside vent? That’s a different story.
If your exterior vent lacks a proper cover, birds, mice—even the occasional overly ambitious opossum—might decide it’s a cozy little Airbnb. We’ve seen it. We wish we hadn’t.
The fix? We come prepared. During your cleaning, we can install a vent guard to keep nature where it belongs
No matter what’s clogging your dryer vent, we’ve got you. Whether it’s lint, a Lego, or a small squirrel trying to pay rent, we’ll clear it out safely and efficiently.
We clean. You reclaim your time, airflow, and maybe even a missing sock.