Duct, dryer vent and gutter cleaning in Lake Country. Prices on the page.

What we found on three Lake Country jobs this fall

We don’t write town pages from a template. These are three recent jobs our crew did in Lake Country this fall, and the photographs further down are from those homes.

• Furnace, ducts, dryer vent and gutters in one visit, for a strata home. The supply trunk had debris and staining along the bottom of the run. We cleaned the ducts under negative air, cleaned the blower and furnace cabinet, treated the ductwork with Benefect, cleared the dryer vent and did the gutters on the way out. Booking all three together took 10% off.
• A condo dryer vent that was close to blocked. The foil line behind the dryer was packed with lint along its whole length, and lint had collected around the outside hood. A run like that makes the dryer take two cycles to do one load, and lint is what catches fire. After cleaning, the line was clear from the machine to the hood.
• Gutters on a larger home. Leaves, needles and grit had settled around the downspout outlets, which is where gutters back up and overflow first. Cleared by hand, downspouts flushed, $259 for a home between 2,000 and 3,000 sq ft.

Why Lake Country homes need it

A lot of Lake Country is orchard, vineyard and open hillside. In summer the dust from dry fields and gravel roads drifts in through open windows and fresh-air intakes, and the air conditioning pulls it through the ducts. Then the furnace takes over in October and moves the same dust around all winter. When wildfire smoke sits over the valley, the ducts hold onto that too.

Outside, the pines and fruit trees drop needles and leaves straight into the gutters, and homes near Wood, Kalamalka and Okanagan lakes pick up green algae on siding and concrete faster than homes on the dry benches.

Furnace, ducts and dryer vents

• Furnace and air duct cleaning — $489. Includes fifteen vents and registers, then a flat $10 each. Every supply and return run under negative air, the trunk lines, the blower wheel and every cover removed and washed. You get photographs from inside your own ducts.
• Dryer vent cleaning — $90 added to an air visit, or $199 on its own. The full run from the machine to the hood outside, including long condo and townhouse runs.

Outside the house

• Gutter cleaning — from $199. Cleared by hand and downspouts flushed. Best done late fall, before the snow.
• House soft washing — from $379. Siding, stucco, soffits and fascia, without aggressive pressure.
• Exterior windows — from $169. Glass, frames and sills.
• Roof moss and lichen — from $549. Hand-scraped and treated, never pressure washed.
• Driveway and concrete — from $349. Standard, stamped and exposed aggregate, plus pavers.

Where we go in Lake Country

Winfield, Oyama, Okanagan Centre and Carr’s Landing, from the lakeshore up to the benches. Our crew is based in Kelowna, about twenty-five minutes down Highway 97, so Lake Country is on our regular route. We also cover Vernon and Coldstream to the north.