A dryer vent is one of the simplest jobs in a house to keep working and one of the easiest to forget. Lint builds up in the hose and the outside duct over months. The dryer works harder, the clothes take longer, and the machine runs hot. That is the sign. The job is to catch it before it turns into a fire risk.
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What to check on a regular walk
Once a season, check three places. At the back of the dryer, the hose should be firmly connected, with no crushed sections, kinks, or sagging loops where lint can collect. Outside, the vent flap should open freely while the dryer runs and close when it stops. Look for anything that blocks it, such as leaves, a nest, or a lint mat caught in the mesh. In the laundry room, check the lint screen and the space behind the machine.
If the dryer feels hot to the touch, takes more than one cycle for a normal load, or smells of burning, stop running it and have it looked at before the next load. Those are signs to act on, not nuisances to live with.
Decide who cleans and who books it
You can clean the vent yourself with a flexible brush kit made for dryers and a vacuum, or you can hire a service. Compare the two by the hours, the trips, and the length and layout of the duct run, not by how the offer is worded. Whoever makes this decision should also own the calendar entry, the receipt, and the follow-up. If the job goes to a service, write the scheduled date in the shared record so the next season does not depend on someone remembering.
Keep the record that keeps it working
Write down the date, what was checked, what was cleaned, and who did the work. Keep the receipt with the other household papers and mark the job in the shared ledger as a home upkeep item. The next person who opens the file should see the last cleaning and the next due date without asking. That one line keeps the job from falling to whoever notices the smell first.