What a Dryer will Require

Apparently, in addition to a new dryer, we are in need of a few other adjustments to the basement.
These include:
1. New wiring & a new outlet
2. (Potentially) a new venting system, which may include a new hole in the wall.

Issue #1: Electrical
Here's the current electrical situation for the current dryer:
Our current dryer has a 3-prong plug, and the wall has the matching 3-prong outlet. Our new dryer has a 4-prong plug, thus we will be needing a 4-prong outlet. According to various internet sources, we could actually re-wire the dryer to use the 3-prong plug, but the consensus of safety-minded folks is that we should really keep the dryer as it was manufactured and update our wiring. Thankfully, we have a wonderful neighbor who's an electrician, so she'll be coming over on Saturday morning to fix us up. Hooray!

Issue #2: Venting
This one might be more serious, but we're not sure yet. Here's the situation at the back of the dryer:

Yes, that is the vent from the dryer directing down into the floor. There is a crawl space under that floor, but we do not know where the vent goes once it goes down there. Does it exit somewhere in the back of the house? We've never noticed, but it's possible. What is more like (and what we fear) is that it just blows all the dryer nastiness directly into the crawl space under the house. This situation is less than ideal,* and obviously something we will want to fix for the new dryer. Will we be putting a new hole in the wall? Or can we figure a way to take it out through the floor and direct it outside? Or is it really OK the way it is? We hope to answer these questions for you (and ourselves) this weekend when we begin the Great Dryer Odyssey of 2010.

Stay tuned!

*I should note, and perhaps he will elaborate later, that Jake once lived in a house where the dryer actually vented directly into the house. Like, into the room (I believe it was the kitchen) where the dryer was. I believe he described some sort of sock-like contraption that hung at the end of the venting.