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Wait 'til things warm up - those flaps won't stop rodents even if fully intact, and birds/wasps won't be around until it is a lot warmer. You can get the putty off (or loose) with a heat gun - probably is some type of glazing putty. It probably won't ever fully come off the brick so don't spread it any further (unless you LIKE that 'Homer was here' look). I'd replace with a nice unit like the second pic in this string - that's what I did. They have an internal metal door that works much better, and larger so they cover the old mess; get one w/ the pipe extension off the back, not just a face unit. Once you pull that POS, the new one should just slide right into the hole and you mate up the piping inside.
I've just discovered that they also make these removable lint screen inserts for the vent tubing (inline rectangular slide-out tray). They put them in all the dryer vents here on our unit (inside the hospital, where they REALLY hate fires). I think I'm going to get one just to make it easier to clear out now that I can't just stick a vac down the outlet.
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