Rolls, thanks for pointing that out! I must order some.
Does anyone still use a clothesline?
- Thread starter dermacie
- Start date
Help Support :
Bedsheets dry flatter with fewer wrinkles on an outdoor line. It also gives them a harder finish which is nice in bed.
When I moved in here I strung a double line from the side porch off the kitchen to a tall poll attached to the side of the garage - about 40 feet. I used vinyl coated 1/8"galvanized multi strand cable... over the years (20) the coating has cracked and come off in places, but so far no rust to stain the fabrics. At some point I'll replace the line, but it takes about 100 feet and is kind of a chore.
The line is far enough above ground that if sheets wrap around the lines and I can't free them (happened yesterday when it was windy), I have to get a step ladder to free everything up. Usually just playing with the lines frees the sheets, though, and they only get wrapped up on very windy days.
When I moved in here I strung a double line from the side porch off the kitchen to a tall poll attached to the side of the garage - about 40 feet. I used vinyl coated 1/8"galvanized multi strand cable... over the years (20) the coating has cracked and come off in places, but so far no rust to stain the fabrics. At some point I'll replace the line, but it takes about 100 feet and is kind of a chore.
The line is far enough above ground that if sheets wrap around the lines and I can't free them (happened yesterday when it was windy), I have to get a step ladder to free everything up. Usually just playing with the lines frees the sheets, though, and they only get wrapped up on very windy days.
Mother still uses hers. I don't have one here. For one, I sleep in daytime and the laundry would surely get rained on. For two, since Tony got hurt he couldn't carry the clothes basket down the deck stairs to the back yard to hang them up or get them in. I miss the smell of clothes dried on the line though, especially towels and sheets. I found these clothes pegs on Lehmans.com made of recycled agricultural wrap..no splinters.
Forgot to mention: if you are planning a pulley equipped double clothesline sysem (the kind you can reel in from a porch or window), look for Wright Aluminum Company, Toronto, Canada pulleys. They are cast aluminum with no sharp edges.
When I first started my double pulley system 20 years ago, I got some Made in USA steel pulleys. Big mistake. They had sharp edges that easily could cut off a finger. The Wright ones don't have that issue.
When I first started my double pulley system 20 years ago, I got some Made in USA steel pulleys. Big mistake. They had sharp edges that easily could cut off a finger. The Wright ones don't have that issue.
Do or did any of our UK members use the drying rack that was located near the kitchen ceiling above or near an AGA cooker? The clothes were attached to the rack and then it was raised to the ceiling where the heat from the cooker dried the clothes. Long ago, I was at an estate sale and got to talking with a woman from the UK who discussed this with me as we poured over stuff in the basement.
My parents were from the Mid-West and were used to basements so in inclement winter weather, that is where clothes were hung to dry and that was mom's excuse for years to not have a dryer, but permanent press clothing came out of the dryer not needing any ironing so the dryer was viewed more favorably, but we always had an outdoor clothesline.
My parents were from the Mid-West and were used to basements so in inclement winter weather, that is where clothes were hung to dry and that was mom's excuse for years to not have a dryer, but permanent press clothing came out of the dryer not needing any ironing so the dryer was viewed more favorably, but we always had an outdoor clothesline.
No such at either of my houses.
We had a line at the 1964 house ... as I was told, grandpa built it before construction of the house was finished. I got pretty quick at hanging. Never cared for the stiffness of line-dried items. Mom switched to using the dryer much more when she went to work after we kids reached jr high/freshman age. Their current house (built in '72, we moved there in the early 80s) has a line but she doesn't use it much nowadays.
woollyaxolotl
Member
Tomturbomatic, I think you speak of the Sheila Maid. Still commonplace here and growing in popularity of late. We have a large one over a stairwell that does the lion’s share of our drying in bad weather. It pulls up out of sight and takes great advantage of rising warm air. Dries almost as fast as outdoors when the heating is running.
michaelman2
Well-known member
A fan in the room:
Either a box fan, floor stand type or oscillating fan in the room where items are hung to dry will really speed things up when drying inside, considerably.
I had an old attic fan that was converted to a box fan. When I would dry items on an outdoor line I would direct that fan towards the line and the items would be dry in no time.
Either a box fan, floor stand type or oscillating fan in the room where items are hung to dry will really speed things up when drying inside, considerably.
I had an old attic fan that was converted to a box fan. When I would dry items on an outdoor line I would direct that fan towards the line and the items would be dry in no time.
Oh Wow! How neat. I have never seen one, just heard about them. Thank you for the link so that I could see the picture.
woollyaxolotl
Member
No problem! If you have a high ceiling they are a really good way to wring value out of otherwise wasted space and heat. I love mine. Wouldn’t be without it. The US vendor seems to be taking a hefty cut though. Ouch!
Concept of drying laundry by suspension from various devices hung on ceilings goes back ages.
In large estates or laundries all over Europe systems of large poles were suspended from stationary racks hung on ceilings.
Sheila Maid, Clothesmaid and other brand names are just various versions of the Victorian, Edwardian or Lancaster racks and pulley systems that came out around middle to late 1800's.
https://www.clothesmaid.com/
https://artofidentification.com/furniture/rack/pulley-clothes-rack
These pulley clothes racks grew in popularity along with the rise of the middle class of Victorian GB. All those new terraced houses and so forth built for the middle class had to have some way for laundry to get done. So besides the copper you had these ceiling clothes racks.
Besides taking advantage of fact hot air rises (so air at ceiling was warmer than lower down), these suspended contraptions allowed wash to be dried indoors when weather didn't permit it being done outside. Thus giving Her Indoors a bit more control over her wash days. Hanging the wash up and out of the way got rid of the various drying racks/clothes horses that would be scattered around a house or in front of a fire/AGA type range.
In great estates or laundries a small coal or whatever fueled stove would provide heat in a room that through convection air currents helped dry things. It also dealt with the dampness that not only came with climate, but from drying things indoors to some extent.
In the new middle class homes the various AGA type ranges (which were always fired up) provided heat, which is why the pulley racks were always located in kitchens. This provided several downsides.
One, thanks to poor extraction of wringers/mangles it often meant dealing with wash dripping from ceiling onto things and those below until it dried sufficiently.
Two, often whatever was drying was scented by whatever was being cooked in kitchen. If it was kippers then you had fish scented washing. *LOL*
Between heat and damp from the coppers, wet laundry drying indoors, then steam from ironing as you can imagine many homes back then were not very pleasant on the several days it took to get washing done. All this piled onto naturally damp climate conditions.
In large estates or laundries all over Europe systems of large poles were suspended from stationary racks hung on ceilings.
Sheila Maid, Clothesmaid and other brand names are just various versions of the Victorian, Edwardian or Lancaster racks and pulley systems that came out around middle to late 1800's.
https://www.clothesmaid.com/
https://artofidentification.com/furniture/rack/pulley-clothes-rack
These pulley clothes racks grew in popularity along with the rise of the middle class of Victorian GB. All those new terraced houses and so forth built for the middle class had to have some way for laundry to get done. So besides the copper you had these ceiling clothes racks.
Besides taking advantage of fact hot air rises (so air at ceiling was warmer than lower down), these suspended contraptions allowed wash to be dried indoors when weather didn't permit it being done outside. Thus giving Her Indoors a bit more control over her wash days. Hanging the wash up and out of the way got rid of the various drying racks/clothes horses that would be scattered around a house or in front of a fire/AGA type range.
In great estates or laundries a small coal or whatever fueled stove would provide heat in a room that through convection air currents helped dry things. It also dealt with the dampness that not only came with climate, but from drying things indoors to some extent.
In the new middle class homes the various AGA type ranges (which were always fired up) provided heat, which is why the pulley racks were always located in kitchens. This provided several downsides.
One, thanks to poor extraction of wringers/mangles it often meant dealing with wash dripping from ceiling onto things and those below until it dried sufficiently.
Two, often whatever was drying was scented by whatever was being cooked in kitchen. If it was kippers then you had fish scented washing. *LOL*
Between heat and damp from the coppers, wet laundry drying indoors, then steam from ironing as you can imagine many homes back then were not very pleasant on the several days it took to get washing done. All this piled onto naturally damp climate conditions.
e2l-arry
Well-known member
Brabantia in Colorado too!
It works great! Even when use my wringer, which leaves about 25% more water in the clothes, they dry in our low humidity climate almost as fast as the dryer. I use it about 7 months of the year here. Plus the local utility company, Xcel Energy, jack our electric rates in the summer (June-September) so no point in using the electric dryer and adding heat to the house while trying to air condition that house at the same time. Counterproductive! But beware, the 1st one I bought was on line from Home Depot and it crumpled from the weight of wet clothes in only a few weeks. I bought the Brabantia through Amazon and it's performed flawlessly for 5 years now!
It works great! Even when use my wringer, which leaves about 25% more water in the clothes, they dry in our low humidity climate almost as fast as the dryer. I use it about 7 months of the year here. Plus the local utility company, Xcel Energy, jack our electric rates in the summer (June-September) so no point in using the electric dryer and adding heat to the house while trying to air condition that house at the same time. Counterproductive! But beware, the 1st one I bought was on line from Home Depot and it crumpled from the weight of wet clothes in only a few weeks. I bought the Brabantia through Amazon and it's performed flawlessly for 5 years now!
woollyaxolotl
Member
Laundress- interestingly the problem of fish scented laundry may have been largely resolved with the advent of the Aga type range in the early 20th century, perhaps increasing the popularity of this drying method.
Heat store appliances are still occasionally seen here and are still available new, having gained cult status among the middle class over time. We will soon inherit one of the Rayburn series in our new (old) property. We may use it a bit when we’re feeling brave. Most people will have some experience with one, however limited. Particularly in rural areas where solid fuel remained popular for longer. They are often fitted into the same space as a Victorian range, but operate very differently
A quirk of the setup is that they lose heat precipitantly when the hot plate is uncovered for use, causing oven temperature to drop. One learns to apply the 80/20 rule to get past this- 80% oven, 20% hotplate. Most tasks such as frying and boiling are in fact performed on the floors of the roasting and simmering ovens respectively. The hotplate is reserved solely for getting things to boiling point and items requiring constant stirring like sauces.
The ovens vent to the flue, meaning anything cooking in them does so completely odourlessly. This seems a great advantage (particularly on wash day) until a cake hastily whipped up 3 days ago reveals itself as a charred husk when the oven is next opened. A kitchen timer is absolutely essential![this post was last edited: 6/2/2018-17:34]
Heat store appliances are still occasionally seen here and are still available new, having gained cult status among the middle class over time. We will soon inherit one of the Rayburn series in our new (old) property. We may use it a bit when we’re feeling brave. Most people will have some experience with one, however limited. Particularly in rural areas where solid fuel remained popular for longer. They are often fitted into the same space as a Victorian range, but operate very differently
A quirk of the setup is that they lose heat precipitantly when the hot plate is uncovered for use, causing oven temperature to drop. One learns to apply the 80/20 rule to get past this- 80% oven, 20% hotplate. Most tasks such as frying and boiling are in fact performed on the floors of the roasting and simmering ovens respectively. The hotplate is reserved solely for getting things to boiling point and items requiring constant stirring like sauces.
The ovens vent to the flue, meaning anything cooking in them does so completely odourlessly. This seems a great advantage (particularly on wash day) until a cake hastily whipped up 3 days ago reveals itself as a charred husk when the oven is next opened. A kitchen timer is absolutely essential![this post was last edited: 6/2/2018-17:34]
When possibly, yes. I don’t tumble dry shirts, t shirts or anything delicate and I spin everything at 1600. I’ve never really seen any difference between the outcome of spinning at full speed in the Miele vs lower speeds in terms of how the fabric looks afterwards. It just dries a lot faster.
I tumble dry items like jeans and towels socks and underwear and all of those items in a heat pump T1 dryer.
On days where I can easily dry outdoors, that’s my default approach. I don’t see the point of wasting electricity. It’s not even about the price. It’s just a gross waste of resources for no good reason.
Even if the power is coming from increasingly renewable resources, I don’t want to be causing some natural gas fired power plant somewhere to fire up because I’m too lazy to grab a few clothes pegs.
Also, it’s usually gentler on the clothes and they tend to dry wrinkle free on the line and maintain their shape much better in a lot of cases.
On a good breezy day, as you frequently get here in Ireland, they’ll dry in very quick time too.
I tumble dry items like jeans and towels socks and underwear and all of those items in a heat pump T1 dryer.
On days where I can easily dry outdoors, that’s my default approach. I don’t see the point of wasting electricity. It’s not even about the price. It’s just a gross waste of resources for no good reason.
Even if the power is coming from increasingly renewable resources, I don’t want to be causing some natural gas fired power plant somewhere to fire up because I’m too lazy to grab a few clothes pegs.
Also, it’s usually gentler on the clothes and they tend to dry wrinkle free on the line and maintain their shape much better in a lot of cases.
On a good breezy day, as you frequently get here in Ireland, they’ll dry in very quick time too.
rolls_rapide
Well-known member
Food scented laundry
Yuck!
I think fried onion fragrance on washing is absolutely vile.
Tumble dryers are very handy machines, however I do think that they knock seven bells out of the laundry... half the load ends up on the lint filter. I have a couple of old T-shirts (tumble dried often) which have surprisingly remained pretty much intact around the collar, hems, sleeves, etc. The problem is the cotton has been reduced to glorified net-curtain material, by friction in the machine.
I am somewhat wary of the new eco dryers (heatpump), which run for a longer time. What do owners of heatpump dryers think?
Yuck!
I think fried onion fragrance on washing is absolutely vile.
Tumble dryers are very handy machines, however I do think that they knock seven bells out of the laundry... half the load ends up on the lint filter. I have a couple of old T-shirts (tumble dried often) which have surprisingly remained pretty much intact around the collar, hems, sleeves, etc. The problem is the cotton has been reduced to glorified net-curtain material, by friction in the machine.
I am somewhat wary of the new eco dryers (heatpump), which run for a longer time. What do owners of heatpump dryers think?
rolls_rapide
Well-known member
rolls_rapide
Well-known member
Thanks for that.
