Is It Just Me?

[aquarius1984]

or are we as a nation getting shorter in body height? Mum bought a new ironing board a few weeks ago. One of those all singing Steam Generator compatible ones which looked ideal as our old rusting Beldray Invincible one had just about had it and didnt like the Steam Generator full stop. Its got a nice big rest to put the Generator Base and nice rods to hold hangers and ironed shirts on said hangers. Problem is its only 80cm tall when full put up. Shirts touch the floor and dont hang freely. No problem cos I prefer to hand ironed stuff from a door frame but what gets my goat is this £40 odd quid board is useless to anyone over 5'8! Im 5'10 and the board lies 6 inches below my waist. My neck absolutely canes and my back is not much better when using it. Any ideas why its shorter and is this the case for most boards these days? If this is what a TOL board is like I dread to think what more basic ones are like now. Are we getting shorter as a nation and is this the maximum height ppl want? *If Miele made ironing boards . . . . . * lager hmmm theres and idea lol! Rob

 

[lavamat_jon]

Hey Rob,

We have a Brabantia ironing board, didn't cost more than £15 I think... along with the other Brabantia stuff we have (bin, rotary airer, breadbin etc) it's of really good quality and I have no trouble at all with the height of it, especially as you know I'm around 6'2. Same goes with our old 5 year old Beldray board.

We have a steam generator iron, but we always iron in the kitchen so tend to put the generator on the counter and rest the iron on the rest as normal...

Miele don't quite make an ironing board, but they do have a rather snazzy rotary ironer .

Jon

 

[aquarius1984]

lol Jon, didnt mean that Miele make ironing boards, meant if they did im sure they would be more height friendly. This ironing board is a Minky, not impressed! Its ok for Mum who is shorter than me, considerin im the tallest in the house its not an issue to the others. Il just have to get along with it. Just expected more from a TOL board. I know these things have dimension figueres displayed before you buy etc but 80cm when fully erect is taking the piss! Who checks an ironing board when buying it to see how tall it goes? Grr!

 

[hoovermatic]

Rob, I think you'll find that as a nation, we are getting taller. It's the ironing boards that got smaller. Its known as the Norma Desmond syndrome!!

 

[rolls_rapide]

Ironing boards...

...are also getting flimsier.

I had one of those "Minky"-style, lightweight, mesh buggers that was very poor quality. The steam passed through the mesh (as it was supposed to), but the steam condensed into water droplets on the underside of the ironing board, and the poorly painted steel rusted. The water would also get reabsorbed by the foam pad and create wet spots on the clothes that were being ironed.

So I physically wrestled it into a knot and threw it into the bin - good riddance!

Mum has a solid metal ironing board from the late sixties, that feels very robust. It has a very politically incorrect heatpad in the iron-rest area: made of asbestos!

 

[danemodsandy]

Shrinking Products...

...shrink largely due to cost-containment. The smaller you make something, the less material you use, and the less your freight cost. Even a very small shrinking or lightening-up of a product can make a huge difference in a company's bottom line over the course of a year in which millions of units are produced. A nickel is a VERY big deal in manufacturing; if you can save one on every unit you make, a run of twenty million units will result in one million bucks more profit.

I am not defending the Incredible Shrinking Products I encounter almost daily; I too am tall. But even if there's no excuse for some things, there's a reason, and money is the reason in this case.