Line Drying, I Give Up..

[maytagbear]

Not just in Ohio, pt Charlie--

but developments and condominium communities can, in their Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions can ban (or at least try to ban) outdoor drying. Another silly thing is that many of them also insist that the condenser for the central air conditioning be hidden by plants or a low solid fence.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[fnelson487]

The CC&Rs In My Neighborhood

Don't allow clotheslines.  That doesn't stop me.  I have a lightweight aluminum unit that pops in a hole in the ground and disappears very easily.  I don't always line dry, but try to when I can.  I swear the sheets smell sweet all week long when they are hung out.  Here are the clothes hung out.

 

[fnelson487]

Here is the Unit

All closed up.

 

[fnelson487]

Then I Pop It Out

And put it in the basement.  (I have outside stairs.)  This is what is left.

 

[ozzie908]

I use both..

Obviously depending on the weather which until lately was not very dry at all !! But hey thats the good ol UK for you. I do not have a garden but a small yard that catches the sun most of the day. I have 2 lines that reach to the shed and back to the house I can get most of the washing on them. However I will not and never will hang towels out as I never use conditioner on them so they go in the dryer also I just can't be bothered hanging socks and undies out so they go in the dryer too.
I gave away my indoor clothes rack away as all they do is add even more moisture to a already damp house and as I abore mould on windows and walls I will not use an indoor airer. I have been known to bring things in and throw in the dryer for 15 mins on warm just to finish them off then everything gets ironed including the bedding as it just looks so nice and that is my laundry regime and has been for a long while My poor old Mum goes hairless when I use her dryer in the summer but as was mentioned above who wants a cardboard towel to dry your soft gentle skin with lol

Austin

 

[dirtybuck]

If Al Else Fails...

And you should happen to live by a beach, do like this woman did (but keep an eye out for seagulls).

 

[polkanut]

Greg,

I see that you're an overlapper too when pinning up laundry.  Glad to know I'm not the only one.  I'm also on the lookout for a nice vintage pinbag like yours whenever I'm at a decent estate sale. 

 

[whirlcool]

I thought there was supposed to be some law prohibiting HOA's from outlawing clothes lines? If I recall it was because they are considered "energy saving devices".

I'm willing to bet that woman on the beach with Tide had to shake all the sand out of her clothing before wearing them. If you have a beach house, sand get's into everything!

 

[launderess]

Summer Here So Far Has Got Nothing On Mobile AL. *LOL*

It has been hot and damp pretty much since June so there is no point in trying to dry laundry indoors. For one it probably will moulder before it's totally dry and the other reason not to is it adds yet more moisture to already horrible indoor humidity. Cannot even use my Kaltmangel for linens as items simply will not dry for days afterwards.

Since the idea of going to a hot laundromat when it's already >85F with humidity between 60% and near 100%, the little Whirlpool portable is getting quite a workout this summer. Between the final spin in the Miele then perhaps few minutes in the spin drier for heavier things the average load is *hot* dry in about 20 to 35 minutes depending upon fabric. Heavy flatwork such as vintage Pequot muslin bed linens are also extracted further in the spin dryer before going onto one of my ironers or presses. Am also using more of my fine older linen sheets that are lightweight to cut down on all that extracting since linen dries quite quickly.

The other worry is because of all the rain, heat and damp moes are all over the place. You cannot remain outdoors long without being attacked, especially around and after dusk into the night.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I remember summer mornings before we had a dryer hanging out laundry in Atlanta after it was spun in the 58LK. I remember running the white rag down the lines to clean them before hanging stuff. I liked the colored platic clothes pins, especially the clear ones. During some very hot weather, the first load would be dry by the time the second one was ready to hang, but that was including time for the mandatory second rinse. It was hot work. I have an oak folding drying rack that I bought for mom decades ago. Sometimes, if something is damp when the rest of a dryer load is dry, I throw it over that, but as Bob says, I have no time or energy to hang laundry outside. I have all cotton shirts that I spin on slow speed and tumble for 5 minutes in a hot dryer to relax the wrinkles and then I stretch them and pull the seams tight before putting them on hangers to dry, but that is about the extent of it.

A friend's daughter lives in DE and according to the rules of the development, she cannot even have a folding rack of drying clothes on her screened porch.

 

[lordkenmore]

A few years ago, I heard of one local developments rules. No clothes line in the yard. Maybe even no wood rack outside in plain view. They also prohibited working on cars (even in a closed garage), and had a limited palette of acceptable colors to paint a house with. And many, many, many more rules.

Someone who suffered this commented that he'd never do it again. His ideal: live on a street with no rules by a street with very strict rules. That way, he'd get a few of the advantages, and none of the pain.

 

[mickeyd]

One of my favorite topics, Kevin

"Promise me .... that you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, [Kevin], and never let go of that [clothes line].

I'll never let go, Jack" ~~~~ adapted from Jack & Rose in the Titanic. LOL

If I go on and on about how I love hanging laundry outdoors, I won't stop. But here's a tip: if you want dryer-soft towels, wait for a warm, humid, windy day--yes, you need all three for success--and it's hard to tell the difference, and as for the smell, well, there is no comparison.

Pix tomorrow.

 

[sudsmaster]

I guess I'm a bit lucky in that the air around here is generally very good quality. However I've gone from line drying bath towels, bedding, and jeans, down to just line drying bedding: mainly sheets, bedspreads, comforters, and throw rugs. Stuff that doesn't dry well in a residential size dryer anyway.

And I don't notice much difference in my gas bill. It maybe costs me $5 more a month to use the dryer for the rest.

I also have a 30 fit line in an enclosed patio I could use on rainy days, although in the dead of a cold rainy winter it could take two days in there to dry stuff.

Recently I switched from a patterned and padded bedspread to a single heavyweight white top sheet. It's easier to wash and dry. And since the main dirt on the bed comes from the cats, that's a good thing.

 

[mark_wpduet]

My Grandma

had a clothes line in her back yard. Sometimes she would use it, but more often she would use the dryer. She would always make me go out back with a clean rag and run the clean rag down the line to make sure it was clean before hanging the clothes up. The rag would always have this black YUK on it after wiping it (possibly because in the winter they would burn wood?) Not sure.

During the afternoon the the summer we could see a good view of my Aunt (a neighbor down below) hanging her clothes out and my grandma would make fun of her because it would (like clockwork) storm every afternoon at 130 to 2pm, and she would run out in the yard, get all the laundry in, then when the storm passed, take it back out and hang it all back up again, only to have to do the SAME thing over again! She had a dryer but always went through that when she did laundry. And it was a BIG clothes line. It took her a good 15 minutes to take everything down and longer to put everything up.

I haven't line dried anything in years. We have a HOA that doesn't allow it, although I could probably get away with the portable clothes line (like pictured above),in my fenced in back yard - but what do you do about birds?

Once we parked a trailer in our driveway over night because the next day we were going to take it to Ohio to let someone who was moving borrow it. It was literally parked in my driveway less than ten hours and a few days later I was fined by the HOA! I called them and they removed the fine since I had no other offense

 

[gansky1]

There are several grass roots "movements" that advocate drying outdoors and offer up to date information on laws, covenant restriction fights, etc.

Laundrylist.org also has kind of cute promotion - game running now trying to get members to find clotheslines on google street view pictures and post them. I'm sure it's more difficult than it sounds...

They have resources for equipment and supplies, but I've ignored the "Cold Water Washing" parts of the site.

http://www.laundrylist.org/

 

[frigilux]

Yay! After whining about the conditions that kept me from line-drying this summer, I ran into perfect weather and no construction on Saturday. Hung out four loads---three of them whites (sheets; kitchen/personal whites; bath linens). I should have taken pictures--75 degrees, not humid, a nice breeze. All-in-all, a perfect day to be inside doing laundry, LOL.

Having always lived in very small communities of 1,500-4,500 I can't imagine having neighborhood associations that ban clotheslines! It seems absurd that something as innocuous as a clothesline could be considered a blight.

 

[hotpointfan]

vintagekitchen

Being British the weather over here is never predictable. I only use line drying when it is good weather, but they normally go straight in the dryer - sometimes just for 10 minutes after they have been line drying.

If you want to cut down on your drying/line drying times, try looking out for a spin dryer. I have no idea how popular they are in the US, or if you can buy one where you are.

but, my dryer is a godsend. It is 10 years old now, and dries a full load of sheets in 55 minutes, but it is only unidirectional so they sometimes get tangled!

best wishes

hotpointfan

 

[vintagekitchen]

uni-directional dryer

Actually thats the majority of american dryers. I have never seen one that reverses...

 

[mickeyd]

Seem to remember Glenn once saying that the Fisher-Paykel top-loading dryer reverses. That's the only one I've heard about. Have seen them in the stores. Giant chrone interiors that reflect one's face perfectly, and glass-lidded to boot. Gorgeous machines.

 

[gansky1]

Didn't WCI Frigidaire, et al brands have a reverse tumble dryer for a while? 

 

[frigilux]

Gansky-- You are correct; I believe it was the very first of the Electrolux-made Frigidaires that had a reversing dryer. I got my pair in 1996, when they were hot off the press. I liked the reverse tumbling; sheets didn't ball up and get tangled. My dryer was natural gas, so it reversed less frequently than the electric model. I think mine reversed every 6 or 7 minutes, and the electric reversed every 3 minutes.

Speaking of sheets: I will never, ever, EVER again buy a set of sheets in which the fitted sheet has elastic all the way around it. Seems like a good idea on paper, but I'm sick of having 6 pillowcases and the flat sheet all balled up inside it. It happens in both the wash and dry cycles. I'll hear a big "thump, thump, thump" as the gigantic ball bounces around in the dryer, then have to stop and pull everything apart. It sometimes happens twice in the dryer! It usually works itself out in the washer, as it reverse-tumbles.

 

[mickeyd]

In the wind

`

 

[mickeyd]

In the rain

`

 

[mickeyd]

In the sun

`

 

[mickeyd]

And Bob-loads for fun

`

 

[mickeyd]

And even when Winter doesn't come

`

 

[mickeyd]

Damn: I forgot ~ In the snow

`Wish I had the larger version. Can you see the snow on the lake and the deck?

 

[mickeyd]

Done

Have been hanging out all my life. Ya get good at it. Certain conditions for certain needs. For example, calm, dry days are preferred for T-shirts because I like them crisp, but such days are not good for towels. You kinda wash to match the weather, more or less. It's somewhat intuitive, not much deliberate thought is given. I don't remember when I last used the dryer.

 

Of course you have to have one for the item you must have ready to wear in an hour, or for a giant heavy winter comforter when a blizzard is blazing, or you want to have the warm fragrant vapors a gas dryer produces on an ice cold day, or if someone comes over and craps his pants and you want to impress him with how quickly you can clean him up and send him on his way. Laughing.

[this post was last edited: 8/14/2012-00:00]

 

[gus]

Eugene, it happens the same to me, sometimes when I dry the lower sheet with elastic, but I do this: if it makes a dig cylinder going one way, you just take it out invert the direction and the cylinder undoes itself the same way it was done before. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, just reverse the direction it was going before, and no more problem. Just my two pence! Gus

 

[roscoe62]

@mickeyd

I'd bet all that line dried laundry was washed earlier in your norge wringer?Brings back alot of memories of summer vacationland where everyone did both, no automatics and definately no dryers, but winter,there is another story,thats when they needed the dryer to keep safe from the n'or easter's.
Thanks for sharing your pics. I line dry when the weather permits and there isn't another stand off between the sea birds and the crows overhead about their nesting turf.
Cheers