Line Drying, I Give Up..

[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