Lavenders_Blue Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Well it's mid November and here starts the annual dilemma of how to get the laundry dry until the weather warms up a bit. I hung some out on the line this morning in the hope the wind would dry it out just a little so I could finish drying it inside, but alas it just lurked there until I brought it in a few minutes ago when the rain started. I now have a house full of damp laundry drying out. So my question is this - how do you dry your laundry during these cold, wet months? I have always resisted buying a tumble dryer because of cost and environmental reasons but now we have moved to a new house I am concerned about drying laundry inside on a clothes horse. Our last house always got black mould in the bathroom (where we dried our washing) during the winter months and I don't want the same problem to happen again in our lovely new house! Are tumble dryers really so expensive to run? Can you buy really energy efficient models now that are better in terms of environmental impact? Do you have to leave a tumble dryer on until the load is completely dry or can you set it to get the washing, say, 75% dry? Are there other, greener ways of drying laundry without ending up with a damp house? I'd be really interested to hear what others have to say so I can try and make laundry less of a chore this winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I could not function without my tumble drier! We have one that will do an auto-dry which will turn itself off when the clothes are dry, or if you prefer you can put it on a timer and then go out and check the washing whenever you want - so if you wanted it "slightly damp" you could do it all manually. If I had a bigger house with a nice roomy kitchen I would have one of those old fashioned ceiling airers - they are my style (country kitchen), look good and dry washing also. I do find with my tumble drier that I don't have to iron hardly anything (apart from posh shirts) so I'm sort of saving energy by not ironing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busybird Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I don't have a tumble drier. During the winter months I hang all my washing on 2 clothes airers that I keep on the landing at the top of the stairs or over the banisters. I have never had a problem with mould - perhaps the location has enough air movement to prevent this. I don't do much ironing either - the kids have 'non iron' shirts for school that I dry on hangers hung in doorways. With other clothes I find the creases tend to fall out (more or less ) when they are worn. I wonder are we a bit slobbish Not having a tumble drier is a deliberate cost / environment thing with us. It is better when I can dry things outside - and the place looks less messy, of course, without all the washing hanging everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurpleTree Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I dry washing on a clothes horse in our bedroom next to the radiator. We've not had any problem with damp. I haven't got anywhere to put a tumble drier and I'm not sure if I'd buy one if I did. I don't iron anything apart from hubby's work shirts and smart trousers. Bit of body heat soon makes any creases fall out I'm sure if I did have to go out to work and wear smart clothes, then the iron would be used more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I have a washer-dryer I try to dry as much as I can over radiators or on hangers though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellekatz Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I have a tumble drier out in the garage but it is an A rated one. It is used about 5 times a week but it senses when clothes are dry and switches off - much better than my old one. Not everything can go in the dryer though and I still dry lots of stuff over the radiators in the back end of the lounge where it is warmest ( tiny kitchen and not warm enough to dry things in the bathroom) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 We have a tumble drier but try to use a clothes horse + radiators when we can + haven't had any problems with damp. My friend has a ceiling kitchen rack thing which they can lower and raise, but they only even seem to have tea-towels and t-shirts on it so I don't know how good it is at other things? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 There are only 2 of us now in the house most of the time and I have a bosch tumble drier which senses when clothes are dry - can be iron dry, cupboard dry or extra dry and as its a condenser can be placed anywhere and I could not be without it - in so saying I put things out when I can and love the smell from freshly blown outside linen!. I dont find it expensive and cuts the ironing down loads - tends to shrink things a bit like t shirts though!!. I cannot stand wet washing hanging in the house - we dont have an upstairs for the heat to rise up to being in a bungalow so its easier to tumble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docsquid Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 We dry ours on a clothes horse in the spare bedroom, and hang smarter things up on hangers in the bathroom on the shower curtain rail. We don't get problems with condensation but then we always have the bedroom windows open a crack anyway. Seems to work fine. I really can't see the point of us having a tumble dryer and can't imagine needing to use one. My Mum used to use one but that was because she was in a retirement apartment and they didn't have drying space in the laundry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poachedegg Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 We use tumble dryer for undies and towels and radiators for tops and trousers and skirts. Definitely couldn't manage with the dryer (which is in the garage). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I don't have a tumble drier (never replaced the last one which broke down years ago). I had this dilemma recently and went out and bought a fairly expensive clothes horse from Argos. It's brilliant . It's tall so takes up less room and you can fit loads on it and fold bits away if you only need half of it. I've not had any problems with mould (but never have, admittedly). The only issue I have is that towels and jeans etc are too big so I have a traditional airer too but that's fine. This is the one I got. Now I'm cross . I paid £35 for mine (only a month or so ago), now it's £28 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Definitely couldn't manage with the dryer (which is in the garage). We are the same, both w/machine and tumbler are in the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I need my tumble drier too....with 2 teenage girls in the house you can imagine how much washing there is I generally use it for undies,socks,bedding & towels,with everything else going on airers which clip onto the radiators. I do have to wipe down the window frames in the rooms which have washing dying in them,as we have double glazing so it can get damp. I also have a brilliant tall heated towel rail in the bathroom, which will dry a pair of jeans overnight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 We have an old fashioned pulley airer above our old kitchen range fire. It works brilliantly for drying clothes. I just have to get my bras & knickers away quick if anyone comes. We only tumble dry towels & pj's. I don't like tumble drying. Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I have a condenser dryer in the kitchen and use it all through the year unless I can get the washing out on the line, so this year it's been on a lot over the summer I refuse to put washing on radiators due to the condensation that's created or put the heating on just to get washing dry. We still only have our bathroom radiator on so we can have warm towels. Our electric bills are not a fortune either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Cinnamon I have a heated towel rail in my bathroom- I have the thermostat turned up on it so high that things start to fry on there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickvic Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I've just replaced my old tumble drier. We live in a concrete terraced house and we try and keep the heating down, the only trouble with that is nothing dries I also have a sensor drier that switches itself off. I also have 2 airers in the kitchen but it takes days to dry towels and bedlinen so I can't hang clothes up as well. I use the tumble drier for the big things and almost everything else hangs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 Thanks for all the replies! I am still completely undecided but glad to hear others don't have the damp/mould problem. Perhaps our last house was just particularly poorly ventilated? It's the towels that I find worse than anything, because they are so thick they take ages to dry and always end up smelling a bit musty, yuck. I love the smell of freshly line dried laundry. I'm coveting one of the kitchen pulley type airers but don't really have anywhere it would fit, so I'll have to cross that off the list. I think I'll perhaps invest in another, larger airer. I'll play around with putting it outside to try and get even a small amount of the moisture dried out of the laundry and then whizz it inside if (when!) the weather turns. Definitely a compromise, but I still can't quite justify buying a tumble dryer when there's only two of us! Perhaps I'll crumble come mid-January...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 When we were just two, many moons ago , we only had an airer in the small bedroom to dry our clothes, radiators & the landing bannister. Only got a tumble dryer when the little ones came along. As I type I have my quilt cover over the bannister & my king sized flat sheet over the kitchen radiator, & a towel in the tumbler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Thanks for all the replies! I am still completely undecided but glad to hear others don't have the damp/mould problem. Perhaps our last house was just particularly poorly ventilated? Actually,it will have been to well sealed against the wind! Its when a house has good double glazing & no opening vents on the tops of the windows (now standard,but not a few years ago) that you get damp,as there is no circulating air. The circulation of air from drafts keeps mould & condensation at bay. We have to have our windows on vent all the time in our bedroom when we have washing drying. Being in the business,we are often fitting double glazing for people who then complain that their windows are dripping - that is the sign of a well fitting window. Anyhow, back to tumble drying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I used to be a tumble drier-oholic . It was always on.......then it went wrong and it was never replaced as we couldn't afford it at the time and I soon realised that I really didn't need one ! That was about 12 years ago now when both the boys were quite small and we've managed perfectly well ever since. I have 2 ceiling airers - one in the utility and a huge one on the landing which hangs over the stairwell so it's not in the way at all and washing is pulled up well over your head as you come up the stairs. I line dry whenever I can and dry on the airers on rainy days. Towels, shirts, fleeces and underwear all dry overnight on the airer and if the boys have ever needed clothes washing and drying in a hurry such as coats/blazers etc, even they have dried on the airer overnight ready to wear the next day. Our house is small too and we've managed to find places to dry the washing without the place looking like a laundry and our heating is only ever on first thing in the morning and in the evenings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I have an old fashioned wooden clothes horse that I put in front of the aga, the aga dries them and then it does the ironing all except for shirts . It is brilliant. Nearly bought a tumble dryer when we moved here but the previous owner said wait and see if you really need one, she was right we don't need one. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I do use a tumble dryer but an awful lot of the clothes can't be tumbled dried I have one of those line things that goes across the ceiling in the utility room. We don't have radiators (underfloor heating) apart from the heated towel rails. I do sometimes run out of space so I have a clothes horse as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 No tumble drier, that's a deliberate policy because I feel they use so much power. Admittedly I might feel differently if I had teenagers! I dry sheets/duvet covers draped over the corner of an open door - in the last house I used to put them over the banisters, but the stairs are enclosed here. Shirts/t-shirts go on a hanger in an open doorway, other stuff goes on a clothes-horse not particularly near a radiator, the only things I put on the radiator airers are undies and socks. I like the look of that airer, ANH - I might get one like that. I've got a dehumidifer, but I was amazed to discover that the dehumidifier does not remove a significantly greater amount of moisture from the air even when I'm drying washing - I'd expected a big difference. My bathroom is mouldy despite ALWAYS opening the window after showering - I think it's a design/ventilation problem, and yes Cinnamon, my d-g windows are old and do not have vents in them! I'm just resigned to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadietoo Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I do have a tumble dryer..a miele one which was a Which best buy...its as good in terms of power use as you can get ..but no where near as good as the gas tumble drier I had when the kids were small at our old house! Generally I use a combination of line dry in the summer..and in the winter, tumble dryer and airer in the bathroom (we have underfloor heating which is fab) or in the conservatory if the sun is out (but as this is adjacent to our sitting room I hate this as you can't relax when you are looking at washing even when it's clean..) I do like the fact that the tumble dryer cuts down on the ironing so it saves me time. My money saving tip...in an effort to reduce cost and expense I have thrown away/ donated to the local animal rescue all the bath sheets and the largest towel I allow in the house is a bath towel which is perfectly adequate and takes much less laundering and drying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
