Yes, ventilation is the key, for drying on the airer in the study here if it's wet.
This garden has - in typical Irish fashion - two metal clothes posts with arms, about 10 metres apart, concreted very firmly into the ground and with a concrete path running up to them from the house (and between them). Not aesthetically pleasing, and I was very tempted to adopt a different system, and use the posts for raspberry supports... but they've been carefully sited, where the prevailing wind blows through a gap in the field hedge. Best drying conditions of anywhere I've ever lived. And the air is so clean I hardly ever have to wipe the line.
I like wooden pegs with springs, because I can hold several in my hand at once when pegging out socks. Plastic ones are too bulky. (But, @B3, they are very useful in the garden for temporary fixing of butterfly net to canes while I stretch the net out to fit the bed.)
Edited to say: forgot to mention that we've camouflaged the galvanised steel posts by painting them dark grey.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Dove quote: "Idle chatter @bede ... or an interesting conversation about life ... "
I'm willing to chatter a little about gardens and gardening, but what I really want is answers to my problems and the chance to help with other people's problems.
Is this mumsnet or gardeners' world forum?
Sorry, I'm a late arrival. It's not for me to decide. Can you suggest a better forum for me?
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I have humidity measuring gadgets about the house and in fact the levels don't go up around the washing. In the summer the windows are always open. In the winter the central heating is on and dries out the air. It's only washing for one, so I figure it's ok. Washing for a family of four would be a whole other thing, not least that there would be nowhere to put it. I don't wash sheets that often, so the system works pretty well for me.
My old dad flatly refused to have wet washing in the house and so would trudge to the launderette even at 83. He said it was good exercise. (It's a very long story )
Now here's another thought-through, practical suggestion, from a practical man who knows about the benefits of outside line drying.
Speak to the line manufacturers, find out what the line is made of, (probably plastcised PVC), find out what would be a suitable material to stain/paint the line with, and that would be unlikely to come off onto the washing. Do a small trial. Choose a colour. Do it. Voila! Problem solved.
I can't BELIEVE that we reached p8 on a problem that Tack said was trivial.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
This has been a fascinating read. A great insight into the things we all worry too much about and, probably, don't need to.
I grew up in a very cold and damp house. We only had heating downstairs. Washing was done in a twin tub and then either hung outside (on a grey line that stretched from house to back fence held up using a prop; fresh smelling clothes) or left on a clothes horse in the cold house which resulted in one's clothes smelling foisty and of cooking oil and (unfortunately) cigarette smoke!
As a result of this I think I obsess over clothes smelling fresh and clean.
Line dry (whirligig) when possible. If it's too wet/cold I will tumble dry. Living in the damp house has made me worry (too much?) about moisture in the houses I've had so I would never dry indoors on a horse/radiators. Windows are rarely fully closed and I'm TERRIBLE for making sure people have extractor fans on/lids on pans.
Pegs are wooden and are taken in with the dry washing.
Well good luck explaining that to the Chinese line manufacturer whose address you’ll have no difficulty in finding. They’ll understand perfectly what you’re asking, will do the necessary testing and get straight back to you. Or not.
We had a twin tub in the 60s with a separate mangle and one of those pulley racks that hung from the kitchen ceiling. It was used for drying washing and airing ironing too.
Can't believe no-one's mentioned one of those yet.
There was a line outside but washing was done on Monday evenings after both parents got home from work so most of the year it couldn't be hung outside - too cold/wet/dark.
As for you @bédé - this forum does both info and chat. Some threads just stay factual and give advice, help, opinions but others, such as this one, lend themselves to going off at all sorts of interesting tangents. You don't have to carry on reading it or commenting. Easy enough to stick to the straight threads if that's where you're happier.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Whatever you paint on pvc will flake off, probably onto your washing as the line will bend and flex in the wind. You probably can't stain it either. A practical woman.
Now here's another thought-through, practical suggestion, from a practical man who knows about the benefits of outside line drying.
Speak to the line manufacturers, find out what the line is made of, (probably plastcised PVC), find out what would be a suitable material to stain/paint the line with, and that would be unlikely to come off onto the washing. Do a small trial. Choose a colour. Do it. Voila! Problem solved.
I can't BELIEVE that we reached p8 on a problem that Tack said was trivial.
.. or you can just Google black / grey washing line. Lots of results on the big River Site of various lengths like this
I highly recommend getting a gadget to measure humdity. It gives surprising results that I couldn't have predicted. I sleep in a room without central heating, in an Edwardian house, so I keep a close eye on damp levels.
In my experience of tracking levels over the last four years, the thing that seems to determine ambient humidity levels is not so much water usage as heating. My kitchen - with it's sink, cooking, kettle etc barely budges in measured humidity levels.
Posts
This garden has - in typical Irish fashion - two metal clothes posts with arms, about 10 metres apart, concreted very firmly into the ground and with a concrete path running up to them from the house (and between them). Not aesthetically pleasing, and I was very tempted to adopt a different system, and use the posts for raspberry supports... but they've been carefully sited, where the prevailing wind blows through a gap in the field hedge. Best drying conditions of anywhere I've ever lived. And the air is so clean I hardly ever have to wipe the line.
I like wooden pegs with springs, because I can hold several in my hand at once when pegging out socks. Plastic ones are too bulky. (But, @B3, they are very useful in the garden for temporary fixing of butterfly net to canes while I stretch the net out to fit the bed.)
Edited to say: forgot to mention that we've camouflaged the galvanised steel posts by painting them dark grey.
I'm willing to chatter a little about gardens and gardening, but what I really want is answers to my problems and the chance to help with other people's problems.
Is this mumsnet or gardeners' world forum?
Sorry, I'm a late arrival. It's not for me to decide. Can you suggest a better forum for me?
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Speak to the line manufacturers, find out what the line is made of, (probably plastcised PVC), find out what would be a suitable material to stain/paint the line with, and that would be unlikely to come off onto the washing. Do a small trial. Choose a colour. Do it. Voila! Problem solved.
I can't BELIEVE that we reached p8 on a problem that Tack said was trivial.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Can't believe no-one's mentioned one of those yet.
There was a line outside but washing was done on Monday evenings after both parents got home from work so most of the year it couldn't be hung outside - too cold/wet/dark.
As for you @bédé - this forum does both info and chat. Some threads just stay factual and give advice, help, opinions but others, such as this one, lend themselves to going off at all sorts of interesting tangents. You don't have to carry on reading it or commenting. Easy enough to stick to the straight threads if that's where you're happier.
A practical woman.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DRYZEM-Washing-Heavy-Strong-Clothes/dp/B01I7DD7X8/ref=psdc_3313505031_t3_B08F4M4LR7
If you want anything to 'disappear' in a garden I've always found that black / charcoal are the best colours. Hope that is helpful @Tack