can we talk alternatives to tumble driers??? clever ideas for drying without taking up all the space in your house?

[Heathcliffscathy]

do i have to get a tumble drier, I'd really rather not! or is that the only way of not having huge racks of clothes that fill up a whole room? is there anything clever in terms of racks that are built into boiler cupboards or something that i'm missing???

[MusterMix]

oh no
g et a tumbler ( tm my mum)
cut down your ironing so therefore less energy used.

oi soph - any news on trip to scotland wiht watitrose

[GhoulsAreLoud]

I saw a heated rotary drier in Maplin yesterday. It was lie a normal one, but didn't open as wide. You plugged it in and it had something over the top, like when you put your head in the dryer at the hairdressers.

It looked a bit shit if I'm totally honest but I felt it fit the description.

[jkklpu]

My Mum gave me a flod out clothes horse - a rectangle on legs with a flap on each end that folds out - which is heated. Not quite sure where it came from, but it uses much less energy than a tumble-drier, doesn't shrink things and is great for drying the los' clothes.

[MusterMix]

haha guess what comes up in the results}

[MusterMix]

lakeland thing

[thisisyesterday]

i have just got a kitchen maid dutch airer. I have it above the stairs as we have a bigdead space up there, gotr the biggest one i could fit it

[thisisyesterday]

like this

[thisisyesterday]

like this

[MusterMix]

nah
you want it heated shurely

[paranoidmother]

We have one of these my mum's cleaner who is in her 70's (just) use to have one which had a box around it which was fantastic.

We also have an airing cupboard which has our boiler in and lots of shelves around it to air the clothes on.

[ilovemydogandmrobama]

you can get stacking kits for most. They can go above the washing machine.

[MusterMix]

oh fgs get a tumbler
they change your LIFE

[paranoidmother]

meant to say I get on really well with mine and it folds down to the normal size of a airer.

[thisisyesterday]

nah heat rises so it dries fairly quick, and will be quicker still once winter comes and the heating goes on
and of course it saves the space where you would be having clothes horses all over the place

[MusterMix]

its just so stooodenty

[CMOTdibbler]

We dry most of our stuff on an airer over a dehumidifier. The dehum dries everything really quickly, much less electricity than a tumble dryer, and you can do shirts etc on hangers with minimal creases

[Heathcliffscathy]

god i love you all...you replied!!! just off to read it all!

[Heathcliffscathy]

mustermix...dh says it is still under negotiation and waitrose are being amazingly open and justine has introduced dh to a woman who makes docs and if we can make everything match up then we'll see

[midnightexpress]

No no no you MUST get an overhead pulley (like thisisyesterday says) if you have high enough ceilings. They are GREAT! Stick the stuff on, up she goes and you hardly notice it's there. It dries stuff way quicker than a foldy out thing too because, as any fule no, heat rises.

I had one in my old flat and I miss it terribly. Am planning to replace it, though worried that our crappy ceilings won't take the weight of our endless piles of washing.

I appear, on MN evidence, to be evangelical about two things: balance bikes and overhead driers. Both are Essential Items in houses with small boys.

[somewhathorrified]

Haha, over head driers, if only! Living in a modern house with a 6'6" DH makes over head driers a dream here. Can just imagine DH wearing a wet nappy or 2 on his head when he doesn't duck low enough.

[thesunandtherain]

But surely if you are drying your clothes indoors, that moisture has to go somewhere? Radiators, heated drying racks, clothes airers or dehumidifiers all mean the moisture goes into the walls - not good for damp, mould etc.
Best to either dry outside, or use a tumbler imo.

[CMOTdibbler]

Dehumidifiers take the moisture out of the air, so don't give you damp and mould problems - in fact they improve it

[PavlovtheForgetfulCat]

you want to get a sheila maid if you have high ceilings. They are fab.

[MrsBadger]

depending on your layout overhead pulley types can work in the stairwell even of modern houses - with the added advantage that all the hot air is rising up there anyway

I would lurve one on the dead space at the top of our house

but I have a tumble drier and love it
I hadn;t appreciated how much time it saves

time to hang out one machine load on line/airer: 5-10min
time to chuck one machineload in drier: 20sec

sounds small but on school mornings this makes the diff between laundry getting done and not...

[JJ]

I have that Lakeland heated airer and love it. It can be folded to half the size, so doesn't take up too much room. Have a tumble drier, too, though.

The "introduced dh to a woman who makes docs" has you sounding like you're trying to sneak into Scotland under cover of night.