AIBU to think UK houses and flats are badly designed when it comes to doing laundry?

[YellowBalloonsandOrangeBaboons]

Inspired by moving into an otherwise lovely flat, built in the 90s, which has no utility room (obviously), no space for a tumble dryer, no garden, and a rule for the whole development which prohibits drying washing on balconies. It's got me thinking about all the houses and flats I have lived in in the UK - at least 7, of very different sizes and types, and in different areas - and I have come to the conclusion that architects are spectacularly crap at designing properties as they never routinely seem to take account of something as basic as washing and drying clothes. The only one I have ever lived in that had a purpose-built utility room was built in an extension. Another was old and huge and had a room converted into a second kitchen-cum-utility room. Everywhere else, drying washing has been a monumental, daily pain in the arse.

I just don't get it. It's not a secret that UK weather is generally cold and wet for a good part of the year, meaning that even if you're lucky enough to have a private garden you can't really dry washing there for half the year. Hanging washing all over the house means excess clutter, looks terrible, and creates dreadful problems with damp unless it's hot enough to have the windows open. Now that increasing numbers of flats are being built with no gardens, the problem will surely only get worse. I get even more confused by new builds without gardens that have multiple en suite bathrooms but still no utility room. Why isn't designing somewhere purpose-built to dry your clothes considered a basic in architecture, in much the same way as designing places to eat, sleep and shower? It's rare to design a new flat without at least a second loo now, for example, so it's not like it's just a space consideration. AIBU?

I'd be fascinated to know whether other countries (especially ones without acres of space per property) share this problem, or whether there are any more modern solutions out there.

takes two days to dry then washing gets folded, time for us all to have another shower

Do you not shower every day?

@Wafflesnsniffles

No need for a dryer I dont think. We havent had one for 8 years and havent missed it. Clothes go on clothes airers to dry - one in the bath, one elsewhere. Takes a couple of days to dry with the dehumidifier on (which removes other moisture too) and thats despite us rarely putting the heating on. We all have a shower, hang out the washing, it takes two days to dry then washing gets folded, time for us all to have another shower, washing in the washing machine and repeat.

2 days to dry (with a dehumidifier on) and blocking the use of the shower as it does sounds excitedly inefficient.

@Wafflesnsniffles

No need for a dryer I dont think. We havent had one for 8 years and havent missed it. Clothes go on clothes airers to dry - one in the bath, one elsewhere. Takes a couple of days to dry with the dehumidifier on (which removes other moisture too) and thats despite us rarely putting the heating on. We all have a shower, hang out the washing, it takes two days to dry then washing gets folded, time for us all to have another shower, washing in the washing machine and repeat.

How come it takes your clothes so long to dry?

When I don't put the heating on and use a dehumidifier they are still dry in 24 hours. You need to check the spin on your washing machine is working properly.

Something like 40 per cent of UK housing dates to before 1945, and therefore predates the modern washing machine and tumble dryer. It's hardly surprising that so many homes don't consider it. And we continue to fetishise period property.

2 days with a dehumidifier? Is your house underground or something?

I wash Ds’s thick reusable nappies. Hang on rack indoors in the morning (by about 9/10am), and they are completely dry by the next morning when I fold and put away (7am).

Love British house design. After having lived in Japanese houses for over a decade, very efficient, all the right workspaces in all the right places.
But God, no proper “living room” to relax with family, no proper sofas, 3 piece suites, no general arrangement in a space fo facilitate non- housework related communication.

No reason why a house can’t have both of course . Just interesting how houses develop based on culture

@Otherpeoplesteens

Something like 40 per cent of UK housing dates to before 1945, and therefore predates the modern washing machine and tumble dryer. It's hardly surprising that so many homes don't consider it. And we continue to fetishise period property.

It isn't period properties that are the problem though!

1930s houses tend to have good design with a large kitchen, and a decent garden and that is why they are in demand.

The industrial revolution Victorian terrace I lived in as a student was in many ways better designed than my 1990s house, and house design doesn't appear to have improved much in the last 30 years.

The terrace I lived in had a small kitchen but there was more appliance space than my current one. It also had two large reception rooms and a cellar any/all of which could be used to create more space in the kitchen (we had one converted to a bedroom and used the top of the cellar steps for things like the hoover, ironing board etc). Upstairs one huge bedroom, then one small one because space was lost to avoid having to walk through the second bedroom to get to the bathroom. There was a large loft conversion too. The house had central heating and a private walled and gated back garden with a washing line. There was also a brick built building in the garden (originally a toilet and coal shed) that could have been converted to a laundry space by an owner.

See the Victorian millworker terraces in my town have 2 receptions, flat roof extension with small kitchen and bathroom behind that, and 2 bedrooms upstairs with no bathroom up there!

I couldn't agree more. American homes have a laundry/utility area. Even when we go on holiday there, the resort apartment has it's own laundry room.

The design of most UK houses is simply crap...2.5 rooms with the ceiling light near the window. Awful.

Japanese apartments often have the washing machine on the balcony. The balcony is used almost exclusively for drying clothes in most places.

Hate trying to dry clothes in the house in UK.

I struggle with clothes drying and live in a house. The weather is often rubbish for drying outside and I have to have the big clothes airers inside. I tend to put most of the washing in my bedroom so people don't see it. However, I like seeing my bedroom looking good so just take it down as soon as I can!

I agree though, flats in England are often awful for clothes drying! I lived in one with two big bathrooms and loads of storage, but nowhere to dry clothes (the second bathroom was large but had an odd layout with limited floor space and both bathrooms had no windows).

Just found this online, I think it’s incredible they’re allowed to ‘forbid’ this:

Balconies MUST be kept clear – No drying of clothes

April 27, 2020/in Uncategorized /by Chobham Manor
During the first week of April L&Q sent out a text message to all residents. The text message stated the following:

“Dear residents,

The weather is amazing, and we can be tempted to dry our washing out in the gardens, balconies and roof terraces, but please ensure you do not erect washing lines or drape them over your balconies.

Thank you in advance and stay safe”

We understand that washing and drying clothes, combined with the beautiful weather can resort us to the practice of letting the UV rays do the drying for us. After all, it is a common household chore and we all have to do it. However, let’s be sensible and respect the upkeep of our beloved development and make sure that your balconies are kept clear. It is for your own health and safety, and that of your loved ones. You may not see the risk, however, it is our (L&Q’s) responsibility to ensure you, your family and all the other families on the development are safe and sound.

Following this, L&Q have deemed it necessary to clarify some points in relation to the above topic. Below are points which apply to all residents within Chobham Manor. These include but do not limit to:

No clothes should be seen displayed on the external part of any building. It distorts the image of the development.
You should not be putting your clothes out to dry on your balconies under no circumstances. Your internal properties have been designed to allow for you to dry them inside. Drying clothes on balconies poses as a fire risk. Should ash from cigarettes reach the materials, they will set alight.
Your lease / tenancy agreement states that balconies must be kept clear. Non-compliance is a direct breach of your agreements.
You can not display your washing on a clothes airer
Those seen drying clothes will be addressed and asked to remove it immediately. We will be monitoring this practice on the development
Drying clothes on your balconies, be it on a clothes airer or draped over the frame poses a risk to everyone. It is also an eye sore.

Please be mindful moving forward. It is now, more than ever that we as a development must come together in unity.

Thank you in advance.

Housing in the uk is not only insufficient in numbers and overpriced (by design) but it’s also not fit for living in, it’s incredible that people accept these living standards in a ‘first world’ country.

@Otherpeoplesteens

Something like 40 per cent of UK housing dates to before 1945, and therefore predates the modern washing machine and tumble dryer. It's hardly surprising that so many homes don't consider it. And we continue to fetishise period property.

I agree that this seems logical, but ironically, the only two properties I have lived in with adequate laundry facilities were both built pre-1945. I think it is a real issue with modern designs, and a related issue is the inadequate conversions of period properties into flats by greedy developers who are focused on squeezing maximum profits out of the building (i.e. making them into as many flats as possible) without due regard to the people who will actually need to live in them. The number of windowless kitchens I've seen while browsing Rightmove needs to be seen to be believed, for example. It's just greed, or stupidity, or both.

@UnevenBooks

Why take it all downstairs to then hump it all upstairs again?

How is my child supposed to go to sleep with a loud washing machine and dryer going off in the room next to her? I can hear the neighbours laugh through our walls, let alone what you can hear through the walls inside your own house.

I like having it downstairs because it means I can put a wash on when people are asleep and shut the kitchen door, the front room doors, and the noise doesn't carry to them.

The thing is, it’s not normal to hear your neighbours like this, through the walls. I’ve lived in communist era flats and those were better built than housing in the uk. Absolutely no insulation, thermal or sound. British people do put up with poor quality of housing and also can get defensive about it, I’ve found. I don’t understand why such a housing situation as we have here is a point of pride, for some

Where I live, a listed building that’s rotting away (rented), the ‘double’ bedroom can barely fit a double bed, no drawers or wardrobe as no space and the external walls are soaking wet so can’t put anything near them anyway.

@YellowBalloonsandOrangeBaboons But didn’t people still need to dry clothes even before the advent of washing machines? You still need a space for hand washing and hanging up to dry...

This is why all the promotion of open-plan living in a house with no utility space pisses me off. Who wants to try and watch a film with your washing machine, extractor fan or kettle operating noisily in the corner? I will never buy anywhere that doesn't have a kitchen door that I can close.

Flats aren't quite the same as so many are basically square that a divider wall wouldn't make sense.

The housing design in the U.K is just terrible. Who puts a laundry machine the kitchen??? Everyone who comes to visit me from back home is just baffled by this.

No utility room off the hallway, so nowhere to put anything, when you come in from outside. And why is it so difficult to find a house with built in closets?

I built a drying cupboard in my flat, clothes dry within about 6 hours

@Hermione101 UK housing built before around the 1970s isn't designed to have washing machines as they didn't exist.

This Thames TV video shows a wash house in 1959 in Liverpool:

[quote RedWingBoots]@Hermione101 UK housing built before around the 1970s isn't designed to have washing machines as they didn't exist.

This Thames TV video shows a wash house in 1959 in Liverpool:

[/quote]

But even pre-automatic washing machine most homes would have needed laundry space, for the forerunners to modern automatic washing machines like twin tubs, and before that for the dolly tub, dolly and mangle.

Most houses either had a shed in the garden for laundry, or people went to the washhouse.

Pre twintubs people used big double sinks for washing clothes and a wringer roller thing (mangle) that sat in the middle. Clothes were dried either outside or on a pully, I last saw one advertised as a 'victorian clothes airer'.

One thing to remember comparing UK houses to anywhere. We have small houses on this over populated island.