Does anyone dry their clothes on a clothes horse in the garage or...

[coodawoodashooda]

does it make the garage damp? I can't dry my clothes inside on a clothes horse because the house gets damp. Any tips please?

The issue with the garage is that it will be cold with no wind. I suspect it will take a while for clothes to dry there (but you can try!).

Unless you have a very well sealed garage door (which they usually aren’t) you shouldn’t have an issue with damp.

I dry towels and bedding on a clothes horse in the garage all through winter, it's well ventilated. Just pop them in the airing cupboard to finish them off. Saves a fortune on electricity.

I had to heat ours to dry them, or they just smelt mouldy.
Only one way to find out though.

A dehumidifier would solve the damp house issue. They are little miracle workers.

Washing line outside, dehumidifier for inside or heated clothes horse.

It won't dry well in the garage.

We have a wind out awning over the back door. All year round, whatever the weather, the washing goes on an airer and goes outside under the awning. Even if it's raining it protects the washing and gets some air through it. I bring it in overnight and it's mostly dry in the morning, then I bung it in the airing cupboard, or if really damp a quick whizz in the tumble drier.

My DM did but the oil boiler was in it so it didn't get damp. I dry outside as much as I can but sometimes if things are not quite dry I finish them off over the radiator or 15mins in tumble dryer. I have one of those
Dryers which you can hang shirts jumpers etc. It has notches for hangers and put in my shower and open the window

If I put clothes on an indoor airer rack thing, and stand out outside in the sun, will they dry ok or will the middle bits stay damp?

We have the washer and dryer in the garage- its accessible from the kitchen. We only tumble dry smalls and socks so the rest is on wobbly old clothes horse in the garage.

Our garage is far to narrow for modern cars so we use it like a utility room. Clothes dry fine

It would be better to dry indoors with a dehumidifier. I find it helps dry the clothes quicker as well as preventing the room getting damp.

I use a clothes horse and a dehumidifier, my one has a "dry the washing" setting and if I position it right I also get the benefit of the air outflow helping to dry the washing too.

The trick is to do it in as small a room as possible, so that the dehumidifier is not trying to dry out a large volume of air too.

If you can afford one, get a dehumidifier. It literally sucks the water out of the air and solves this problem.

Without that you will have constant damp problems if you dry laundry inside with windows shut, because the moisture has nowhere to go except into your house.

Bathroom with window open a crack

Thank you everyone. I wasn't sure that anyone would respond to such a boring thread title. Think i will invest in a clothes horse so that I can get the big towels aired in the garage if it's raining and accept that the smaller clothes items will have to go in the tumble dryer.

@SickAndTiredAgain

You’ll be able to just dry in the garden pretty soon (if you avoid washing on days where it will rain all day!).

Our garage wouldn’t work, as it’s cold and a bit musty etc so the clothes would probably smell a bit. We dry clothes in our south facing bedroom (so gets quite warm even with winter sun), windows open/dehumidifier on. The room doesn’t get damp at all. But we’ll be drying outside soon anyway.

A few days ago I stripped my bed and dried it outside when it was very windy, my night clothes too, going to bed was heavenly that night. I use a rack in the bathroom if I can't dry outside and keep the window open, no problems with damp.

I dry indoors but ensure I have ventilation. A window open a crack etc. That’s what causes the damp - lack of ventilation.

I live in a first floor flat with no access to outside drying. So I have no choice but to dry my washing indoors.

I put the things I’m able to in the tumble dryer, but the items that I can’t put in (which is many) I dry them on a normal washing horse, in my living room (the warmest room). No dehumidifiers, no windows open and I’ve experienced no damp at all. And I’ve been drying them this way for the entire 25 years I’ve lived here.

My dryer broke just before Christmas so I have been managing without since then. We have dehumidifiers upstairs and downstairs but I only hang the washing on an airer downstairs or on radiators if I have masses.
I have become obsessive about washing and watching the weather so I can hang stuff on the line.
I try to do a wash load each day and hang it on the airer overnight and it’s usually dry within 24 hours but DH complains about always having washing hanging around.

I have whirligig washing line and always used to hang washing from the inside working outwards but a couple of weeks ago I saw someone on TikTok with a load on each side of the line. I thought it was insane and would take much longer to dry but gave it a bash and bugger me, my washing dries so much faster and I can just yoink a full dry load off the line before hanging out the next one.

Today was perfect outside drying weather so outside as much as possible. Otherwise it's a clothes horse and dehumidifier in the dining room.

We dry the majority of our clothes in the garage - that’s where our washers and dryers are set up.

I say garage, maybe more of a basement? The house is arranged weirdly so that although the garage/basement opens out on to the drive on one side the other side is buried in the hill.

We don’t have any damp problems - heavier stuff like jeans gets put on radiators but pretty much everything else drys on the airers.

@coodawoodashooda

Thank you everyone. I wasn't sure that anyone would respond to such a boring thread title. Think i will invest in a clothes horse so that I can get the big towels aired in the garage if it's raining and accept that the smaller clothes items will have to go in the tumble dryer.

I'd tumble the towels as they hold a huge amount of water (and smell awful if they don't dry quickly) and the smaller things would dry easily on the airer.

I put my clothes on hangers and hang them on a rail up high inside the airing cupboard. Clothes dry overnight if they’re not too bunched together.

I use a heated airer and it’s fantastic. I have it in the room where I work and it doubles up as a cheap heat source. I dry some things flat and arrange everything else on hangers around it. It keeps the room so warm that things dry v quickly. I leave it on all the time in the winter - 24/7 - though I might have to revisit that decision next winter 😬

I find winter tricky. I have a heater airer and if it's not windy is turn it on outside. Otherwise I have the windows to the kitchen open, like a fridge but we have had very bad damp before.

Our garage is converted in to a utility room, so while it's properly insulated it can still be pretty cold in the winter. When I'm drying washing on the airers in there I use an oil filled plug in heater and a dehumidifier. Takes about 3-4 hours to dry a full load, a little longer if it's something particularly heavy and thick like jeans. With no heat or dehumidifier it'd take days to dry!