Entire room taken up with clothes drying racks

[butterplates]

AIBU to seek another way?

We have a second room off our main living room and adjacent to our kitchen. It looks out via double doors to the garden and is a pleasant room though a bit cold in winter. We have a sofa in there and a small table and chairs. I had envisaged it being used as a den by teen DC for when their friends are over but for now they tend to congregate in bedrooms. The small table is occasionally used for homework.

But- I usually have 3 drying racks of clothes on the go in there at any one time. Between work clothes for two adults, school uniforms for teenagers, endless sports and swimming gear, I do a load of laundry every second day. I have a tumble dryer that I mainly use for towels and bed linen. My reasons for not using it more for clothes are partly cost when electricity prices went up and partly because I find the dryer always shrinks things a bit. But I feel we are basically wasting an entire room on clothes drying. I would be so keen to hear what other people do and how you manage this? DH and I have talked about putting some gym equipment in there such as a rower and exercise bike but he actually asked me, what about the drying racks and it seems ridiculous that this is coming before something we could do to be more healthy.

Can’t you dry outside in summer?

To add, I have a line outside that I can use this time of year but obviously that isn't helpful during the many colder months.

I dry my washing outside all year round. Takes some looking at the weather forecast, but absolutely possible. It dries much faster on the line in the breeze and doesn't make the house damp.

I put my clothes airer outside on a dry day (any sort of dry day) and use a dehumidifier next to it in winter if raining to speed the drying process up. You could then use the tumble dryer just for 10 minutes to finish anything off that's still a bit damp after one day?

I do a load of laundry every day and it all fits onto one rack plus a sock thing.

Have a rack or 2 suspended from the ceiling on a pulley system.

Or you could invest in one heated airer such as the Lakeland one?

Heated clothes airer

My friend has one in each bedroom so yes it takes up a bit of space in there but it saves space elsewhere and also the kids put their own washing away (or just wear it straight from the rack 🤣)

I put most things in the tumble dryer, I've never had anything shrink. If you have it on a low or gentle setting it works. I hate having washing hanging around the house.

If drying outside isn't an option I'd try a dehumidifier.

I'm a line dryer when I can tumble dryer in winter, inc towels and bedding. I hate trying to dry duvet covers in the dryer.

Interesting about drying outside year round. We are often out during the day so I can't leave stuff and go given the amount it rains. I had also presumed it wouldn't dry without heat but maybe I need to experiment more.

I have considered the option of a dehumidifier/ heated racks. We have a downstairs toilet with some additional space so more like a small utility but there is no socket in there unfortunately. In the existing room this would take up even more space though I guess might dry them quicker.

We have our drying racks on our upstairs landing ceiling. Lowered and raised with a pulley system. Keeps them
out of the way !

We can afford to use the tumble dryer I guess I just try not to be wasteful, but the shrinking is what puts me off more than the cost. Again maybe I need to experiment!

This is absolute genius!

It's wind you need to dry washing outside, rather than heat ( although that helps).

I actually own a tumble dryer and have never used it- not once- in 5 years!

I've had tumble dryers for over 30 years and never shrunk anything yet!

Same here. If they get wet on the line I just leave them out until they dry. It might need some cutting down on laundry so you only wash sports kit every other wear and towels and bedding less often, but it's doable. I also have a Dolly Maid airer that hoists up and down, but I use it to air things rather than dry them from wet, because my house is quite cold.And I live in the North, but if it's possible to line-dry up here, it should be possible everywhere!

I dry everything overnight, and do smaller loads instead of having fill up the whole house. All sports/ swimming stuff is done on the 20 minute 3kg wash, unless it's really muddy in which case I just stick it on for an hour. This way I never seem to have an overwhelming amount of laundry drying.

The pain with drying stuff outside in winter is the rain.

My mum is a huge believer if you can get stuff outside even for an hour or two it dries much quicker when you bring it into the house.

Drying Racks suspended from the ceiling in your den, second toilet or above the stairwell are the best way to get back your floor space.

I like to tumble to 90/95% ish dry then hang. Stops shrinkage (some clothes are definitely worse than others for that) but it means things hung early evening are dry by morning. Everything goes in on ‘mix’ setting and comes out fairly to mostly dry. Shrinkage is worst if you tumble hot to dry then leave in the machine.

I have a drying rack on a pulley system so no it's up near the ceiling. This is in a utility but I've often seen them above baths (particularly good if things are really wet) or other rooms.
I use the tumble dryer a lot, for everything apart from my smart work stuff and my husband's t-shirts as it does shrink them. But seems fine for my t-shirts, kids clothes, uniform etc.

Can anyone recommend a suspended drying rack? I have three standard floor ones, which are basically part of the family 😅

Interesting about doing sports and swimming stuff on a quick setting. This is a huge part of my laundry burden.

They look expensive but I was in Scandinavia recently and the apartments had shared "drying cabinets" - Asko seems to sell them in the UK but I don't know the brand of the one I used. It was like magic, it had heated air and a dehumidifier I think and it heated the clothes up but only to about 40 degrees I think - so there was no shrinking or anything like that. A whole load of washing was dry within a 45 minutes - I genuinely couldn't believe it.

Watching for survival tips as I'm about to sacrifice my massive utility room for a small utility room/larder cupboard/downstairs shower.

We currently have a Lakeland heated airer, a tumble dryer, a ceiling rack, dehumidifier plus two portable airers that can be lifted into/out of the garden. Plus an outdoor line for those lovely days where the weather is reliable enough to leave it all outside!

Our new utility room will have just a tumble dryer and a small built-in dryer cupboard (about half the capacity of the Lakeland airer) In theory we could have a pull out line or folding airer in the shower room if desperately needed, but this somewhat defeats the object of building a much-needed extra shower. Our heated airer will move into the (integrated, adjoining) garage, but I don't think it will be terribly cost-effective when it's very cold and possibly damp.