Indoor washing lines?

[ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts]

Hello :)

I live in a first floor flat, with no access to the downstairs neighbours' garden. With the warmer weather upon us I have encountered the same problem this summer as the previous two summers we have lived here. It just gets so hot in the kitchen running the tumble dryer (condenser - so really loud and kicks out tonnes of heat, not forgetting not economical at all).

I am just sick of it now and have never solved the problem before as I didn't expect to be still living here. Finances have changed now I am expecting DC2 and we cannot afford to move.

So, looking for suggestions as to how to dry my clothes without the dryer. Alot of things I hang over the radiators but things like towels, beddings, socks and pants take up alot of the radiator space, leaving no room for t-shirts etc.

Have been looking at the wall-to-wall washing lines that you fix on the wall, and also looking at just a bog standard free standing airer. I have also thought about doing a pulley system out of my window and fixing to nieghbours' wall but not sure how I would feel having to hang out of the window to peg out the washing, especially when I am 9 months pregnant in a few months time.

Does anyone have any experience of the things I have talked about? Or any new suggestions I haven't thought of?

Many thanks :)

I think it is called 'Leifheit'. You fit them on one side and when in use pull them out and connect to other side of the wall. When not in use they roll up and you only have a small white rectangular box on one wall. They will give you lots of hanging space, brilliant for large sheets and table cloths.

here

I have one of each of these but you would need floor space for them:

tower airer

3-tier airer

They also do the retractable lines:

retractable lines

We have a victorian-style airer in the utility room that hangs from the ceiling & you lower with a pulley to put the washing on. Effective, especially for sheets/towels, but you need a decent ceiling height or you keep walking into the washing.

It's like these:

www.clothesairer.com/category/Airer-Maid-Ceiling-Clothes-Airers/1202/

Seimum - Love the one that comes down from the ceiling but our kitchen has a slanted ceiling (it's a very weirdly built house!) so would be impractical but I love it nonetheless :)

Regarding the ones that fix to the wall, I'm not sure where we would stand with the landlord when it comes to drilling holes. We have to ask for permission to put picture hooks up in some rooms so I would worry about them coming to do an inspection and making me take it down but that would definitely be something I would like to have so will ask them in due course.

And I love that argos free-standing one. Seona, does it fold down flat when not in use? I have plenty of floor space so that isn't an issue, it's just the slanted ceiling that is a PITA.

These are good for smaller items

We have a victorian-style airer hung from a sloping ceiling. It was a bit tricky to fit but works perfectly, although it requires holes in the ceiling which might be a problem if you're renting.

I don't think I'd dare put holes in my ceilings, they'd probably collapse

yes the airers do fold when not in use although mine always have something hanging on them! I tend to use the tower one for tops, underwear and all the kids clothes. It is not so good for jeans, heavy jumpers, etc so I use the other airer for them. I can hang about 4 or 5 loads on the 2 of them together. The tower one is also good for towels, sheets, etc as I hang them from the top with clothes pegs and they dry much faster.

We live in a flat and one of the best investments I've made is a retractable line. It makes the place feel so much bigger and less messy not to have clothes horses standing all over the place.

It would be well worth making good any holes when you leave, IMO. Running the tumble dryer is so expensive that it would probably pay for itself fairly quickly. The landlord may even be happy to let you install it and leave it.

Couple of decent free standing clothes horse and you never need to use the dryer again. Family of 2 x grown ups and 1x 5 year old have been living in 2nd floor apartment for years without a problem. In fact we got rid of our rubbish washerdryer (well, it died) and replaced it with a washer only that had a bigger capacity. Decent washer, and clothes horse has reduced number of loads probably by 30%.

we have an airer hanging from the ceiling. Everything dries overnight when the heating is on or on a hot day. The rest of the time might take 24 hours.

If you have the space I love love this

I can get at least 2 loads of washing on.

I also have one, bog standard one which is tall enough to chuck a double duvet cover over and not have it trail on the ground.

this for over the bath

and this to stand in the bathrom with hangers on

Lakeland do a heated airer - like a standard one but you can also plug it in and it heats up gently to dry clothes quicker. I've got one and it's brilliant. About £70 but v cheap to run and folds away too.

I've got the tower airer mentioned by seona - it is BRILLIANT, versatile and folds flat, or you can just pull 1 side open. I put it in front of a sunny window - and I have a garden too but still use it all the time. I stand it outside in the summer.

I got the Argos minky one :) put it up yesterday afternoon put a load of washing on it in front of an open and sunny window and it was dry by bedtime.

Best investment ever.

Thank you all for your input :)

I am delirious at the thought of the ceiling airers. When I was a child, all houses had these, and we had one in the utility room of the house we had in the UK. Quite right that you need high ceilings, though.

Just bought a house in Oz, and if the laundry ceiling isn't high enough, one will be going in the the vast garage for rainy day drying.

Still keeping my vow never to have tumble drier.