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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

Outdoor clothes drying - washing line or rotary drier?

85 replies

LadyMetroland · 15/04/2013 14:34

Love the smell of freshly dried washing from outdoors but currently all I have is a clothes horse on the lawn with things draped over it. Obviously then clothes often get blown off or entire horse collapses onto lawn.

Rotary driers seem expensive and a bit of a faff with concreting in the base

But washing lines are a mystery to me - have been googling them and can only find two flimsy posts sold by homebase or argos. No decent info online about them eg how they are put in ground etc. Also, although i have a large garden, there aren't any useful trees or walls to put one end of the line onto - so would probably have to have two posts which might be a bit of an eyesore.

Does anyone have any outdoor drying recommendations? Are there other options I'm not considering?

OP posts:

BarryShitpeas · 15/04/2013 14:35

line

PolterGoose · 15/04/2013 16:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NotInMyDay · 15/04/2013 16:35

I have one of the double retractable washing line. Two huge washes can be dried at a time but all tidied away when not in use. Perfect

PigletJohn · 15/04/2013 20:36

a pole will lean over. A line of wet washing exerts a tremendous, sustained, pulling force.

For the house end, drill and plug the wall and put a Vine eye deep in. Not at the corner of the wall, and preferably at the edge of a wall so the line is not trying to pull the eye out, but pulling sideways on it.

DewDr0p · 15/04/2013 20:41

You don't need to concrete in a rotary line btw OP. You get a metal thing to hammer into the grass and then the rotary line slots into that - it's very easy - comes out when you don't need it too.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 15/04/2013 20:43

I disagree about a long line being an eyesore, a line of washing flapping in the breeze looks nice and the line is more or less invisible when not in use. Whereas rotary ones are ugly whether empty or full and they cost a lot more (just replaced my long line for £4). Washing dries faster on a long line, but it does take a bit longer to put up as you have to walk along it instead of standing on the spot and turning a rotary.

Rotary ones don't need cementing in, just a metal tube hammering into the grass (use a piece of wood to hammer onto or you will bash the edges in and make ot too narrow)

UnderwaterBasketWeaving · 15/04/2013 20:44

I'm with NotInMyDay, it's all about the retractable line. Two lines of washing out, and then retracts and folds against the wall. Perfect!

HorryIsUpduffed · 15/04/2013 20:46

I have a retractable and a rotary.

The rotary is no good for bedsheets or towels but brilliant for small things like children's clothes which otherwise take up a lot of a long line.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 15/04/2013 20:46

The only problem with retractable ones is that they are all about a metre too short for the distance between our house and the shed that the other end is attached to, but I do raise it up out of the way when not in use and buy unobtrusive colours.

duende · 15/04/2013 20:48

I didn't like the idea of a rotary dryer in the middle of my very small garden, we have this:
wall fixed dryer

I can fit the whole wash load on it and you can fold it away when not in use.

HorryIsUpduffed · 15/04/2013 20:48

The retractable is 50ft long. My garden is not. We have heavy duty hooks on two sides of the garden (into brick) and I make a zigzag or X or just a long line, depending on how much length I need (fnarrr). From memory it was under a tenner, plus a couple of extra hooks from b&q.

IsThatTrue · 15/04/2013 20:49

I have both, and also use the clothes horse wedged between heavy things so it can't blow over, when rain looks likely so I can just grab it all in at once.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 15/04/2013 20:52

I keep a couple of those hangers with lots of little pegs on on the far end of my line to do all the smalls and save on line space. They can be grabbed and brought in fast if it rains too.

DeathMetalMum · 15/04/2013 21:04

I have both and agree with Horry. The rotary is great for baby and small clothes but not so for bedding but still dries far quicker than indoors. We have a metal spike in the grass for the rotary.

Our garden is quite short so on length of line doesn't fit a whole load. With both on a day like today I can get two/three loads dried with little effort. Even more if I was more efficent.

DewDr0p · 15/04/2013 21:11

Why is the rotary no good for sheets and towels? (genuinely puzzled) I dry everything on mine in the summer with no problems at all!

IsThatTrue · 15/04/2013 21:11

Yy to the sock dryers whoknows they only cost £1.75 in wilkinsons and I peg pairs on the same peg so they are easy to sort when dry.

I love getting stuff dry on an overcast day, it makes me feel like I've beaten the weather

NorksAreMessy · 15/04/2013 21:14

Rotary drier...and here comes the annual NOrksTopTip

Take out TWO laundry baskets, one full and one empty. Turn the empty one upside down to stand the full one on...then you won't need to bend over so much.

IsThatTrue · 15/04/2013 21:16

Oh and an ikea blue bag makes a great laundry bag!

Bert2e · 15/04/2013 21:22

I love the look of a line hoisted high up over the garden with sheets billowing in the wind......

But I've got a rotary so I can stand on the edge of the patio and not get wet feet when I peg out a load (mine holds at least 3 loads).

Sheets and duvet covers are fine if you get a big enough one and even if it isn't if you peg things out the right way it's fine - peg 2 corners on one string with a peg in the middle for support then peg the other 2 corners 2 strings further out with again a peg in the middle and bingo perfect flappage and no crease in the middle!

HorryIsUpduffed · 15/04/2013 21:29

It's no good for ours because they're superking so they only fit on folded, which dries slower. I can put the duvet cover over the top like a tent (the children love that) but then I can't dry the sheet at the same time.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 15/04/2013 21:33

Yes to Ikea blue bags - the best laundry bags ever (I have about 5 of them). I either sit them on the garden bench or the edge of the trampoline to save bending while pegging things out or if the load is fairly light just keep it over my shoulder. I haven't got space in the house for actual baskets, these all go in a little crate out of the way when they're not in use.

My best find recently is an over the shoulder peg bag, far better for those with long lines than the sort that hooks over the line and you have to keep going back to.

I think long lines are much faster for sheets and towels - on a breezy day my sheets are dry in a couple of hours on the long line, don't think they would be on a rotary (it's years since I had one though).

Bert2e · 15/04/2013 21:36

[shrug] bedding dried in 30mins here on Sunday - warm + wind = fast drying!

PigletJohn · 15/04/2013 21:40

you do, very occasionally, see a Martini-style beach-umbrella cover for a rotary, which disguises it.

I'd like one.

IsThatTrue · 15/04/2013 21:40

I have a small ikea blue bag as a peg bag, I think I like ikea bags

HorryIsUpduffed · 15/04/2013 21:40

I use a cloth shopping bag (the £1 ones with long straps) for pegs. IKEA bags are brilliant too although we tend to use them for swimming things.

I use those collapsing plastic crates because they stack well when full, fold and stack neatly under the washing basket when empty, and are totally waterproof.

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