Drying clothes in a flat

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

So SIL and DB are currently house hunting but live in a 2 bedroom flat with their 5 year old and a young baby.

SIL’s pet hate is clothes take forever to dry there, she almost always mentions this when she visits both mine and DM’s houses. They have no outside space to dry clothes either.

DM got a heated airer for them but it’s apparently too big to use yet and they’ve got storage heaters and no radiators so basically they just use a clothes rack and the hot pipes in the boiler cupboard.

What else could they get? Washer drier? Are there small heated airers? I mean at least it’s warmer and lighter now.

Dehumidifiers are brilliant (but you do need to maintain them - vacuum them and clean them about once a month, or they go wrong). A super effective and cost-efficient way of drying clothes - I can dry a load overnight with only a few hours of the dehumidifier running.

Washer dryer

We dried lots in our old flat on a drying rack still, just one that folded in half to take up less space and we wheeled into bedroom out the way.

But the dryer is a lifesaver for bedding, towels, jeans and other basics that take ages to dry.

Also, we switched to hamman towels. Thinner to store, quicker to dry

• Tumble dryer
• Combined washer/tumble dryer, although apparently they're not as good as a separate tumble dryer
• Dehumidifier: put laundry on racks in a small room and close the door. Plus side: actually removes the water from the air. Takes hours though.
• Heated airers: I don't know if they remove water from the air too.

Are they currently just drying laundry indoors? What about damp?

Dehumidifier and heated dryer combo was what worked for us. Put it in whatever bedroom isn't used throughout the day in the morning and it will be dry before bed.

I would have said heated airer but not sure which they have. The one we have is taller than it is wide. We have also in the past used the racks that you can put on the radiators so clothes are not actually on the radiator and you can do more. They worked for us as we used them upstairs on in the radiators behind the sofas.

dehumidifiers are said to be good but they still need to hang the washing somewhere.

we had a washer dryer before and it lasted us over a decade so I wouldn't rule they out.

so they have outside space where they can put up a line or a balcony where they can put up an airer

other tip is smaller loads which may sound silly but it is will be more manageable for them to dry several smaller loads than one big one if there is nowhere to put

if not drying outside I make an effort to go around and check how things are drying and turn them. I move things that are 90% dry to the back of a chair if a need the space

open windows to avoid damp

If they have high ceilings then a ceiling airer is brilliant, and gets the warm rising air.

I would use a dryer in a launderette. The drums are huge and it's more economical to dry a large amount together.

I've even seen outdoor washer dryers popping up at service stations and small supermarket locations.

You ain't want to be drying clothes inside a small flat.

My heated rack is no bigger than my old, non heated one? I don't understand why they wouldn't go that route? In a small flat, I'd go for a heated one and aim to ensure that you are hanging up clothes before bed so they're all dry by the next morning.

I think they do have damp but it’s not that bad. Honestly it’s been going on for a few years and they moved out over lockdown to where SIL’s DPs live to a place with a tumble drier and outside space to dry.

I honestly can’t see the argument behind them not using the heated drier my DM got them as their flat isn’t that small (it’s quite big) but it lacks storage space.

No no outside space at all!

These all sound good ideas thanks plus @Caspianberg ’s tips too, the Hamman towels sound good.

They’re aiming to move this year but preferably in time to get their son into his third year of primary school.

SIL is like me, impatient but if I’ve been over there and stayed it takes forever to dry anything!

To pp who said launderette, yes this has been tried but it’s a pita dragging a buggy down 2 flights of stairs and a 5 year old and baby there and then waiting so they don’t want to do that regularly.

Combi washer-dryers are terrible, don’t bother!

They should be using the heated airer + cover and running it overnight. Wake up, put dry clothes away and no floor space taken up during the day. Running it in the bathroom with the window cracked open is also a good idea, because bathrooms tend to be the best place for ventilation too.

Dehumidifier is essential! I'm in a small flat and things dry overnight with dehumidifier running on laundry mode, on a rack in the living room. Flat is not damp at all.

Washer dryers aren’t crap now, you can get really efficient ones. It’s just they almost always have a higher wash than dry capacity. Ie 9kg wash and 5kg dry. So if people fill them and try drying the whole full wash it will take ages.

If used properly they will still be a great help. for example they could do a dark wash with children’s bedding in. 8/9kg worth. Then, open machine and take out children’s clothing and smaller items. Hang those to dry. Put dryer part on with bedding in or thicker items which will be 4-5kg.

Tumble dryer with long vent you stick out of a window when using.

I had it in bedroom (as a tv stand) or spair room. (With sone fabric draped over it)

I swapped for a washer dryer some years ago and so miss my tumble dryer.

Every washer-dryer I've used makes stuff really creased. Perhaps there are some that don't but I haven't made their acquaintance.

Combi washer dryers are good so long as you respect the fact their drying capacity is about half the washing capacity so you either need to do half loads or hang half up at the end of a cycle. We had a Bosch one for several years and zero complaints. For everything else I had a drying rack which I kept in the bathroom, as can run the extractor fan in there and also turn the heated towel rail on separately to the heating.

I found you have to be on it and get the load out as soon as it finishes. Otherwise the steam seems to condense so not only can it go a bit damp again, it can set creases. Or at least that was the case with our Bosch one. But half loads emptied immediately and it worked perfectly.

We live in a 2 bed flat with a 3 and 2 y/o and honestly all the driers made me so sad, even the heated one wasn't enough. From past experience I don't like washer/dryers.

We bought a tumble dryer as winter set in and honestly it's life changing. We keep it in our bedroom so it also heats that. It also hasn't made much difference to the elec bill and it's just so nice to fold all the washing away.

Thanks for this! My DB and his wife are any day now putting in an offer on a house locally - so hopefully this will mitigate their clothes drying needs!

I really feel anyone's pain especially with babies/young children - in a flat! And then if you do dry and it creates damp - why do the builders of the flat (or whoever sorts this out) just allow storage heaters and nothing else, yes, they're cheap!

I think for you, the tumble drier in the bedroom is the best solution, win win on both heating and drying clothes.