So how do I dry my clothes?

[ftm123]

I have read numerous times that drying clothes indoors, on radiators is the root of all evil the cause of many damp problems. So British weather and practicality is such that I can't always dry outside, not everything tumble dries so what's the solution? I am planning a new utility room and I would love to be able to use it to dry clothes inside - is there a way I can do this without Piglet John tut-tutting ? i.e. use of dehumidifiers or some kind of high powered extractor fan? Please educate me!

I dry mine in the spare room with the window always very slightly ajar. Never had a problem with damp.

How big will your utility room be?

I use a dehumidifier, which I put on full blast when I have some line dry only stuff and the weather's normal atrocious.

We have a Lakeland heated airer which I use either in the bathroom with the fan on or by an open window. Never had a problem.

you do your washing by the weather forecast so that you CAN dry it outside. This works year round for me, admittedly I do work from home so can be more flexible.

assuming you have enough clothes, towels and bedding, i.e. more than one set of each, it really shouldn't be a problem unless there is a baby in the house.

I'm in a small flat with no outside space and no windows in hallway or bathroom just hopeless extractor fan. I use Lakeland heater in kitchen and clothes rack and dehumidify er in bathroom.

Lakeland is good for speeding things up and dehumidify good when to warm to have heating on but things still take days to dry.

I have the lakeland heated airer to dry my clothes when they arent outside on the line. Its great.
Never had any need for dehumidifiers or the such.

We have a ceiling airer in our utility so effectively we are just drying indoors. we do have a radiator and the boiler in there and there is an extractor fan (which we don't really use) and a trickle vent on the door. If we are at home then I do leave the door ajar. to be honest we keep the windows locked but on the latch in all rooms in the house all year round and open properly while showering so we have never had a damp problem. We do a wash most days and a load will dry overnight on the airer.

Not at all possible for many people to plan their laundry around the weather.

I use a dehumidifier in my hotpress when i cant dry outside.

I have a dehumidifier. I love it, and things dry so fast and effectively.

A few bits hung up in the utility room drying won't matter but load after load draped over every radiator in the house is no good.

I'm home all day but even I couldn't plan my washing round the weather, so far we've had beautiful sun, wind, now hail and a flurry of snow, all in one day

We have a hanging clothes thing in the utility which is on rope and lowers from the ceiling so it's not totally in the way, put outside where possible, coldish weather is fine just not icy! If you're building a new utility room ensure its got correct ventilation, which will help. Leaving the window/inside doors will help the wet escape and not condense, also not letting it get too cold on any walls as that's where damp will form. Dehumidifiers can work pretty well but do take up space and make it look cluttered, I'd probably see if you are starting to cause damp before getting one. You can also use dampproof paint and even special wallpaper if you're having issues.

What about an old fashioned airer that you hoist up to the ceiling? I've forgotten what they're called.

We use a clothes horse - is that wrong? We have the heating on for an hour or so in the evening and first thing in the morning but we don't have clothes on them. Am I inadvertently causing a problem?!

Where abouts do you live special subject ? It certainly can,t be anywhere near me in the frozen north. In winter time here, you just can't get laundry dry outside. Even if there's no rain, it still won't dry. Temperatures are too low.

Thanks everyone. Planning around the weather, while the environmental option is not going to be practical on many occasions, particularly when I return to work full time. My utility room will be about 1.8m by 3m, and I had been eying up those lakeland driers.

In a stunning bit of bad design, my utility room was not going to have any windows (daylight is at a premium in my house and having it in the kitchen was a bigger priority), it will be next to an external wall so I can vent the boiler, tumble drier, put in a fan etc. but maybe my dreams of drying everything out of sight will have to give in to the practicality of drying it near an openable window. I will look in to dehumidifiers as they sound like a good option where ever in the house I end up drying things.

I would think that having an extractor fan in your utility would be a good idea along with some form of heating. I like the racks that lower from the ceiling on a pully. If you can have a window in the room then that would probably be a good idea too. Sure that would be fine.

This is the one we have - it's brilliant.

www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/1283/seven-lath-gismo-kitchen-maid-reg-clothes-dryer/5dadd13d742b996806a51c226bf9600e

Specialsubject - I i did that, I'd need a room just for the laundry pile.

We had a whole week of fog, once. Everything went mouldy. Even the dog shit on the pavement outside.

We do keep a warm well ventilated house though - we have a timber frame new build.

I have the Lakeland heated airer and use it with the vent on window open and window slightly cracked. Not allowed to dry anything in garden so I have to do everything inside

if you must drape wet washing in the house, put it in a room with an effective extractor fan, and shut the door and window. You do not have to heat the room, but you do have to remove the water vapour from your home.

Some people use a roll-away line over the bath. It will be heavy, so use screws not suckers.

I have two airers against the radiator in my hall. No windows permanently open and heating used as we need it rather than specifically for drying iyswim. Been here 3 years and no damp/condensation issues, hall is long though and house is quite open plan, back door is also open quite a bit for the dogs so guess we get decent ventilation that way.

We use a combination of tumble dryer and also a pulley maid in the ceiling for hanging shirts and anything that needs to lie flat to dry nicely. Works really well. Ceiling is very high though...

I like the look of the ceiling pully things!

Thanks Piglet John, I believe you are the resident expert on such things. Really appreciate your input.