Clothes drying solutions

[Werk]

We have just moved house and there is nowhere obvious to dry clothes - I did not realise this when looking round as, although there is a utility room it is also the downstairs loo.
DH doesn't think we can dry clothes in there for that reason. There is also no window, just an extractor fan.
In my old house we converted the old outside loo into a utility - it was great, tucked away. We installed heating and ran a dehumidifier- a load dried in a few hours. We had a pull out thing on the wall and a separate airer which I stuck outside on sunny days.

We now seem to be having wars with the airer - DH doesn't want it in the kitchen so he moves it into the hall. I hate it in the hall because it is the first thing you see when you come in.

I don't want it in the bedrooms.

So where do you dry your washing (obviously when it can't go outside). I am going to invest in a tumble drier but not everything can go in that.

There might be space for a small pull out airer on the wall of the bathroom but it will spoil the look, I think.

So, what do you all do? Does anyone have one of those old fashioned pull down things? We could possibly have one of those in the utility (if DH can get over the loo thing) but how high does the ceiling need to be?

1930’s semi, so no utility. We have a tumble dryer in the garage, now it has been rebuilt and is actually dry in there. We also have a washing line used whenever it’s not raining and those over radiator / 2 bar things in all the bedrooms. We also have a clothes airer which by necessity has to go in a bedroom, it moves around the largest kids room or our room. I hate the constant washing everywhere but not much we can do. When we move I will be looking for a utility with space for washer/dryer/dehumidifier and airer! (I reckon if you stacked the appliances it could be a very small space to serve the purpose)

Tumble dryer, & the odd bits that can't go in we dry on a large towel radiator next to it.

We have airers in a spare bedroom

Do you need a downstairs loo? I would be tempted to convert that space to a dedicated utility if you have no other space? We have no dedicated area for a clothes airer in our house and it drives me crazy! It ends up in the living room when I can't dry things outside and I hate it. We will definitely have a separate utility in our next house.

And I wouldn't put an airer in the bathroom cause I'd feel like I'd have to take stuff out of there when people were showering to stop it getting damp again which would be too much hassle.

I use a lakeland heated airer in the dining room. Put it on before bed, all done by the morning so I can put it away.

We have a Lakeland heated dryer in a spare bedroom. The dryer is like a plug in clothes horse and there's a fabric cover to keep the heat in. It works fairly well when we can't dry clothes outside. (No tumble dryer.)

We have the old fashioned hung from the ceiling aired above the top of the stairs works really well.

At 5pm every Friday, our spare room changes from being my WFH office to being the Laundry

During the week, the airer goes downstairs in the dining room during the day whilst I'm upstairs working. Yes it's unsightly but I figure we don't have a choice. OP, what's wrong with using the hall if it's big enough - you can't be having that many visitors at the moment?

@RandomMess

We have the old fashioned hung from the ceiling aired above the top of the stairs works really well.

Oooh, now there's an idea. A custom-size pulley maid in the stairwell. The only difficulty would be when putting the washing onto it, but I'm sure that's not insurmountable. What a wonderful use of dead space

@EggysMom we have this too and it is brilliant, you stand on the landing to hang it and then hoist it up to the ceiling. And of course heat rises so it dries quicker. Family of 5 so we still need to occasionally get the airer out, we are lucky to have a spare room/office for this though.

@EggysMom DH is so tall he can reach bastard so it's his job 😂 the rest of us just lower it.

my airer is beside the radiator in my dining area

Where are you planning to put the tumble drier? Could you put a heated airer there instead? (Everything can go on airer, not everything can go in drier. I would choose airer.)

Over the stairs could actually work...

Yes, we need a downstairs loo - 2 DC and only one other proper loo (and a saniflo which scares me 😂).

The hall is just unsightly, we have a window and glazed panels in the door and so is visible from the street (not that it is busy and you would have to stop and look, hmm maybe I am wrong).

In the utility room/ loo there are cupboards all down one side - one cupboard has space for the washing machine and drier with a worktop above, the next one along has the hoover, ironing board etc.

I am going to measure up to see if we could fit an airer above the washing machine and airer but I am not sure it would fit with the door closed (and the doors can't stay open as they block the door to the room).

Ceiling airer in kitchen (not ideal as have to take stuff down if I’m cooking smelly things). Tumble drier (rarely used). Airers in office. Dry stuff on the line outside as much as possible. Putting the ceiling airer above the stairs is GENIUS.

@UtilityLayout

Where are you planning to put the tumble drier? Could you put a heated airer there instead? (Everything can go on airer, not everything can go in drier. I would choose airer.)

I'd do this if possible.

Mine is in my bedroom with a dehumidifier. I hate it.

I use outside line when possible and tumble drier as a last resort.

We're extending later this year but not enough to give me a utility. I'm thinking of getting a ceiling pulley thingy above the kitchen area, together with a small amount of space in the cupboard that will house the boiler.

You can get different sized ceiling airers and if need be cut the poles shorter.

I have an airer on top of the washing machine and tumble dryer. No window but there's an airbrick and an extractor fan. No problem with mould.

Pulley airer over the stairs here too. It’s brilliant.

I feel your pain.

Our ceiling airer must have paid for itself X 1000 over the years. Its been in the kitchen, utility room and currently in the garage. Things dry much faster than a floor standing airer, you just need a ventilated room with a bit of heating. Depends what you hang on it but normal height ceiling is fine if it's over a worktop/table. Get your extractor changed for a humidity activated one if it isn't already.

In winter, I have two airers in the lounge with a dehumidifier that I leave on over night. It all gets draped so that there’s plenty of air around it, using two of the metal strips for one t-shirt for example. It’s mostly all dry within 24hrs.

I use this on the bedroom door with highest setting on the dehumidifier and they dry in about 4 hrs. You can surprisingly fit loads on there. I got it from Dunelm I think.