Really stupid question about line-drying

CRANKY40

I do my washing later on in the day. When it's done I hang everything on the airer to give it a start to drying, then I put it out on the line when I get up the next day.

Bitsy_Beans

I never leave stuff out overnight. Stuff gets damp with the morning dew so kinda negates the point of leaving them out to dry.
What sort of nappies are they? All in ones that you can't take apart or are they wraps with removable inserts?
You can always do a wash in the evening, take out of the machine and keep somewhere like washing basket and then hang out first thing in the morning. We frequently do this.

Abbafan1972

I try to get stuff washed the night before or early in the morning, so I can hang them out early enough for them to have a good dry.

I don't leave stuff out overnight, as a previous poster said, they will just get damp again.

weezl74

skintchick I'm not sure which type of nappies you've gone for but cotton pre-folds are drying in 4 hrs at the mo and terry squares in 3. even in march/april it was only 5 and 6 hrs. If you've got the thick all in one kind, my neighbour reckons 9-10ish hrs.

I leave them out overnight sometimes

Hope that helps!

cyclingyorkie

i leave stuff out at night if it's been soaked by the rain.

i also leave it out in the middle of summer if the forecast is good - last night i left out 4 towels and 2 lots of cricket whites. All bone dry by 8.30am - a good start to the day!

aliasojo

No-one has mentioned seagulls so far. Am I the only person whose neighbourhood seagulls do all their best divebombing at night?

I used to leave washing out overnight but as mentioned above, it defeated the purpose as the night dampness caused the washing to stay wet and needed to stay out for hours again the next day. Add the seagull factor to that and it was better to take it in at night.

I second, third and forth (feel strongly about this if you hadn't guessed) agree with putting the nappies in the tumble for a little while when dry/near dry. Nappies and towels WILL be scratchy, I think it's one step away from child abuse to put a line dried nappy on a newborn's peachy bum.

Bronnie

Also quick mention on the subject of 'airing', since we're discussing the mysterious world of line drying and someone mentioned airing cupboards!

When the weather's hot and sunny, I don't bother about airing too much as everythings bone dry. However at other times of the year, you can bring washing in and it's dry but needs airing, to get the last vestiges of any slight dampness out. If you iron, you can iron at this point. Otherwise, I hang on hangers or on an clothes maiden etc, if the heatings on, stack up washing on the radiators for a little while. Basically, I don't put the laundry straight into cupboards and drawers from the line...let it hang around at comfortable room temp for a while. Likewise if you iron with a lot of steam.

Airing cupboards often used to house the hot water cylinder, which meant when the water was hot, the cupboard was a toasty place to air the laundry. However now many people have had the cylinder removed, so basically the airing cupboard is just a storage place and not suitable for airing.

Putting away laundry that is still slightly damp can lead to the laundry getting a bit of a musty smell although our houses are generally warmer than they were in times gone by and I'm sure there are people who are going to jump on here and say they've never aired anything!!

skintchick

THanks for all the replies. To answer the questions, the line is this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brabantia-Wallfix-Wall-Mounted-Dryer/dp/B000NTDDL6.

The nappies are a mixture of these http://www.totsbots.com/nappies/range/pockettot/ and these http://www.teamlollipop.co.uk/shop/erol.html#712X841 It's the second ones which take longer to dry as they are bamboo for nighttime.

We don;t have a bird problem round here as we have red kites which seem to keep most others away, and definitely the back garden isn;t a bird poo zone!

Someone said about putting wet washing in a basket overnight before hanging out but I find that makes washing go musty and horrid - is that something to do with how I am storing it?

Obviously this will change when the baby is born, but at the moment because I cannot sleep at night I am not getting up till 10.30/11am so doing them early in the day isn;t going to happen! But I know that will change when baby arrives.

It's wet here today so will have to dry inside anyway, which is a shame. I wanted the baby stuff to be dried outside but I need to get it ready in case the baby comes early!

I'm a bit embarrassed I don't know all of this, but my mum's line was under a car port roof so she just used it as and when, and left stuff overnight cos it stayed dry under there.

And then I lived in flats until I came here, but I took the traditional line down as I changed the garden layout, which is why we now have the expensive wall-mounted one as it folds up. OH put it up yesterday so I was excited about using it and now it's raining!

oystercatcher

This time of year you can hang things out in the afternoon and they will be dry by teatime (unless it's rainy!) I avoid leaving things overnight as they do become damp again and also birds and insects can cause problems.
It's best to hang wet washing up as soon as possible as it will become musty if left in a damp heap, especially now we are all washing on cooler temperatures as less bugs are killed off.
So the 'ideal plan' is to start the washing machine really early and then hang the washing outside around breakfast time !! Then keep a close eye on the weather and bring it in again if it looks like rain....... hang it up again indoors or out .......
The 'real life plan' is either wash the evening before or as early as you can manage but giving sleep a priority. Then if weather looks good to OK hang washing outside. If it's late in day or poor weather or excessivly busy day hang washing inside.
I know some people like to put washing out whatever the weather but I refuse to hang it up more than once. I'm not spending my day running between back door and washing line!
I must admit I did tumble dry my terry nappies to make them softer. If they are a bit crispy giving them a good rub together will soon soften them up though. Or use those nice fleece liners so the terry isn't actually next to baby's skin.
Once the baby is here a routine will gradually emerge.
Remember men CAN hang washing out as well if trained properly !! So can visitors, trade them a cuddle of the baby only after they have done something useful to help!!

Careful_with_that_Axe

Thanks for the info on airing cupboards. Mine is a very sensible one and has a radiator in it.