Drying clothes outside for dummies

freeisgood

Well I’m going to have to break off my Love Affair with my tumble dryer. 

Today is the first day I have hung out clothes for years. I’ve put into action every single air dryer and taken 45 minutes to hang everything out. It’s now spitting so I found a big plastic bag to cover the dryers.
 I have no idea what I’m doing.
If the clothes are still half wet and damp this evening what am I supposed to do? 

Am I supposed to bring everything back in and then put out again I’m worried about the dew soaking everything. 

This is really exhausting and I haven’t even got past lunchtime yet. Only cause I’ve got a day off work I can do this I’m normally out of the house from 8 am to 6 pm so what do people normally do with their wet clothes? I can never use my tumble again 😭
Any advice on what to do when drying clothes outside. Thank you

Martin_the_Unjust

Check weather forecast, if it’s not going to rain get your washing done and hung out on a proper washing line. If the forecast is rain, don’t.

freeisgood

Thank you Martin. What happens when in winter it’s generally raining a lot and every day. I thinking of getting a canopy to install outside. But of course I don’t know is if I still should leave the clothes out all night. I will bring them all in and then rehang in the morning. Will they get completely soaked just being out in the night from the dew?

united4ever

If you can pick and choose your days then do that but with kids especially and school uniforms etc etc we need a fast turnaround so not always possible.

Do you have anything like a Pergola in the garden that you could cover with some corrugated plastic panels (needs screwing down and some kind of pitch created so not very easy but possible)?

There are rotary driers with covers on the market but I heard mixed reviews and never tried them myself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leifheit-Rotary-Dryer-LinoProtect-Aluminum-204-5/dp/B071YYQP45/ref=sr_1_5?adgrpid=106989036409&gclid=CjwKCAjwvNaYBhA3EiwACgndghGSBbmPfswkzwM0Ia2DqwuKfwwxVPwO9CKBGuPNvrki79ElEsjQxxoCLoIQAvD_BwE&hvadid=606138865321&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046454&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14987762479135569677&hvtargid=kwd-320460320788&hydadcr=28519_2402017&keywords=rotary+washing+line+umbrella&qid=1662375225&sr=8-5

CurlySue2017

Get some indoor airers and if you have to bring the washing in before it is completely dry, leave them on the airers to finish off overnight.

If you have a shower curtain, you can put things on hangers and hang them over the rail,or hang them on the backs of doors if you can.

I'm fast approaching 50 years old and have never owned a dryer in my life, never wanted or needed to.  Mum and her Mum before her both managed fine without one, so I can too!

Drying washing outside is great but we all know that in the UK there is a limited window for it, so you just need a back up plan

stuart45

A spin dryer can be a good investment. Have the WM on a low spin, and the the spin dryer at around 2800 revs gets it a lot dryer.

FreeBear

freeisgood said:

Thank you Martin. What happens when in winter it’s generally raining a lot and every day. I thinking of getting a canopy to install outside. But of course I don’t know is if I still should leave the clothes out all night. I will bring them all in and then rehang in the morning. Will they get completely soaked just being out in the night from the dew?

A neighbour would leave her washing out for days on end in all weathers - I suppose it gets a final rinse should it rain...

On the other side of the fence, washing would be done early in the day and then hung out to dry. If it started to rain, there would be a mad dash to get everything in before it got soaked. Banisters, radiators, & airers would be used to get stuff totally dry.

Bendy_House

freeisgood said:

I thinking of getting a canopy to install outside. But of course I don’t know is if I still should leave the clothes out all night. I will bring them all in and then rehang in the morning. Will they get completely soaked just being out in the night from the dew?

Yes, I suspect it will become damp again overnight due to dew. So bring it in when the temp drops in the eve. Back out t'next day.

A canopy is a great idea - even if it's raining, your clothes will still be drying to a large extent. Wind is your friend.

Do you have a garage? Shed? If you can open up a nice through-draught in one of these, then that's the place to put it. But the doors/windows MUST be opened as far as possible.

And then on a clothes-horse inside for a final airing.

Brie

how much washing have you done? 

It normally takes us maybe 5 minutes max to put stuff out on our line (rotary one in the middle of the lawn).  so if it's taking you 45 minutes you either have too much or are being too fussy about how you hang it up (I switched to silver clothes clips so I didn't waste time trying to colour match to the clothing.)

So basically - my rule is do a wash early in the day (so ready to come out by 11? I'm not getting up at 5 am or something).  If it's dry (doesn't need to be warm or sunny) then it goes outside.  If it's raining or threatening to do so it goes on a single rack in one of the bedrooms.  Don't do another wash until you know you have a place for put it to dry.  So hot, sunny and a light breeze?  3 washes in a row as by the time the 3rd ones ready to go out the 1st one will be dry and ready to be brought inside.  

FYI - we do a low cycle spin so things don't get too too wrinkly and don't leave things in the washer after the cycle has stopped.  That means things are unlikely to need to be ironed.  Another big time saver.

Used to be helpful too when I worked in an office across town as the weather always hit the office before our home so I could message the OH about getting things in before rain hit.

shiraz99

If I'm washing I'll check the forecast beforehand for the following day and put a load on overnight so that's it ready first thing. Then I'll stick that on my outside Brabantia Liftomatic (the best imho) airer and if I have another load put that on. This time of year it should be dry by the end of day (6pm), any later and it will start to get a bit damper because of the dew. If they're still damp I'll just put them over an indoor airer and they'll be ready by the next morning.

If you don't want to use a tumble dryer during the winter then I'd suggest investing in a good dehumidifier which has a clothes drying function as this will help dry the clothes indoors without leaving your a house a breeding ground form damp and mould.

twopenny

A good wind will dry quickly even with showers. This is winters answer. 

I have a shower curtain rail for large items not quite dry or swim things.  Again they dry quickly in a small heated room.

It doesn't take me long to peg out. I unload the washing cotton on one side of the basket, synthetics the other. Peg synthetic inner line, cottons outer. Socks and pants I peg onto a hanger like this. £2 from a hardwear shop. It can also be ought in and hung somewhere warm.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/peg-hanger/s?k=peg+hanger

I'd suggest earphones and music while you peg out washing and chill