photo credit: erix!

Most of the popular designs from manufacturers such as Household Essentials, Moerman and Whitmor offer in the region of 30 feet of drying space per folding rack. The average price of these standard drying racks is around $25.00 and they can be used indoor and out which makes them especially versatile.

When the washing is done and the clothes have dried, you may need to iron shirts and what better way to ensure that they remain crease free while you complete your ironing than with a Folding Laundry Drying Rack.  Some people have used them to hang wet shirts on so that they can dry on hangers making ironing far easier to do.  Although these designs do not have a lot of drying space, they are still very popular.

While most of the folding drying racks mention above are difficult to move, especially when they have been loaded with washing, there is a specific design that is ideal for easy mobility and for those who may wish to transfer their washing from outdoors to indoors quickly.  The Hill 3 Tier Mobile Airer has a large drying capacity of over 21 meters and can be adjusted to hold both short and long items of clothing.  It comes on wheels for easy moving and folds away for easy storage.  This particular model retails for just shy of $60.00 and has received five star reviews from all of those who have taken the time to review it online.

photo credit: LornaJane.net

Retractable wall mounted clotheslines are ideal for anyone who has a garage or area that they could use as a drying area but which is presently used for something else.  The most popular manufacturer of retractable clotheslines is from Household Essentials and their top model is the Whitney Designs 15-7 Five line clothes dryer which retails for around $50.00.  The vinyl coated, polyester core lines can extend 34 feet for a total of 170 feet of drying space.  There is the option to purchase a receiving bracket sold separately which you can use to attach to a wall or post.

Folding Clotheslines like the  are also great as they can be used and then collapsed and stored.  They can also be relocated quickly and without effort, particularly the models that have wheels on them, so you can move them indoors and outdoors depending on the weather conditions.

For clothes that can be dried on a hanger, the pop up hanger airer is a small and compact, easy to store option.  They can be placed indoors or out and can also be used to hang ironed shirts on to prevent creasing while ironing.  They don’t offer a huge amount of drying space, but are ideal for those who need to wash work shirts and would prefer them to hang dry rather than peg dry.

Both Flexoline and Rick Steves Clotheslines work on the same principle that you feed your damp clothes through the rubber braiding so that no pegs are required. While these lines will stretch, they are somewhat limited to their maximum stretch capacity. The greatest advantage of these little devices is that they are small and inexpensive with the average price range between $7.00 and $13.00. Both of these models have rings at the end of the clothesline which will require that you hook them to something in order to dry your clothes.

LC Industures and Woolite have their own version which comes with suction pads at the end for easy attachment to walls, but they are not ideal for those heavy items such as towels or jeans. For those camping or travelling, the Gelert Wind up 6.3m Camping washline may be just the answer. It includes two hooks for wall mounting and also comes with eight rust resistant pegs that are coated in plastic.

What should you be looking for when sourcing your own wall mounted airer?  The first thing you want to look at is the length of washing line that is available to you when you have it extended to its full length.  Where possible, it should be easy to retract and should not cause any knotting of the lines when you put it back.

Remember that you have to attach the one side to the wall and the other will need to be attached to some item, either wall, tree or purpose build pole.  Knowing where you are going to locate your wall mounted airer will make a big difference to what it will be attached to which could alter your costs quite considerably.

There are other models of wall mounted clothes lines including the static and the concertina style.  Neither of these require that you have an adjacent wall or pole to secure to and although they often do not offer the same amount of line for drying, they are ideal for small spaces and the concertina style can be pushed flat against the wall to reduce the space it occupies when not in use.  Many of these devices are very affordable, but are not ideal if you want to hang extensive amounts of washing.  For those people who need the extra line, but still need to have a convenient wall mounting, the Brabantia 375842 Wallfix Wall Mounted Rotary clothes line is the answer.

Although it retails for around $120, it is compact, folds and opens easily and has received good reviews online for its ability to deal with high loads.  It is still recommended to balance heavy loads such as bedding and towels, but for convenience and quality design, this is the best on the market.

Household Essentials: -

Household Essentials has a range of umbrella clotheslines with aluminium arms for more support.  They range from 12 line, which offers 165 feet of drying line, to 30 line, which will give you in excess of  210 feet of drying line.  The base pole is anchored into the ground via a plastic ground sleeve.  Reviews on this product showed that althrough it was value for money retailing at around $50, it was not suitable for heavy use as it was not as sturdy as some people had hoped.

For those with daily washing, you may wish to opt for a umbrella clotheslines that is permanently placed outdoors and cemented to the yard.

Moerman Umbrella Clothes Dryer:-

Moerman have a slightly better heavy duty umbrella clothes dryer, 88342 Laundry solutions multistage heavey duty 4-arm, which is capable of dealing with more weight and can handle a batch of towels without much hassle.  It offers 164 feet of clothes line and is easy to open and close as you need it.  It also spins easily with a spinning radius of eight feet to make loading the wash line that much easier.

Moerman also have a selection of other umbrella style washing lines ranging from the 88341 to the 88343 which offers 170 feet of drying line space.  Again it is not as stable as a permanent washline, yet if you are prepared to balance your loads, this is a much more finished product and the price reflects that.  You can expect to pay in the region of $60-$80 for a Moerman Umbrella Clothesline.

Whitney Designs:-

Whitney designs is well known for its washing lines and although the parrallel washing line is not fundamentally an umbrella design, it is easy to catagorise it as such.  Features of this model include:-

photo credit: intlJoe

They can be placed in a variety of different outdoor spaces including balconies, but if you intent to place it indoors, you will need to consider ventilation.  Some of the best ways to achieve this is if you can create a breeze in the area through windows or alternatively if this is not possible through a ventilation fan.

Some retractable airers will require an additional structure to be suspended between.  This can be achieved by a tree, a hook on a wall or perhaps even a purpose installed pole.   Some other features that you will want to check are…

1.    Does the retractable clothesline have a tightening knob to ensure that the lines do not become tangled and remain taught?
2.    Is the handle durable enough to deal with extensive pulling and retracting?
3.    Can the lines be easy retracted and can the device be easily installed.?

Converting your patio or deck into a green laundry drying area is easy and effortless with a retractable design, and once your washing is done, you can convert it back to a place of leisure with little or no fuss at all.

Remember to research a variety of different designs and find reviews on the products before you make your purchase in order to get a feel for what other consumers are saying about your chosen retractable clothesline and it’s features.

photo credit: fotologic

Although vented dryers are supposed to eliminate all dust particles through the venting mechanism, it is well documented that a fair amount of these dust particles become captured in the venting pipes as well as in the machine itself.  This is why cleaning your dryer is such an important aspect of having one.  Even with a very clean dryer, the amount of dust that is expelled into the air is enough to cause respiratory problems in people who are prone to this kind of illness.

While drying your clothes in a dryer is faster, it also will wear your clothes out faster.  The small additional time required to dry your clothes in the sunshine will save them in the long run and there are other advantages to drying on a clothes drying rack out in the sun.

1.    Clothes dried in the sun tend to be naturally bleached due to a reaction of the moisture with the sun, which means less chemicals and even washing power are required.
2.    Clothes are naturally sterilised to the UV radiation.

The savings will not only be felt in your electricity bill, but your detergent bill and the longevity of your clothes.  Your family will benefit from healthier living conditions too.  Having stiffly dried clothing is not very popular, so how can you combat that…  A quick spin the dryer with a dryer ball for just five minutes will do the trick, but be prepared to loose a little of that fresh washing smell.

photo credit: davidChief

So what type of clothes drying rack is going to suit you and your family?

The questions you need to answer are:-

1.    How many people am I washing for?
2.    How much space do I have?
3.    Do I want my airer for indoors and outdoors?
4.    How much do I want to spend?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can easily locate the best clothes airer for you.

photo credit: Phil W Shirley

There are a variety of different shapes, sizes and designs to choose from including retractable airers for those with limited space or who wish to keep the airer out of sight when not in use all the way to rotary airers and wall mounted designs.

Alternatively you may decide to invest in an airer that can be moved around and relocated should the need arise.  These are great for use during the winter months where they can be taken indoors and used.  Concertina style airers and fold away airers are ideal for this.  You may also opt for airers that are manufactured from wood rather than the standard plastic coated metal or perhaps you would be interested in a ceiling mounted clothes airer which can be mounted about the bath to prevent dripping onto tiles or carpets.

Whatever your decision, there are a few factors to take into consideration before you make your purchase.  If you have a large family with extensive washing, then the rotary design is the ideal.  They can handle more washing, are sturdier in construction than the retractable options and even have designs that can fold away relatively easily.

For smaller families or couples, the retractable wall mounted airer  can be the right choice.  They  are compact and can be mounted on small balconies as well as in backyards.  They can also often be arranged to open as far or as close to the wall as required for the amount of washing you have that needs drying.

photo credit: stef thomas

If you are planning a holiday and want to ensure that you don’t have to use costly laundry services, then taking along a travel airer can keep you in control of your dirty laundry.   These are also fantastic options for people who travel in RV’s as the limited space can become a problem if you don’t find the right drying facilities.

Another option that some will consider viable is the ceiling mounted airers.  Although this design is predominantly used indoors, they can also be mounted on porches and verandas that have a ceiling and are versatile in that they can be used both indoors and out.

If you first concern is that your washing is going to be soiled by birds or other critters, there are screens which can be placed over your washing to prevent such things from happening.  Many people who lived in coastal areas find that this helps seagulls and allows the clothes to dry naturally and without any fuss.

So why would you want to dry your clothes on a dryer rather than use a tumble dryer?

Besides the obvious answers of saving money and sustainability, tumble dryers tend to expel dust particles into your home no matter how well they are vented.  This is a problem for people who experience asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

The average life expectancy of a tumble dryer is around seven to eight years, whilst an airer cost a fraction of the price and should last at least double that amount of time.  While it is true that drying your clothes in the winter is difficult and with our lives as full as they are the convenience of having a dryer has become ever more important, it is possible to use indoor heated dryers that will reduce the amount of energy required and will still dry your clothes quickly and effortlessly.