Living Car Free - Illegal Energy Efficient Technology....

I'd heard about this from people, that they'd been ordered to use a clothes dryer instead of a clothesline but thought maybe it wasn't really a law, just jerk neighbors or homeowner's associations but apparently whole governments are passing laws ordering people to waste energy because of "liability issues".


http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/conflict-over-clotheslines-in-greenwich/?hp

http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_12910527?source=most_viewed

What is most odd to someone who grew up in a neighborhood where none of the moms had clothes dryers, everyone hung their laundry, is now there has to be an advocacy group to get the anti clothesline laws repealed:
“The dryer is the leading cause of fires among household appliances,” Project Laundry List said in a statement, “and the second biggest energy-guzzler after the refrigerator.”

http://www.laundrylist.org/

Whats next forcing people to drive everywhere?

How the hell are clotheslines a liability issue? WTF?

How the hell are clotheslines a liability issue? WTF?

Sure.. Ever hear the term "clotheslined" :rolleyes:

While I'm sure there are dangers to clotheslines, I'd be extremely surprised if clotheslines are as dangerous as dryers that use gas or electricity.

People who want to build really energy-efficient homes also have a big problem with government rules getting in their way. If you want to build an inefficient two-by-fours-and-drywall type house, go ahead. Try to build a house out of straw bales, cob, or some other material that breaks the norm in your community and you may find you have a big problem with rules...

"I just bought a 2-bedroom house, but I think I get to decide how many bedrooms there are, don't you? "F--k you, real estate lady! This bedroom has an oven in it! This bedroom's got a lot of people sitting around watching TV. This bedroom's over in that guy's house! Sir, you have one of my bedrooms, are you aware? Don't decorate it!" -mitch hedberg

I dry my clothes inside. I have a clothes rail on wheels, and several spare hangers. Take the wet clothes out of the washing machine, put them straight on the hangars - then, in a day or so when they're dry, straight into the wardrobe, no need for ironing.

I dry my clothes inside. I have a clothes rail on wheels, and several spare hangers. Take the wet clothes out of the washing machine, put them straight on the hangars - then, in a day or so when they're dry, straight into the wardrobe, no need for ironing.

+1

We've got a large drying rack which we put near the fire so the clothes will dry. We also use the rod for the shower curtain by the tub in the corner of the living room area for hanging things on clothes hangers or for the sheets and towels.

I thought about setting something up so we could hang things outside, but there are so many birds out there.


Do you have the square/umbrella outdoor "clotheslines" or "hanging racks" in eastern US? Maybe those would be allowed.

I dry my clothes inside. I have a clothes rail on wheels, and several spare hangers. Take the wet clothes out of the washing machine, put them straight on the hangars - then, in a day or so when they're dry, straight into the wardrobe, no need for ironing.
:thumb: The only problem with not ironing the clothes is that you need to start with shirts that are at least 50% polyester. 100% cotton looks pretty awful after it comes off a line. You also need to flick any bugs off and check to make sure some bird hasn't made a deposit :)



I'd heard about this from people, that they'd been ordered to use a clothes dryer instead of a clothesline but thought maybe it wasn't really a law, just jerk neighbors or homeowner's associations but apparently whole governments are passing laws ordering people to waste energy because of "liability issues".


http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/conflict-over-clotheslines-in-greenwich/?hp

http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_12910527?source=most_viewed

What is most odd to someone who grew up in a neighborhood where none of the moms had clothes dryers, everyone hung their laundry, is now there has to be an advocacy group to get the anti clothesline laws repealed:
“The dryer is the leading cause of fires among household appliances,” Project Laundry List said in a statement, “and the second biggest energy-guzzler after the refrigerator.”

http://www.laundrylist.org/

Whats next forcing people to drive everywhere?

The funny thing is.... this silliness will become a shining example of stupidity for most people. Even people who never dry their clothes outside will now start doing, just to prove they can.

In rural Iowa there are some folks trying to push for a law to ban bicycles on county roads. The outcry has been fierce.

We had the same experience with gay marriage earlier in the year. After Iowa Supreme Court ruled that gay marriages were legal, there were a number of groups that wanted to press for a referendum on the issue (even though they are clearly in the minority on this issue...). Most people just rolled their eyes... "where do you think you are... California?"

A liability issue? Got it in one. With cloths lines in common areas it takes just one kid racing around the corner on his/her bike hitting a clothsline and breaking a neck. Quadriplegic for life and guess who gets to pay. One of those square cloths-lines on a pole that turns and you have an attractive nuisance. See above injury. A sue happy nation and parents not accepting full responsibility for their kids. Hanging up laundry for a family of five was a strain for Mom and Dad got a dryer as soon as we could afford one.


The old clothsline poles were used to hold up a badmitten net and we kids had the responsibility to take it down as soon as we were done.

A liability issue? Got it in one. With cloths lines in common areas it takes just one kid racing around the corner on his/her bike hitting a clothsline and breaking a neck. Quadriplegic for life and guess who gets to pay. One of those square cloths-lines on a pole that turns and you have an attractive nuisance. See above injury. A sue happy nation and parents not accepting full responsibility for their kids. Hanging up laundry for a family of five was a strain for Mom and Dad got a dryer as soon as we could afford one.


The old clothsline poles were used to hold up a badmitten net and we kids had the responsibility to take it down as soon as we were done.

Well a kid could ride his bike into a stop sign or a wall. I myself rode my bike into a "Yield" sign when I lost control racing with another paper boy. Broke my hand. No one thought of suing. The newspaper company had paper boy insurance that paid the doctor even though I wasn't on the route. Weird, the newspaper just insured its paper boys without even telling them or deducting anything.

Hey, we had a family of five. It was so abusive, we kids were expected to do chores around the house like help mom hang and bring in th laundry and do dishes. Not for allowance money just because if you were part of the household you were expected to participate in whatever was going on.

Better get used to clotheslines. FWIW I would never choose to live in an area where HOA's are too restrictive. Currently the only HOA I have is my MIL...as long as I keep the junk up by the barn and don't leave the John Deere (http://image73.webshots.com/173/6/38/54/2062638540066886751yAsghn_fs.jpg) in the roadway I am good to go.:roflmao2:

Aaron:)

There are a wide range of external clothes hanging options:
http://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/clothes-lines

This is a kind of interesting one that folds down:
http://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/folding-frame-clothes-line
There are several different variations on it for use in different spaces.

Retractable ones can be retracted out of the way when they are not in use:
http://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/retractable-clothes-line

A Folding Rotary Clothes Line can be taken down when not in use:
http://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/rotary-clothes-line-folding-head

You can put a cover on your rotary clothes line and turn it into a shaded area in the yard for BBQs:
http://www.lifestyleclotheslines.com.au/clothes-line-cover

And this particular company has a whole bunch of indoor options as well.


When I lived on my own in Winnipeg, I only ever dried my underwear and a few select items. I hung everything else on a small drying rack in the apartment. And now that I'm here in Australia I've returned to hanging everything. In general, I prefer hanging my clothes to drying them in a drier.

I like to do things that have beneficial side effects or that accomplish more than one purpose at the same time. Central heating or air conditioning can make the humidity of indoor air unpleasantly low. Hanging clothes to dry indoors relieves the low humidity for a few hours.

I hang my clothes to dry on an extra shower curtain rod mounted directly above the bathtub. It's in a master bath right next to the bedroom. The extra humidity in the bedroom helps me sleep much better.

I spend a lot of time outdoors gardening and cycling. I'm often quite dirty and always sweaty. In the summer it's not unusual for me to go through four t-shirts and several pairs of socks a day. I don't even bother to put away those kinds of clothes in the closet. I just grab them off the drying hanger as I need them. These days I buy only clothes that can be easily hang-dried.

Central heating or air conditioning can make the humidity of indoor air unpleasantly low. Hanging clothes to dry indoors relieves the low humidity for a few hours.

I like to minimize the use of central heating and air conditioning in such a way that both the temperature and humidity seem reasonable as long as you dress for the season. Saves some more energy.

I have lived in all kinds of places that don't allow clothes lines outside. I just find ways around it like other people. I have a canopy bed that works wonders for drying clothes on and since I haven't used my air conditioner this year, my clothes dry very fast!

I'm pretty sure the opposition to clotheslines comes from rich *****es that think it looks ghetto to have clothes hanging out in the yard like a poor person who can't afford a dryer. And it brings property values down or something. That's what homeowners associations are for.

I'm pretty sure the opposition to clotheslines comes from rich *****es that think it looks ghetto to have clothes hanging out in the yard like a poor person who can't afford a dryer. And it brings property values down or something. That's what homeowners associations are for.

Even in the poor sections of town where people go to the laundromats they pay for the dryer. Very few people take their clothes home to dry on the line or on the racks in their apartments. I used to do it but most shell out for the dryer as long as they're at the laundromat. I was thinking, if you're worried about what it makes the neighborhood "look like" it makes the neighborhood look like there is someone at home, either a stay at home mom or a nanny or something. Wouldn't the hanging wash deter crime since the crook knows someone is at least going to be looking out at the wash? I don't know anything.

:thumb: The only problem with not ironing the clothes is that you need to start with shirts that are at least 50% polyester. 100% cotton looks pretty awful after it comes off a line. You also need to flick any bugs off and check to make sure some bird hasn't made a deposit :)

Luckily enough I work in an office which never sees clients, hence no dress code - I don't have to wear shirts. There aren't very many birds flying around inside my house, and the spiders keep the flies down, so I don't have to worry about insects inside either. I tried hanging outside once, and once only - the multitude of insects, and even worse the pollen, meant I had to wash everything again. It never even occurred to me to buy a drier.

I am the proud owner of a well used clothesline. I don't think anyone will run into it. It is on pulleys and runs from my back porch, about twelve feet off the ground to a tall pine down the hill in my back yard. Most of it is about twenty feet off of the ground. No neighbors have complained about our laundry.

I don't have any drying racks in my apartment yet but I think about it sometimes. Lately I've been taking my wet sheets out of the dryer and putting the bottom one on the bed and the top one over my gravity inversion table to dry. In my low humidity environment they dry in an hour or two.

I don't like the wrinkles or the feel of stiff shirts that are not dried in the electronic dryer machine. I suppose I could get accustomed to it. Do wrinkles come out of shirts once they are worn for a little while? If they do then I probably should find a way to hang all of my clothes.

I wonder how much money it would save me in heating costs. I only do about ten loads per month because I have about twenty-five shirts and eight pairs of jeans. I use all of my clothes before doing a load.

It's probably so when burglars run through your back yard in the dark after robbing you blind, they don't suffer injuries.

I use conditioner, and have my washing machine on the reduced wrinkles setting - when I hang my clothes on hangers, there are no wrinkles. Hangers are much better than drying racks, which leave a crease where the clothes are folded over the rails.

Gravity inversion table? The mind boggles...

I don't have any drying racks in my apartment yet but I think about it sometimes.

A small drying rack goes for about $10, a large one might be as much as $30. They're cheap.

And they're good for bottoms (dress pants, sweats, etc.) ... although jeans may be a bit heavy for them. They're great for sweaters, cycling gear, underwear, etc. As for button-up shirts, they need to be hung on hangers. Our large drying rack has an option to be able to hang shirts etc.

I'm not a fan of button-up shirts, but if you have them and want to dry them with minimal wrinkles, hang them on the hanger, make sure they are straight, button them all the way up, and smooth everything down by giving the shirt some tugs by grabbing an area around the collar and the bottom of the shirt and tugging everything straight. Finish by smoothing down collars, pockets, etc.

A small drying rack goes for about $10, a large one might be as much as $30. They're cheap.

And they're good for bottoms (dress pants, sweats, etc.) ... although jeans may be a bit heavy for them. They're great for sweaters, cycling gear, underwear, etc. As for button-up shirts, they need to be hung on hangers. Our large drying rack has an option to be able to hang shirts etc.

I'm not a fan of button-up shirts, but if you have them and want to dry them with minimal wrinkles, hang them on the hanger, make sure they are straight, button them all the way up, and smooth everything down by giving the shirt some tugs by grabbing an area around the collar and the bottom of the shirt and tugging everything straight. Finish by smoothing down collars, pockets, etc.

I do that to my button and alsoT shirts, they look like they have been ironed when they are dry. I hang my jeans on clothers hangers and also smooth them out like the shirts.
The jeans look ironed too when they are dry. I hang everything in my cellar. I have wooden drying racks and hangers for all my bike clothes near the furnace. The only problem is in extremely humid summer weather the jeans take a long time to dry. But all I have to do is plan ahead.
It saves me about $90 a month because I have an electric dryer.

This makes 0 sense.

Dryers area the leading cause of household fires...and 2nd in energy waisting.

Clothes lines pose almost 0 hazard and use 0 energy. What kind of clothes line do you have where a 4 foot tall kid is going to run into it and break his neck? How about you put up a proper clothes line. We have one in the garage. Its about 6 feet high. Im 6 feet tall and the top of my head sometimes brushes up against it. People saying clothes lines are a hazard are silly. Maybe dont build a 3-4 foot clothes line in the middle of a backyard play area...and ull be fine. Stick it up against a fence or something and theres 0 chance of any hazard.

edit: and btw no1 can stop u from having a clothes line. just put it indoors, in ur garage, use ur shower rack, and extr room, etc...

For some reason back of chairs bike handle bars and the shower curtain rod make great places to hang clothes to dry when the are done washing.

I know that Florida has a state law confirming your right to have a clothesline. Seems the HOAs there are a pain.

I know that Florida has a state law confirming your right to have a clothesline. Seems the HOAs there are a pain.

They had to pass a law for this. Maybe we need yet another amendment to the bill of rights. With all the car advertising, I get that some people think car free is weird but hanging your clothes to dry? I don't have a TV but see it sometimes, is there some recurring theme that hanging clothes is wrong? I don't recall seeing anything where they associate families with clotheslines with pot heads or bicyclists or debt-free or other socially unacceptable groups?

Families with clotheslines are occasionally considered poor ... or perhaps "white trash" ... in certain places in countries like the US and even Canada. That impression seems to be more common in the city than the country.

Families with clotheslines are considered completely normal in places like Australia. Several posts back I posted links to various clothesline options ... that's from an Australian site. Hanging clothes to dry seems like quite a common, normal practice around here.

This makes 0 sense.

Dryers area the leading cause of household fires...and 2nd in energy waisting.

Clothes lines pose almost 0 hazard and use 0 energy. What kind of clothes line do you have where a 4 foot tall kid is going to run into it and break his neck? How about you put up a proper clothes line. We have one in the garage. Its about 6 feet high. Im 6 feet tall and the top of my head sometimes brushes up against it. People saying clothes lines are a hazard are silly. Maybe dont build a 3-4 foot clothes line in the middle of a backyard play area...and ull be fine. Stick it up against a fence or something and theres 0 chance of any hazard.

edit: and btw no1 can stop u from having a clothes line. just put it indoors, in ur garage, use ur shower rack, and extr room, etc...

Good point. If I use a clothline that I have to reach up to use, which I do, it is taller than 6 feet.
At least 6'-6". It certainly reduces the odds of some one being tall enough to get hurt by it.

Families with clotheslines are occasionally considered poor ... or perhaps "white trash" ... in certain places in countries like the US and even Canada. That impression seems to be more common in the city than the country.

Oh, I see, so we make it a crime to be "considered poor" or to display material items that are associated with lack of wealth. Even if the displays are also associated with saving energy too.

Not that its a reason but There was a story one of my teachers told me back in high school. A kid he went to school with would ride his 4 wheeler through a farmers yard to get home every day after school. The farmer did everything he could to deter this kid from doing so. He'd put up barb wire fenses and the kid would cut the wire and ride through. The final straw the farmer put up a clothes line. The kid rode through and was decapitited. The point being clotheslines are weapons on par with automatic firearms able to cause great devistation to communities.

Thats the most rediculous set of laws I've heard of in awhile. Next to Tallahassee's your alligator must be on a leash at all times law....

Oh, I see, so we make it a crime to be "considered poor" or to display material items that are associated with lack of wealth. Even if the displays are also associated with saving energy too.

Well, "we" don't ... or at least "I" don't ... but apparently some do. At least in the US anyway. Over here in Australia hanging your clothes to dry outside seems to be a normal, acceptable thing to do.


Saving energy is only "stylish" during periods when it becomes a popular fad ... it's not a main goal for most people. Convenience, luxury, displays of wealth, etc. are much bigger goals.

Well, "we" don't ... or at least "I" don't ... but apparently some do. At least in the US anyway. Over here in Australia hanging your clothes to dry outside seems to be a normal, acceptable thing to do.


Saving energy is only "stylish" during periods when it becomes a popular fad ... it's not a main goal for most people. Convenience, luxury, displays of wealth, etc. are much bigger goals.
Well in the US its not just clotheslines...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09ehrenreich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

'The City Council in Grand Junction, Colo., has been considering a ban on begging, and at the end of June, Tempe, Ariz., carried out a four-day crackdown on the indigent. How do you know when someone is indigent? As a Las Vegas statute puts it, “An indigent person is a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive” public assistance.'

Hey, if you don't own a car and get around on a beater bike an ordinary American would believe you to be entitled to apply for or receive public assistance so...there you are - branded.

“An indigent person is a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive” public assistance.
Uhh, you mean like the folks at AGI, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, General Electric, General Motors...?

:thumb: The only problem with not ironing the clothes is that you need to start with shirts that are at least 50% polyester. 100% cotton looks pretty awful after it comes off a line. You also need to flick any bugs off and check to make sure some bird hasn't made a deposit :)


I still use a dryer for clothes that need to be 'smooth'. I put shirts and the like in for 5min tops, which gets them all hot and steamy, then take them out and hang them (using the Machka method below) still quite damp on a hanger. They then air dry and end up not needing any ironing except for the most special of occasions. The few minutes of tossing around the dryer in a steamy environment takes out any spin cycle induced wrinkles.


hang them on the hanger, make sure they are straight, button them all the way up, and smooth everything down by giving the shirt some tugs by grabbing an area around the collar and the bottom of the shirt and tugging everything straight. Finish by smoothing down collars, pockets, etc.

I air dried my jeans for the first time last weekend. It was done inside. It took more than 24 hours and I live in a very low humidity environment. They were hung in different places because I had seven different pairs. Some were hung over a shower curtain and some were on a hat rack.

If I were still in Louisiana with 80% or more humidity I wonder how long it would have taken.

When putting them on they feel stiff for a few moments and then they seem fine. I have yet to try air drying my shirts. I'll give it a try this week. Since it takes so long for air drying I think I'll need to wash and dry my shirts before I get to my last one. That way I'll still have a dry one to put on while the others are still wet for a full day.

Since it takes so long for air drying I think I'll need to wash and dry my shirts before I get to my last one. That way I'll still have a dry one to put on while the others are still wet for a full day.

Patience and advance planning... two of the things you need to know when you have to ride a bicycle everywhere. ;)

I still use a dryer for clothes that need to be 'smooth'. I put shirts and the like in for 5min tops, which gets them all hot and steamy, then take them out and hang them (using the Machka method below) still quite damp on a hanger. They then air dry and end up not needing any ironing except for the most special of occasions. The few minutes of tossing around the dryer in a steamy environment takes out any spin cycle induced wrinkles.

I have a friend who irons every piece of clothing she wears. Underwear jeans, you name it. I know that some jobs make you were ironed and pressed shirts. Why cant we as a society just all collectively admit to ourselves that wrinkles are not then end of the world? Then we can all save ourselves about an hour a week to read a book or ride a bike. I never iron anything, and I wear a lot of button ups. I like the wrinkled look myself!

I like ironing. It relaxes me and I'm showing respect for myself and the people who have to look at me.

I like ironing. It relaxes me and I'm showing respect for myself and the people who have to look at me.

Ironing is fairly harmless, but it tends not to be a fossil-fuel-free activity.

I hardly ever wear clothes that could be made prettier by ironing, and that's the biggest reason I don't iron.

I gave away my iron in my recent purge. I hadn't touched it for 5 years, and rarely used it before that.

But most of my clothing don't require any sort of ironing. I tend to wear sweaters or sweatshirts which don't wrinkle. And either jeans or sweatpants.

This is silly. But I think it's important to note that this is "public housing. It's not like the government can prohibit people from drying clothes in their own homes; just in units owned by the "public." If these people don't like it, they should stop depending on government handouts for a place to live.

I air dried my jeans for the first time last weekend. It was done inside. It took more than 24 hours and I live in a very low humidity environment. They were hung in different places because I had seven different pairs. Some were hung over a shower curtain and some were on a hat rack.
Denim is hard to air dry. I hang jeans by the waist band with the legs hanging down. This creates an interesting wrinkle pattern but as you observed the wrinkles work out after you put the jeans on. Jeans don't dry well if they're folded pants-style and put on a hanger. In fact they are at risk for mildew if hung that way.

Back in the clothesline days, fastidious housekeepers used pants stretchers to hang dry pants:

Lehman's pants stretchers (http://www.lehmans.com/store/Home_Goods___Laundry___Ironing___Pant_Stretcher___165703?Args=)

I have pants stretchers but only use those on my lighter weight khakis. Jeans I hang by the waist bands so the water will migrate down to the legs where they dry faster. Sunshine and breezes will help things dry faster, even in 90%rh.

Aaron:)

Geesh, banning clotheslines is akin to me to banning nursing in public and cats off leash. In my city when city bylaw banned cats they got a resurgence of rodents in the grocery stores and businesses. Ah the stupidity of modern/suburban society!

Families with clotheslines are occasionally considered poor ... or perhaps "white trash" ... in certain places in countries like the US and even Canada.

I remember moving from Newfoundland to the Ottawa in the 1980s. In Newfoundland, virtually everyone had and used a clothesline, even (not sure why...) in winter. In Ottawa, I discovered some neighbourhoods where it was illegal to hang clothes to dry. I could never figure it out. I'm pretty sure it isn't that way today, but it was a complete culture shock to know that both Newfoundland and Ontario were in the same country.

Geesh, banning clotheslines is akin to me to banning nursing in public and cats off leash. In my city when city bylaw banned cats they got a resurgence of rodents in the grocery stores and businesses. Ah the stupidity of modern/suburban society!

You just can't argue with progress. Nursing in public, cats running loose, your drawers hanging in plain view... what kind of society would that be? :)

MY PEARL IZUMIs will NEVER SEE A DRYER.,,,,You can have my clothes line when you pry it out of my cold dead hand,,,,,,:twitchy:

I remember moving from Newfoundland to the Ottawa in the 1980s. In Newfoundland, virtually everyone had and used a clothesline, even (not sure why...) in winter. In Ottawa, I discovered some neighbourhoods where it was illegal to hang clothes to dry. I could never figure it out. I'm pretty sure it isn't that way today, but it was a complete culture shock to know that both Newfoundland and Ontario were in the same country.

Newfoundland and Ontario might be in the same country but they are two completely different places. Head west, and you'll discover that the Canadian prairies is another completely different place with a different culture from either Newfoundland or Ontario. Head further west, and you'll discover that BC is different again. Head back east and you'll find that Quebec is so different from everyone else that they keep talking about separating.

Canada is a huge country filled with a lot of variety. Canada is not a mixing bowl like the US ... it's more like a salad ... lots of unique ingredients, which remain unique, and each adds a delicious element to the salad.