7 ms·
I have a similar clause in my rent contract in Germany, forbidding line drying, and first I didn't really understand why people care about this (I planned to us
by bonoboTP 6y ago
I have a similar clause in my rent contract in Germany, forbidding line drying, and first I didn't really understand why people care about this (I planned to use the communal dryer anyway).
But to be explicit, it's because the optics of visible laundry makes people associate to poor people who have no other drying options. They don't want the neighborhood to look like poor neighborhoods.
Maybe it will become one of those environment-conscious hip modern things and then they will start allowing it again...
- fiblye 6y agoMeanwhile, living in Japan, if you tell people you prefer to machine dry your clothes, they’ll tell you outright that it’s wasteful. The assumption is that it’s only used when rain makes it impossible.
- Al-Khwarizmi 6y agoIn Spain the attitude is similar, but for different reasons. Environmental consciousness is sadly low in general, but cult to fashion and looks is strong. Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes. When I was looking for housing, I visited some really luxury apartments (that I could never afford, but visiting is free and I'm a curious person, so why not) and having a good place to line dry clothes was always seen as a boasting point, never associated to poverty in the slightest.
- exceptione 6y agoI guess that you still centrifuge clothes, but do not tumble-dry them?
- slim 6y agoyes
- hombre_fatal 6y ago> Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes. So does UV light.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y agoBut less.
- throw0101a 6y agoDepending on the clothing item, turning it inside-out may help (e.g., reduce colour fade).
- pmiller2 6y agoNot only that, but it helps protect screen printed elements on graphic tees and such.
- fiblye 6y agoYour clothes get faded in the sun. A dryer quickly wears down the fabric and makes holes.
- jxramos 6y agoI remember reading somewhere where an author realized all that lint they collected from their dryer was a result of their clothes literally falling apart fiber by fiber. In other words all the mass of the lint didn't just spontaneously form breaking some conservation of mass law but came from the clothes shedding and abrading against each other.
- mstade 6y agoOn the Swedish west coast where it's often windy and sunny we typically line dry our laundry. We do have a machine dryer, but it's typically only really used when there's too much humidity in the air (which doesn't happen often) or it's raining. Line drying typically yields better and more even results in my experience, especially when it's breezy.
- dahdum 6y agoMost of the dryers I've seen there didn't have external vents, and were often combined with the washer. They were really lousy at drying. Do you think that's part of it?
- kaybe 6y agoAnother reason is that if you do it inside your flat (which many people do in Germany) and then do not open your windows enough there will be mold. Especially in winter this can be a problem.
- tikej 6y agoIt’s not true. If building has any reasonable ventilation (and it must have one in order to pass inspection and norms) it should has at least 3-4 air exchanges per hour. So drying inside wouldn’t make that much of a difference to cause mold by itself. It may be different if ventilation system is not functioning properly but in that case it should be fixed anyway.
- majewsky 6y agoAre you refering to German building codes here? Most German apartments that I know have no active ventilation system except in the bathroom and maybe the kitchen.
- tikej 6y agoAs far as I know, yes (although I don't live in Germany) but with disclaimer that it possibly allows old buildings to stay with the ventilation they were build with (which used to have decent ventilation via fairly poorly airtight doors and windows). It doesn't matter whether it's active (and by active you mean having ventilation hole in the room or fan?) or not – it should provide necessary exchange anyways. Maybe it's not true for the old buildings that weren't updated but in that case they are not healthy to stay in – whether with or without line drying.
- clarry 6y agoThat can happen (look out for dew on windows), but usually the heating season leads to the air being too dry. That's uncomfortable and can e.g. damage wooden instruments.
- throw0101a 6y agoYou'll probably get as much moisture in the air from a hot shower or boiling a bunch of pasta. Regardless of the source of moisture, this is a sign of poor construction via not using proper building science. The vapour barrier needs to be on the warm side of the insulation so there are no cold spots where condensation can occur.
- morsch 6y agoNot that you claimed anything else but: A bit less than half of all households in Germany have a dryer[1], air drying is very common. Your landlord cannot prevent you from drying clothes within your flat, any terms to that end in your lease are void ([2], IANAL). [1] https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Einkommen-Konsum-Lebensbedingungen/_Grafik/_Interaktiv/hh-haushaltsgeraete.html https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Einkom... still more than I expected [2] https://www.mieterbund.de/index.php?id=597 https://www.mieterbund.de/index.php?id=597
- desert_boi 6y agoRunning a dryer in my Northern German apartment in the summer was miserably hot. I can see why they're rare in places without widespread AC.
- karatestomp 6y agoBanning line drying is the kind of thing you do when you're afraid your neighborhood might be mistaken for poor if there are a few backyard clotheslines. It's a middle-class class anxiety thing.
- jxramos 6y agoI wonder if these methods would be allowed if one put up a frosted glass greenhouse of sorts to obscure the view yet allow sufficient light and wind to pass to allow them to dry reasonably well.