Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common laundry question

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Nov 16, 2012, at 1:21 AM, fergyb2 <fergyb2 [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

>      Another advantage to common laundry facilities vs every household having 
> their own hook up is use of space.  Not having to have a washer dryer in my 
> unit means I have more space available for closets, or a pantry or whatever 
> I'd much rather have.

We have hookups in the back of closets that can be either used or not. The same 
for second bathrooms. Some people just had the piping installed and use the 
rooms as closets or offices. One is a child's room.

At our first open house for the neighbors, I was showing a group our laundry 
room and explaining that we would also have outdoor drying lines. One of the 
women was shocked and said, "Not in this neighborhood." She associated laundry 
on the line with slums and ghettos. Since we were a predominantly white group 
moving into a predominantly black neighborhood many of us were concerned about 
this perception and their feelings. I don't think that the whole reason line 
drying never took hold but "white trash moving in" was a big part of it.

We also had the problem internally with people not wanting to see their 
neighbor's underwear flapping in the breeze. This conversation was had in the 
same breath as not wanting to meet their neighbors naked in the hot tub. There 
are round drying structures that have concentric circles of lines so underwear 
can be hung inside. Somehow that never got installed. We made a sign so people 
who were naked in the hot tub could put it on the fence to warn others. 

The area in which we would put drying lines, just outside the laundry room is 
next to a very busy street and the railroad tracks with frequent trains of all 
kinds. The dust would affect cleanliness. It's also by the hot tub which might 
have created conflicting images for some, signs or not. And then there are the 
compost right there.

Some people dry on small racks on their balconies. Others do dry some items 
indoors. I often dry towels and large things only partially so they are fluffy 
and then room dry them.

We have gas dryers in the CH, the very large commercial size. They do hold a 
whole washer full of clothes. We have large front loading washers. In our units 
some have Kenmore stacking units and some Bosch. In the Bosch dryers I put only 
half a washer load into the dryer at a time.

The biggest energy savings on using dryers is to watch the clothing, not walk 
away. At 10 minutes some will be dry. I take it out and fold it. By the time it 
is finished, I can take out some more. This is not only faster, saving a lot of 
energy, the fabrics are not damaged by excessive heat and are fluffier. Not 
having to iron also saves energy.

I finally did figure out that the crisp sheets I remember from home were crisp 
because they were line-dried. Out of the dryer they are so soft they feel slept 
in already. I replaced sheets several times searching for those crisp ones 
before I figured this out. It hasn't caused me to line dry, but this 
conversation is reminding me that I could and for the sheets it might be worth 
it.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org