CDing in an apartment building with shared laundry

[windymama]

I did CD my son for almost 2 years so I have the stash.  Unfortunately we used to primarily do the CD laundry at my mom's but we now live 2 hours from her so it isn't feasible.

We live in a 20+ unit apt building and share 3 pay HE washers and 3 pay dryers.  We are not allowed washers or dryers in our units due to previous flooding and humidity issues.  As it is I'm doing about 8 loads a week of laundry and with the baby it'll probably go to 9-10 without CDs.

I'm wondering how many of you who CD face the same circumstances.  I've never done CDs in front loader HE washers and since they're coin-op I don't have control to add extra rinses or spins.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[chel]

not knowing the size of your family, that seems like a lot of laundry to begin with.  especially since HE washers take a really long time.  my HE whites cycle is 85 minutes, so 10 loads would be over 14hrs of laundry of week.

since you have to pay anyways.  maybe taking it all to a laundromat to do at the same time might be easier.  just line them all up!  plus, you get to use a top loader for diapers!

[windymama]

Originally Posted by chel 

not knowing the size of your family, that seems like a lot of laundry to begin with.  especially since HE washers take a really long time.  my HE whites cycle is 85 minutes, so 10 loads would be over 14hrs of laundry of week.

since you have to pay anyways.  maybe taking it all to a laundromat to do at the same time might be easier.  just line them all up!  plus, you get to use a top loader for diapers!

85 minutes!  Yikes.

It must be because our washers are commercial, hot wash/cold rinse (there's no special options according to load type or size, just water temp) takes the longest at 29 minutes.  The dryer is in 1 hour increments only so total time for one load from dirty to clean is 90 minutes.  Since I can do up to 3 loads at a time I only spend 6 hours on laundry a week.

Laundromat isn't really an option with 3 kids under 5 and we may not have the car.  Plus our laundry room is only $0.75/load which is nothing compared to the laundromat.

[EviesMom]

I've known a family that did it on another floor (washer/dryer on each floor) in my building. I wasn't comfortable doing it in shared machines because we had a few snippy people on our floor who were obnoxious when I used them to wash and dry never used prefolds to prep and fluff them. "Uh, they've never been used. I'm running them multiple times to fluff them up for use."

I have an HE with a condenser dryer in my apartment. It doesn't fluff prefolds well for the first run, but it does a great job other than that! Less items can go in at once, which I'm guessing is what's happening with your number of loads. We do about 8 loads a week for 4 people and no baby. When I do a laundromat on vacation, it's 4-5 loads for the same amount of clothes and linens. The wash cycle is pretty quick here, but the dryer is sloooooow. (I just run it overnight and another load during the day usually). I usually alternated between running 2 washer cycles for a diaper load and 1 washer cycle for a diaper load. That seemed to work fine. You might also be able to prioritize poopy dipes for double wash and wets for single wash. 

[TeamG]

In our old apartment we had a small washer in our suite but we dried everything in a communal laundry room.  So I can't comment on the washing issues, but I would suggest once the diapers are clean you might want to bring them home and hang them to dry.  If other people are using fabric softener sheets in the dryers, their residues could end up on your diapers.  I'm convinced that this was the root of our old repellency issues. 

[PatioGardener]

I wash mine in the shared apartment front loading washers.  I do separate loads of inserts and pockets to make sure that everything gets really clean, add vinegar and tea tree oil to the detergent (Allan's) and hang to dry in my apartment.  My guy is pretty much pooping on the potty (EC) but I miss about 1/2 of his pees, so the diapers aren't poopy.  Even so, I have to admit that I sneak in and out of the laundry room with them in case someone throws a fit! 

[windymama]

TeamG - thanks for bringing up the dryer sheet point.  We don't use them and haven't for years but I know quite a few people do in our building.
 

Originally Posted by PatioGardener 

I wash mine in the shared apartment front loading washers.  I do separate loads of inserts and pockets to make sure that everything gets really clean, add vinegar and tea tree oil to the detergent (Allan's) and hang to dry in my apartment.  My guy is pretty much pooping on the potty (EC) but I miss about 1/2 of his pees, so the diapers aren't poopy.  Even so, I have to admit that I sneak in and out of the laundry room with them in case someone throws a fit! 

PatioGardener - do you prerinse (dunk in toilet) or just shake off the poo and throw them in?

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by windymama 

TeamG - thanks for bringing up the dryer sheet point.  We don't use them and haven't for years but I know quite a few people do in our building.
 

Originally Posted by PatioGardener 

I wash mine in the shared apartment front loading washers.  I do separate loads of inserts and pockets to make sure that everything gets really clean, add vinegar and tea tree oil to the detergent (Allan's) and hang to dry in my apartment.  My guy is pretty much pooping on the potty (EC) but I miss about 1/2 of his pees, so the diapers aren't poopy.  Even so, I have to admit that I sneak in and out of the laundry room with them in case someone throws a fit! 

PatioGardener - do you prerinse (dunk in toilet) or just shake off the poo and throw them in?

Fortunately most of his poo is directly deposited into the potty (he ECs), but if I miss I do pre-rinse by hand.  He is still having breastmilk poops, so dunk or shake won't work, and if I don't rinse immediately after a change I find I get a lot of staining.  I hang the rinsed diap (pocket only, not insert ever) to drip dry in the tub and then it can sit 3-4 days in the bin before I wash.

Then I skulk to the laundry room