drying racks for clothes

[Dovesong]

That thread about dryer sheets made me wonder if any of you use drying racks. My parents in law insisted on buying us a dryer which I insisted I would not use. I have used it an average of once a year. I use a drying rack because it puts moisture into the air which we so badly need at our house. I often do laundry at night so that our room is more moist when I sleep. Also, I hate when the stains get set with the dryer. Then what do you do? With a drying rack you get another chance. Anyone else use a drying rack? I do not like to see the mold no it and wondered if you could give me suggestions about that. Would a few coats of Polyurethane have helped?

[NaturalMamma]

I'm assuming you use a drying rack made of wood. We have 2 drying racks--one that is plastic which I purchased at our local Target or KMart (it disassembles in about 4 pieces) and a foldable one that I purchased at a container/organization store and it is made of metal criss-cross legs w/nylon drying "strings".

We also have a dryer and I use that for my DD's cloth diapers and sometimes a blanket or sheet. I love using racks b/c it preserves our clothes, we have less problem w/static (I live in Colorado where it is very dry) and, of course, is better for our environment.

If my DD were older (she's 2) or I could figure out a way to make it safer, I would consider some type of retractable clothesline in our bedroom. But, we almost always have our rack full so I'm not sure how a constantly-full clothesline in our house would work. I'd love to hang clothes outside, but it gets so dusty here and my DH has hayfever, that I don't think that's an option for us. My mom never used a dryer when I was growing up.

[tabitha]

while this won't remove mold stains in wood, rubbing some tea tree oil into the wood (diluted with water) will stop further molding.

we use a wood rack. i love it. we also have a dryer, but we use a lot of wool with our baby (diaper covers, shirts, blankets, changing pads...) and i like to preserve very delicate clothes.

we don't use dry cleaners for *any reason*, so we have a lot of delicate clothes being wet washed in our house.
i bought my wood rack at our local hardware store, but i recenly saw some similar (but not as nice) racks at wal-mart. they we 12 dollars a piece.

i would try on oxygen bleach solution to remove the mold stains if i had them, not oxyclean, a truly 'natural' bleach. thats just me.

good luck-

tabitha

[Peppamint]

Here's a link to similar discussions at the Diapering board: http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...ht=drying+rack

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...ht=drying+rack

HTH

[branwyn]

we have both a drying rack and a clothesline in the backyard and only use our dryer (a present from SIL) occasionally. the drying rack i have is wood and i purchased it from walmart. we have been using it for about a year and havent had any mold problems (we live in very humid north georgia) yet.
just my 2 cents

[EnviroBecca]

Mildew Stain-Away is a natural product, made from limes and other plants, that's available from many health-food stores and environmental catalogs. It removes mold and mildew. You just spray, scrub, wipe off, then spray another light coat for prevention. I've never had it damage anything yet--and I've used it on books!!

I line-dry everything on a clothesline in my basement. MrBecca made clothesline hangers by taking some boards ~8" wide and 12" long and using a wide drill bit to make a half-circle notch in each side ~3" from one end. Then he nailed the other end to the ceiling joist and put the clothesline around the boards such that it rests in the notches and makes an elongated oval connecting 2 boards, so we have 2 parallel lines ~6" apart on each pair of boards. These are great because when there's no laundry up you can walk right under them without ducking.

In previous homes, I've put screw-in hooks (the kind designed for hanging plants) into door and window frames near the top and tied loops in the ends of the clothesline so I could take it down easily when not in use.

[yoga]

We also use a drying rack I bought at Wal-Mart. I like it, but don't use it more than the dryer. I plan on installing a clothesline outside this spring/summer, so maybe then we'll use the dryer less. We haven't had any mold problems w/our rack, either. It's wood, but the rods are covered in some sort of plastic.

[Seeking Refuge]

I have two drying racks one is the metal fold up kind mentioned above and the other is this awesome thing my mil found at the container store. It is a three tiered rack of metal covered with some sort of plastic coating, it has wheels and best of all folds flat when not in use. Although that is hardly ever keeping up with the five of us is crazy. I will admit I use my dryer more than I would like just because I don't have enough room on my racks to keep ahead of ds's diapers and covers and everyone elses laundry too.

Happy Homemaking,

Steph

[momsgotmilk4two]

I have a drying rack that I use for diaper covers and sweaters that can't be dried in the dryer- it's wood coated with some plasticy stuff to prevent mold and to prevent the clothes from folding. Do those of you who use them all the time have really big drying racks? I do an average of 6 loads on laundry day and my dryer rack doesn't even come close to holding that many clothes! Do you just do laundry ever day? I'm not that disciplined.

[Seeking Refuge]

If I waited to do laundry once a week, I would have 20 loads to do. I have dirty little children.

[Peppamint]

I must confess to only line drying my diapers at this time. That is every other day. If I manage to have dh install a clothesline outside this summer I will do as much drying outside as I can... although I'd use the dryer a lot in the winter I suppose.

We have a tiny house, so one drying rack is about all we can handle.