Fight For Your Right... to Dry
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 08.24.07
First is was the slow food movement. Next it was slow fashion and slow furniture. Could the glamorous world of laundry be the next slow revolution? As people look for ways to decrease their energy consumption, clotheslines are steadily returning to the American landscape. However, this return to one of the original forms of solar power is being hampered (gotta love laundry puns) in some places. Some local municipalities and many homeowners associations prohibit the use of outdoor clotheslines citing aesthetic and property value concerns. Thankfully, state governments are getting involved in the "Right to Dry" movement. North Carolina recently passed a law that may override the ability for homeowners associations and municipalities to ban clotheslines - and in Vermont and New Hampshire, movements are under way to do the same.
As for those aesthetic concerns brought up in opposition to outdoor clotheslines, we think they are a bit off base. In areas where we no longer build front porches or walk to the market, clotheslines are not only a simple way to use less energy, they are also a way to bring human activity back to neighborhoods. So, as always, we are turning to the talents of you, our readers, for help dispelling the myth of the ugly clothesline. Readers with an eye for design, we want you to take artistic photos of outdoor clotheslines that show both beauty and vitality. Post your photos on Flickr with the tag "treehuggerclothesline" and we will highlight the best shots on TreeHugger in the upcoming weeks.
Apartment dwellers and clothesline prohibited TreeHuggers: stay tuned for some TH-recommended indoor solutions.
::Via Christian Science Monitor
Photo Credit: Flickr - jenster181
My HOA's covenants restrict clotheslines, luckily Florida state law overrides it -
FLORIDA STATUTES
TITLE 11. COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
CHAPTER 163. INTERGOVERNMENTAL PROGRAMS
PART I. MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS
Fla. Stat. § 163.04 (2003)
§ 163.04. Energy devices based on renewable resources
(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or other provision of general or special law, the adoption of an ordinance by a governing body, as those terms are defined in this chapter, which prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources is expressly prohibited.
(2) No deed restrictions, covenants, or similar binding agreements running with the land shall prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources from being installed on buildings erected on the lots or parcels covered by the deed restrictions, covenants, or binding agreements. A property owner may not be denied permission to install solar collectors or other energy devices based on renewable resources by any entity granted the power or right in any deed restriction, covenant, or similar binding agreement to approve, forbid, control, or direct alteration of property with respect to residential dwellings not exceeding three stories in height. For purposes of this subsection, such entity may determine the specific location where solar collectors may be installed on the roof within an orientation to the south or within 45 degrees east or west of due south provided that such determination does not impair the effective operation of the solar collectors.
(3) In any litigation arising under the provisions of this section, the prevailing party shall be entitled to costs and reasonable attorney's fees.
(4) The legislative intent in enacting these provisions is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by encouraging the development and use of renewable resources in order to conserve and protect the value of land, buildings, and resources by preventing the adoption of measures which will have the ultimate effect, however unintended, of driving the costs of owning and operating commercial or residential property beyond the capacity of private owners to maintain. This section shall not apply to patio railings in condominiums, cooperatives, or apartments.
Icheck the North Carolina law. The one that ended up passing had the clothesline portion taken out.
Icheck the North Carolina law. The one that ended up passing had the clothesline portion taken out.
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author's note: Good call Jesse. The version that passed nixed the specific clothesline language in favor of a ban on "energy devices based on the use of renewable resources." According to the Christian Science Monitor article, Project Laundry List is looking for a test case to make this provision applicable to clotheslines specifically.
Way to go NC! (My birth state)
Since moving to the UK, drying my laundry either outside or on a laundry rack inside has been my method of choice. Some people try to claim that their clothes do not last as long when dried w/o a dryer, but I highly doubt their claims!
Hopefully the weather will hold out again tomorrow and I can dry another load outside! My normal schedule is to run the machine overnight (off-peak time) and hang the clothes out as soon as I return from walking the dog. That gives me dry clothes by the middle of the afternoon (or at the lastest, by early evening).
Clothes dryers were a luxury only the very wealthy could afford. We used the clothsline in the winter for freeze drying. Hung in the cellar when outdoor conditions were not practical. society is surely much richer than the first half of my life. Happy to see 'The Rags and Flags' flying again. You knew what people did for a living ,and how they took care of their clothes. 'Dingy or White' was a good judge of character.
Thank you for finding the beauty in such practical daily observances such as clothes lines. AND thank you so much for featuring my flickr photo for your article.
=)
jenster181
Since reading the Laundry list article in Sierra, I have put up two clothes lines behind my home. All I have back there is a patio and I live in the city of Indianapolis. I hope to be a leader and to pursuade others to be environmental and bring back the clothes line. Wish I would have thought of it sooner.
Heather
Wow, that is so good to know. I will have a home in Florida around Fall/2008. I am so relieved to hear that. I just happened to be pricing small clothes lines that could not be seen over my 6' fence.
Thank you so much for the info.
thankfully you can still dry your laundry outside in most homes in Ireland. Here's a photo of ours from earlier this year (sorry, have no flickr account yet)
I saw that there were comments that NC was looking to pass to override HOA's and Community Groups from banning line drying; did it pass? And, net result, can residents in NC line dry without fear of fine from their community's HOA guidelines?
Thank you.
I am interested to know if the culture of using rotary driers (or airers) is well established in the US. In Europe they are widely used and I have invented and marketed a product to create a shelter over the washing, so rain is no longer a problem. It strikes me as an obvious improvement in the chain of evolution in washing laundry from laying clothes on rocks and bushes, then on a line, then a rotary drier and lastly under a rotaire dryline.
The product has international patent cover and I want to sell it in the US - you can see it (and order online) at www.rotaire.com. Thanks, Malcolm
WOW!! So I am a movement!! I live in such a community that for years people looked at me funny when I would hang our clothes out to dry!! My Granny did it my mom did and I continue it. I cannot understand why more people don't do it. As for clothes lasting longer, I agree, I wear my clothes until they fall apart then use the ones not wearable as rags, quilt pieces or more. My husband loves the smell of sheets when they come in from a spring day!!