Hmmm.. "Right to hang laundry"..

[Amelia Peabody]

Hhhmmm - my lease says no laundry outside. I hang it on the closet doors and on the shower rod. Since Perkasie is right up the road, maybe I'll tie some undies to my car antenna and take a drive....

 

[momrek06]

I lived in a subdivision in Cherry Hill, NJ, that said NO hanging any laundry outside.

I lived in a subdivision outside of Cleveland, Ohio that stated ONLY those umbrella style clotheslines....no stringing lines from tree to tree.

 

[Crystal0608]

I live in an apartment in the city with a shared back deck and me and a previous neighbor had replaced a one line clothesline with a new four line clothesline and I loved it. In the summer, I could air dry 2 loads in about 30 minutes and my electricity bill was lower. Our landlady put up bigger new decks this year, but alas no clothesline. After winter, I'm going to ask if I can put up another (I hang up the undies and bras inside, btw). Luckily, my neighbors also hung dry clothes and had no problems with it. Right now I hang up all shirts on hangers and airdry them on the door openings in the bedrooms.

When I was growing up in the country, about everyone had the same set-up. Clothesline tied up between two trees, pole in the middle to keep the line from sagging. We had three huge lines and me and my cousin used to run through the drying clothes, doing laundry was fun, lol. I think anyone should have the right to hang laundry. It doesn't physically bother anyone else, it saves electricity, and is green.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

When people move into a subdivision or a town that has restrictions like this, they know it straight up front before they buy. Our HOA has some odd restrictions (no clothesline is one of them) and for the most part we aren't bothered by them. If we were, we wouldn't have bought in to the neighborhood. But in the case in the OP, this woman wasn't violating any existing ordinance and the fact that her neighbors didn't want to see her knickers flapping in the breeze doesn't matter. Heck, I don't want to hear my neighbor's noisy motorcycle coming up the street. Oh wait, that's my DH..never mind.

 

[Chicago526]

I think if it's a single family home it should be allowed, and HOA's shouldn't be allowed to ban it. At most, the only requirement should be that it be in the back yard.

The only place restrictions make sense are in condos or other high population multi-family buildings. That could be a bit much, I agree.

I don't hang outside but I do have a line in my basement for items that for whatever reason can't go in the dryer. I have a gas dryer so it's pretty cheap to run, and for me, the savings isn't worth the extra effort of line drying. That said, once we are finished re-doing the back yard next year, I may decide to give it a try because I'm trying to be as "green" as possible in my life. My only worry is that we have a HUGE tree in the back, I'm afraid of birds and squirels "doing their thing" all over my freshly washed laundry!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I think if it's a single family home it should be allowed, and HOA's shouldn't be allowed to ban it. At most, the only requirement should be that it be in the back yard.

I think that goes to far in infringing on the rights of homeowners. If a group of people want to create a neighborhood with a particular set of rules, I think that they should be allowed. I picked our current neighborhood partly because of its HOA restrictions. I like the look of our neighborhood. If people don't like the rules, there are lot of other neighborhoods around that have different rules.

We have a gas dryer at our house and rarely hang out anything but wetsuits or pool towels to dry. During the summer months, we use gas to heat our water, cook our food, heat our hottub and dry our clothes. Our gas bill is usually $20/month. I don't know how much of that is for the dryer, but it tells me that drying clothes with a gas dryer is pretty cheap and awfully convenient.

When I was a kid, our HOA didn't allow line drying. My mother set up a line hidden behind the garage and did her drying there. No one ever complained.

 

[wdwfan16]

If there is no ordinance then she should have the right to do it.

When I was a kid our area has a rule that you could hand your clothes on those umbrella like things and then had to take it down when you were done. They did not work as well but it certainly was a compromise my mother and others could live with. I am not sure they even make them anymore.

I will never hang out my clothes. We allergies and asthma in our home. Hanging out clothes allows allergens to collect on the clothes. My mom stopped hanging out clothes because of this.

I have a new energy efficient dryer that I use.

 

[C.Ann]

What's funny is that the woman in question lives in an 18th Century farmhouse! That house has been there for about 200 years! I would suggest it's the people in the suburban-style houses across the street who have their knickers in a twist over this.

These people....they move to a small town that's kind of country-ish and then act all surprised and upset when long-standing activities of the neighborhood somehow upset them, like moving near a farm and complaining about the roosters, or moving to the country and complaining about the smells or noise.
Sheesh.

Ding, ding, ding.. I think we have a winner!!

 

[NHdisneylover]

If there is no ordinance then she should have the right to do it.

When I was a kid our area has a rule that you could hand your clothes on those umbrella like things and then had to take it down when you were done. They did not work as well but it certainly was a compromise my mother and others could live with. I am not sure they even make them anymore.

I will never hang out my clothes. We allergies and asthma in our home. Hanging out clothes allows allergens to collect on the clothes. My mom stopped hanging out clothes because of this.

I have a new energy efficient dryer that I use.

They still make them. My DH has been working at a factory that produes them for the past 6 weeks helping them triple their prodcution. Demand for laundry umbrellas has really gone up in the recession
I had one in New hampshire and loved it
I am not allowed to sink a concrete hole for it here in my rental but I have two good collapsable racks that I put laundry out on.
Obviously I am in favour of hanging laundry out to dry