[milmauka]

What about during the winter time, would the clothes dry while being hung or would they turn stiff as a board?

[PinkString]

All year round I hang my clothes with hangers of course from my shower curtain rod. Spaced out evenly so I don't kill the thing. I just did a load of clothes and they are all drying in the bathroom. I've always done this. I also do have one of those weird drying racks a plastic one, and use it for sweaters in the winter. Or anything else I don't want shrinking in the dryer.

As far as the HOA is concerned, I am sure you can have a dryer rack in the backyard. It's not like it's a permanent fixture. If they say no, just bring it in.

[topaz420]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Or, just lose the hang-up about clothes drying on a line. For the same reason HOAs have no control over solar screens, solar power and solar hot water, they should have no control over clothes drying. If everyone in Las Vegas tossed their dryer, it would lead to significant reduction of electricity consumption. Surely we can see that our current consumption isn't sustainable -- even if only on an individual basis.

However, I would never dry my clothes outside because of the dust and grit -- why even wash clothes if they're going to hang outside to get sand-blasted?

Thanks for the tip, Scoop -- I hadn't considered the sandblast aspect.

Have you had any issues with sanitizing though? I was hoping to count on the free UV sanitizing from the sun, since I normally wash with cold or warm water.

Thanks

[topaz420]

6 U.S. states have joined Canadian neighbor Ontario in "banning the ban" on clotheslines:
Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Vermont

In 13 more states, legal challenges are pending based on current laws prohibiting bans on "solar drying":
Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin

The specific Nevada law is Nevada Revised Statues Chapter 111, Section 239:
"NRS 111.239 Prohibition or restriction on use of system for obtaining solar energy on property.
1. Any covenant, restriction or condition contained in a deed, contract or other legal instrument which affects the transfer or sale of, or any other interest in, real property and which prohibits or unreasonably restricts or has the effect of prohibiting or unreasonably restricting the owner of the property from using a system for obtaining solar energy on his or her property is void and unenforceable."

Great article about the current state of affairs:

Clotheslines Bans Void in 19 States

[beachmel]

Originally Posted by topaz420

"Laundry. Outside clotheslines or other outside facilities for drying or airing
clothes shall not be erected, placed, or maintained on any Lot."


The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 6% of the energy use in American homes comes from electric clothes dryers.

Yet many HOAs in Las Vegas, including the excerpt from my own CC&Rs quoted above, prohibit this energy-saving, ecologically-friendly way of drying clothes, even in a town whose climate couldn't be more perfect for it.

Would be great to have a state law preventing HOAs from doing this.

There's even a documentary on the trend of banning air drying across the nation:
Drying For Freedom

Has anyone here had a run-in with their HOA over this issue?

What a ridiculous rule!

[observer53]

The photos posted above are not even from this country, I suspect, and don't represent what would happen in the absence of such rules. I agree with the posters that putting one of those short racks outside, or even using one of those retractable lines that you can run from one patio post from another, is not a "facility" or "structure" for drying clothes.

Clothes last A LOT longer if they are air dried, aside from all the energy savings. And, if you aren't leaving them out there for hours after they are dry, the dust is not an issue either (Phx and LV are pretty much in the same boat here).

[m73m95]

I don't know if its a federal thing or what, but I'm fairly certain HOAs cannot prohibit an energy saving device. Even if it states in the by-laws that you cannot have solar panels, or a swamp cooler on your roof, a court would never and could never let it stick.

IF you wanted to press hard enough about drying your clothes on a line in the back yard, I'm sure you would win.

Sometimes the "green" laws aren't a bad thing.

EDIT - Google searching, it appears only about 1/2 the states have laws limiting HOA's from banning energy savings devices. And, hard to imagine, Nevada is not one of them.

[Robustus]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

No, it wouldn't.

Instead of asking the state government to regulate behavior among neighbors, why not participate in your HOA and work to change the regulation?

+1. This is absolutely the sort of thing that state (and federal) governments should never get involved in. You have to be a little crazy if you want legislators who are that far removed from your particular living circumstances dictating ANYTHING at that micro a level. Even if it's a ban on a ban, it inherently sets (or re-enforces) a precedent that specific micro neighborhood issues are now the provenance of state (or worse, federal) governments.

Got involved at the local level, and take up the issue with your HOA. People don't all want to live the same way; such issues should always remain as local as possible.

Edit: For the record, I'm a huge fan of solar energy, and I love the fact that my HOA doesn't ban me from installing a solar system (which I've been evaluating), but I still find it inappropriate for such things to be addressed in any way at a state or federal level. If my HOA *did* ban me, I'd get a petition together and see if I and my neighbors could do anything about it. If I found myself in a minority of people who didn't want the ban, well, then, that's what I get for voluntarily living in an HOA community. We all make our choices.

[momofvegasgirls]

I'm really kind of surprised by the pollyana-ish attitude regarding line dried laundry by a couple of posters. I was born in 1970 and we didn't have a drier until I was a teenager and I grew up in a solidly middle class suburb on Long Island. Having one was a kind of luxury (electricity was pretty expensive), that I'm sure a few of us, my age and older did not grow up with. Why the horrified thought of WASHED laundry? And line drying laundry doesn't automatically=ghetto. Some people just want their clothing to last longer, some like the fresh line dried smell, etc. Why try to equate the two?

[beachmel]

Originally Posted by momofvegasgirls

I'm really kind of surprised by the pollyana-ish attitude regarding line dried laundry by a couple of posters. I was born in 1970 and we didn't have a drier until I was a teenager and I grew up in a solidly middle class suburb on Long Island. Having one was a kind of luxury (electricity was pretty expensive), that I'm sure a few of us, my age and older did not grow up with. Why the horrified thought of WASHED laundry? And line drying laundry doesn't automatically=ghetto. Some people just want their clothing to last longer, some like the fresh line dried smell, etc. Why try to equate the two?

There are a few items which come out a bit stiff for my taste, but it's nothing a couple of minutes in the dryer won't fix. Seriously, I'm with you. I can't imagine being appalled by clean laundry, hanging on a clothesline. "Oh!!!!! but what about the unmentionables!!!!!" People are shown filmed and photographed IN undergarments and shown on television and in advertisements every day. I find it ironic that somehow, there are people who are offended by them hanging on a clothesline!!!!

To equate clothes hanging on a line, with lower class people?....completely ignorant. It's amazing how some people (who are most likely to lazy to hang their clothes), will justify their behavior by putting down someone else. If you want to use an electric dryer, then use an electric dryer, however, just because your neighbor decides to use the free sun to do the job, don't be an insulting creep about it.