A line in the yard: The battle over the right to dry outside

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/17/america/17clothesline.php

A line in the yard: The battle over the right to dry outside
By Elisabeth Rosenthal Published: April 17, 2008

AURORA, Ontario: Rob and Laurie Cook are not prone to breaking the law, but these days they have been given to a regular act of civil disobedience: hanging their laundry to dry out in the backyard. The deed to their home — like most in this upscale suburb — prohibits outdoor clotheslines as eyesores.

"I thought people passing by couldn't see it, and the developers wouldn't see it, so it didn't bother my conscience too much," said Cook, a retired businessman and former officer in the Canadian Air Force who is part of a citizens group trying to get the clothesline ban overturned, arguing that line drying is better for the environment.

"Using a dryer may have made sense 30 years ago when energy was cheap and we weren't aware of global warming," he said. "It doesn't any more."

The Cooks are part of a loose global network of people who are rallying around what they call the "right to dry." While not necessarily abandoning the electric dryer, they are adding the clothesline and the drying rack to their stable of household appliances, or fighting for the right to do so.

[Warpy]

1. Lesson one: avoid burbs with covenants and stuffy HOAs

If you absolutely must live in one, then try to anticipate things like an old fashioned umbrella type clothesline within some sort of enclosure to keep the prissy neighbors from being too offended and get the variance in writing.

[alstephenson]

2. There's something quaint and nostalgic about clothes air drying on a line...

I wouldn't consider it an eyesore, especially in light of the need to conserve energy. I hope the Cooks are successful.

[TwilightGardener]

3. I love sheets and quilts dried in the sunshine. Mmmm....and I can

put them outside whenever I effin' want to, because that's why I BOUGHT a house and pay a mortgage instead of renting.

[devilgrrl]

4. I like to line dry my clothes - I love the way they smell.

:shrug:

BTW, this was a topic of discussion here last year:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=983813

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. I had a clothesline once

And my neighbor came over and asked if they could hang things on it too!

No covenants or anything. But I discovered that everything smells great and dries fast if you have low humidity.

Clothespins get rusty and can transfer rust stains and you need a lot more than you think. Wind can take all your stuff and drag it in the yard by an end. You have to drape some of the fabric over the line sometimes to be secure and that makes wierd dents. Line drying can lead to more ironing.

Jeans dry like cardboard.

But overall, great! I agree with the person who said get the umbrella type line. I had 2 poles sunk in concrete with the line and really, most of the time I used the dryer.

[Richard Steele]

6. I would never live under an HOA's rule. About ten years ago...

...the furniture restoration business had to do a special
job for one of the regular clients.

We had to take all her vertical blinds to the shop and
spray-paint them, because her HOA demanded that all vertical
blinds in the complex had to be white.

Here's the kicker- hers WERE white. Brand new, right out of
the box, & white.

But her HOA President insisted that they weren't the right SHADE
of white. A little too "eggshell" for the HOA President's liking.

And that's just some seriously messed-up BS right there.

[livetohike]

7. I just brought all the blue jeans in off the line

:-). It was 75 degrees here today.

We heat with propane - it costs a lot to run the dryer.

[KT2000]

8. electric dryers use lots

of energy and cost a lot. They are equivalent to the hot water heater. I dry my clothes on the line all the time - even if I know they will only get half way dry.

[flvegan]

9. Some states have laws that, by Statute, give folks the right

to a clothesline. Much to the chagrin of HOAs, state law trumps their pretty little bylaws. Every state should have such laws.

[Xithras]

10. I just recently restrung our clothes lines.

The house had clotheslines when we bought it, but my wife never used it so I cut the cords down several years ago. She asked me to install them again a month ago, and now she's using them for the heavier, more energy intensive things like towels and denim.