Laundry issues

Some time ago a reader asked the following:

Patrice, how do you dry bed linens indoors? I have a great drying rack that holds a full/large load of laundry but I still find it challenging to dry bed sheets inside. Some days, like today, it was just too damp and cloudy for the bed linens to dry on the outside line. I have them draped over the clothes rack now but in order to do so, I have them folded several times. If I hadn't hung them outside today, despite the weather, I doubt they'd dry anytime soon folded on the clothes rack. Any tips?

I've been meaning to answer this question for some time, so here's a short history of our laundry (specifically drying) issues.

We have a clothes dryer but hate to use it because it sucks up so much propane. Years ago, Don installed a clothesline for me, which I used constantly during warmer weather.


But during the winter, obviously we couldn't use the clothesline. For awhile it meant we reverted to using the dryer.

Then I discovered standing clothes racks. Oh my, what a difference. We seldom used the dryer after that, during the winter.

But summer time, I still used the clothesline until one fateful day when it simply... broke. Dropped four loads of wet laundry onto the ground. Bummer.

So I went to using clothes racks full-time, particularly since the clothesline broke in October and outdoor drying was about finished for the season anyway.

But clothes racks have their limitations, notably space. If I have a heavy laundry day, I simply run out of racks.

Additionally, it's almost impossible (as the reader above noted) to dry sheets on racks. We used to use our stair banister...

...but it's not good for more than one sheet at a time.

So a few years ago, my dear husband built me a hanging clothes rack, permanently suspended from our upstairs ceiling. This rack holds four loads of laundry at a time. I still use standing racks for overflow laundry, particularly whites (socks, undies, dishtowels, etc.).

The hanging rack has made all the difference when it comes to drying sheets. This past week, since everyone was sick in our house, everyone wanted fresh clean sheets. I had everyone strip their beds, and I was able to hang every last sheet at the same time. Bliss!

Incidentally, we never did re-install an outdoor clothesline. Why bother, when the indoor one works so well? (Though I'll admit nothing beats sun-dried sheets for a fresh smell.)

So that's how we handle our laundry issues.

Article pictures

Last week I submitted two articles to Backwoods Home Magazine. Below are photos which might be suitable for illustrating the articles. These are posted so the editor can choose which ones she wants.

These photos are for the article on kerosene lamps. Some are alternate shots of the same scene.

Lamp Photo 1 -- Washing soot from lamp chimneys. It's best to use a plastic tub or other means to keep the glass from bumping into the sink, which can easily break the chimney.

Lamp Photo 2 -- Washing lamp bases. This illustrates some of the variety of kerosene lamps.

Lamp Photo 3 -- Clean chimneys. Let these air-dry completely, because a wet chimney can shatter if placed on a lit lamp.

Lamp Photo 4 -- A wick trimmed to produce a crown-shaped flame. A little bit of charring at the tip is normal and won't affect the quality of the flame.

Lamp Photo 5 -- Two ways to trim a wick to produce a crown-shaped flame.

Lamp Photo 6 -- This lamp has the wick adjusted too high. The result is a huge out-of-control flame that uses too much kerosene and soots up the chimney. In this instance, the chimney becomes significantly coated with soot within ten seconds or so.

Lamp Photo 7 -- A sooty chimney after about ten seconds of a wick adjusted too high.

Lamp Photo 8 -- A properly-adjusted wick should not be visible over the top of the burner. Adjusting the wick too high is one of the most common reasons people are frustrated by kerosene lamps and smokey chimneys.

Lamp Photo 9 -- The proper way to light a lamp is to hold the match horizontally to the wick, not downward.

Lamp Photo 10 -- A bulk order of burner units which fit onto canning jars, allowing an ordinary canning jar to be converted into a kerosene lamp.

Lamp Photo 11 -- Spare chimneys, purchased at thrift stores and stored in liquor boxes, which have dividers.

Lamp Photo 12 -- A package of new 3/4" wicks. These can be found at most hardware stores.

Lamp Photos 13 through 17 -- A lamp gives enough lighting to read a small-print book if placed close by.

Photo 13

Photo 14

Photo 15

Photo 16

Photo 17

Lamp Photos 18 - 20 -- A collection of kerosene lamps, illustrating some of the variety.

Photo 18

Photo 19

Photo 20

Lamp Photo 21 -- A classic kerosene lamp

Lamp Photo 22 -- A canning jar turned into a kerosene lamp. Not as pretty, but just as practical.

These are photos for the Low-Tech article. Not too many, I'm open to suggestions.

Low-Tech Photo 1 -- Wood cookstove. An excellent multi-purpose tool which cooks, heats water, supplies heat to the house, etc.

Low-Tech Photo 2

Low-Tech Photo 3 -- Food staples such as beans, rice, spices, etc. are versatile and inexpensive.

Low-Tech Photo 4 -- Indoor clothes racks (either standing or hanging) are an excellent low-tech alternative to clothes dryers.

Low-Tech Photo 5 -- Scythes. (Lisa, take note: this photo is only available in 1003 kb resolution.)

Low-Tech Photos 6-9: Scything wheat.

Low-Tech Photo 10 -- Maps won't fail.

Low-Tech Photos 11, 12 -- Books are your low-tech friends.

Photo 11

Photo 12

Laundry issues

Ever since my clothesline broke last fall, I've been using our indoor clothes drying racks. (For new readers, we have a clothes dryer but prefer not to use it because it uses so much propane and electricity.) But clothes racks are expensive and/or hard to find second-hand, so I'm chronically short of drying space when it comes to doing laundry.

So my dear husband offered to build me a clothes drying rack, one that is attached to a pulley system from the roof of our upstairs.

To explain a little something about our house, it's two stories and has a steep-pitched roof on the upstairs. Don's idea was to install a hanging clothes rack above head-level near the upstairs deck doors.

So he made a sturdy frame about five by seven feet. The cross-pieces are rounded on one side so as not to crease the clothes.

He had to measure how far down the sloped ceiling to put the hooks and pulleys.

He used paracord because it's so strong.

Here Don is hooking all the cord through the pulleys and drawing them through a single O-ring so the unit can be raised and lowered on an even keel.

He made a sturdy tie-down anchored into the roof studs to hold the unit at whatever level I wish.

And it works beautifully! Here it's holding a solid three loads of laundry. It can handle sheets (washing sheets is a perpetual problem in the winter because we don't have anyplace large enough to dry them except our stairs banister, which only holds one at a time) as well as extra-large towels. At the same time, too!

Oooh, I just love being married to a woodworking man!