Be Energy Smart with a Clothes Drying Rack

The electric clothes dryer is a relatively new invention that first became popular in the late 1950s. Up until then, our moms (or the maid, if the family was so lucky) dried the family laundry on either clothes lines or on clothes drying racks.

Those exterior lines were very practical when the weather was fine, but didn't work spit when it was raining or snowing outside. For those days when Mother Nature didn't cooperate, all that wet laundry was hung indoors where it would dry over several days. For families with large porches and basements, the laundry was hung on retractable lines that were stretched between the rafters.

Smaller homes relied on a more portable system, such as the drying rack. The advantage of the clothes drying racks, also known as laundry drying racks, is they could be pushed near the fireplace at night, and back out of the way during the day.

What exactly is a clothes drying rack?

A clothes drying rack is a series of wooden dowels connected to wooden side supports. What makes the drying rack so portable is that the side supports collapse when the rack is not in use. A collapsed drying rack is only less than 5 inches in height, weighs just a few pounds, and can be tucked under a bed or in a closet.

Traditional drying racks, such as the ones our grandmothers used were made of pine. These tall slender racks held about 25 lineal feet of laundry and are still available today for around $35. Discount department stores carry a smaller version of this rack, which is made of a thinner dowel and collapses to about 3 inches in height.

Some of these smaller racks are made of either metal or pine, cost around $15, and hold 18 lineal feet of clothing. These inexpensive racks aren't nearly as well constructed as the traditional ones, and can not be used for heavy laundry, such as jeans and blankets. They are however, excellent for drip drying delicates and other light weight clothing.