Hanging Laundry to Dry in Overhead Space

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Photo by Ashirah Knapp
Finding space to efficiently dry laundry can be tricky. Next time you’re stuck with a load of wet laundry, try looking up!

When living in a tiny home, using space efficiently is critical. In our 350-square-foot home, hanging laundry for four during the long winter months would be impossible, save for my husband’s “laundry bar” idea. Instead of putting up a traditional laundry line and attaching clothes with clothespins, we ran 3-inch-diameter poles from one side of the cabin to the other. Instead of clothespins, we use regular clothes hangers. Several loads of laundry will now fit onto just a few poles, the clothes are high enough to be out of our way, they dry in a day thanks to our home’s wood heat, and they add some much-needed moisture to the interior atmosphere in winter.

Small laundry items, such as socks, underwear, washcloths and handkerchiefs, can take a lot of time to hang individually. We deal with these items quickly and easily by spreading them out on a rack, and then sliding the rack onto the poles we hang our other clothes on. The racks slide on top of the poles and are supported on either end by them. We use this rack system for drying everything from sweaters and socks to apple slices and acorns.

We made the racks 2-by-2-feet with 1/4-inch hardware cloth stretched between the frames and held in place by nailed strips of wood. One could simply use storm window screens instead. When using the racks for drying edibles, we put food-grade mesh over the hardware cloth.

Ashirah Knapp
Temple, Maine

  • Published on May 11, 2015
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