Laundry Area In Ems

[pachimko 0]

Dear All EM owners,

I currently shifted into an EM myself and I'm greatly affected by one issue - The availability for a proper area to dry out my laundry.

My layout is such that the balcony or should I say service yard is right in between my living and kitchen. Some EMs come with balcony at the living room and there is these conventional bamboo holders for hanging out laundry from the kitchen window, mine doesn't come with that. The next place I can think of is only the balcony/service yard.

I renovated the house in mind that the balcony space converted as a play area for my 2 young kids, hence we kept it a open concept and removed the existing sliding door and leveled the flooring also for safety reasons. I totally overlook and forgotten about the laundry issues until we shifted in. We could only hang our laundry in the balcony and it look messy with all the clothes hanging and sticky around. I also find it annoying that there is no proper laundry area allocated for such a big floor space. Although my previous BTO was only 92sqm, the laundry area was nicely allocated at the back of the kitchen with a proper laundry system to dry out my clothes efficiently and not sticking out like a sore thumb like in my current EM home. I even wrote in to HDB requesting for installation of the external laundry system at the balcony window but was told that it cannot be done... or maybe I should go speak to the MP for my estate.

Apart from using a dryer... any other options to recommend? The mess is killing me as we are basically staring into the balcony with clothes hanging around everyday, our frequency of laundry are pretty high due to 2 young kids. Any kind souls with any good advise on how to remedy this situation.

Thanks!

[aegis0129 2]

We hang out clothes in the service yard right under the air conditioners, there is no provision to hand them outside of the house. I've seen some neigbours hanging stuff outside of their bedrooms with some after market pole holders which can be installed on windows. Why don't you take a look around your neighbourhood and see how people do it? The family beside me hangs their clothes outside of their living room!

[pachimko 0]

Hi aegis0129,

Thanks for your suggestions. So do you have any sliding or bifold doors to your service yard?

We hang out clothes in the service yard right under the air conditioners, there is no provision to hand them outside of the house. I've seen some neigbours hanging stuff outside of their bedrooms with some after market pole holders which can be installed on windows. Why don't you take a look around your neighbourhood and see how people do it? The family beside me hangs their clothes outside of their living room!

[adidaem 6]

Apart from using a dryer... any other options to recommend? The mess is killing me as we are basically staring into the balcony with clothes hanging around everyday, our frequency of laundry are pretty high due to 2 young kids. Any kind souls with any good advise on how to remedy this situation.

Thanks!

I love my dryer... really life changing in terms of doing laundry. When my sis finally got a dryer (after I strongly recommended getting one since she has 2 kids), she also said it's fantastic. I would actually recommend getting a dryer. If not I see some RT-ers who got those ceiling type laundry system that can extend outside the window. Seems good, but personally I don't like to risk my laundry to the whims of my upstairs neighbours.

[Andreja 0]

I will go with the dryer as well. Except you will not have a mess around the balcony, you will have a less work (not need to hang the laundry any more, just move it from washing machine directly to the dryer) and finally you will have a less for iron because clothes from dryer come out nice and soft so half of them you will not need to iron. Especially big different you will see with towels, when you will take them out from dryer they will be fluffy and soft.

Dryer is like jackpot during the monsoon season when humidity here is very high and you need a day or two for clothes to be dry at the pole or balcony - with dryer they are dry already after one hour and have no "wet" smell after. I use dryer already 10 years and will highly recommend it to anyone.

[Margaret123 0]

:dancingqueen:

[pachimko 0]

I thought of dryer before but my friend advise me against it coz he say the electrical bills gonna jump...

almost double if I were to use it on alternate days. So I killed that idea. So is it true the electrical bills

will be very much higher if operate a dryer almost alternate days in a week?

I love my dryer... really life changing in terms of doing laundry. When my sis finally got a dryer (after I strongly recommended getting one since she has 2 kids), she also said it's fantastic. I would actually recommend getting a dryer. If not I see some RT-ers who got those ceiling type laundry system that can extend outside the window. Seems good, but personally I don't like to risk my laundry to the whims of my upstairs neighbours.

[aegis0129 2]

I thought of dryer before but my friend advise me against it coz he say the electrical bills gonna jump...

almost double if I were to use it on alternate days. So I killed that idea. So is it true the electrical bills

will be very much higher if operate a dryer almost alternate days in a week?

I just jumped on the dryer bandwagon, figured that with a baby on the way I don't want to spend so much time on washing and drying. I did some research on the NEA website and got a 4 ticks Tecno dryer for only 400 bucks. The other dryers with the same ratings are all way above a thousand bucks, I was actually quite sceptical and emailed NEA, they assured me that the tests were done in an accredited lab. If my calculations are correct each wash will only cost me a dollar or less, if you put that in perspective even with 15-20 washes a month your bills are not going to be that much more.... Having said that, I've been using it less than a month and hopefully there isn't no shocking bill next month.

[Bento28 0]

Currently I am using the conventional electrical dryer. There is a new option of gas dryer spearhead by SP service. They emphasized on energy efficiency. Which mean save money!

To top that, I also using a portable drying rack (Roman)in my balcony n "transform" it when my guests arrives!! So I use both method

[adidaem 6]

Is your friend using a dryer? Not true. I find that only people who don't use dryer say such things. Most who are using dryers love theirs, esp during rainy season.

[aegis0129 2]

Is your friend using a dryer? Not true. I find that only people who don't use dryer say such things. Most who are using dryers love theirs, esp during rainy season.

For those of you who worry about cost, you can just go to NEA's website and verify for yourself that the additional costs will not be that excessive. Even if you get a 2 tick dryer, the worse case scenario is that a 7kg dryer will consume about 5.14kw per wash, at 30cents per kw, even with 20 washes it adds up to about $30.

Edited November 9, 2012 by aegis0129

[pachimko 0]

For those of you who worry about cost, you can just go to NEA's website and verify for yourself that the additional costs will not be that excessive. Even if you get a 2 tick dryer, the worse case scenario is that a 7kg dryer will consume about 5.14kw per wash, at 30cents per kw, even with 20 washes it adds up to about $30.

Ah.... thanks for all the advise. Will check out the NEA website.

My friend has a dryer but he uses it like only once or twice a year lo...

Btw... your portable drying racks means its can be folded and kept aside kind?

Thanks!

[aegis0129 2]

I don't have a maid and can only do laundry after work or on weekends, with the weather the way it is now it really is a huge boon. With a maid I think the need is lower as someone can take care of the laundry during the day. Are you asking me about the drying racks? I do have a small single rack one which I use to hang stuff that cannot be put into the dryer.