Dwight Merriam on The Right to Dry

Tammy Campbell
Nov 4 · 4 min read

Here, from Dwight Merriam, one of the county’s best-known real estate lawyers and a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, is what you need to know if you chose to dry your clothes outside, as we return to a “greener” lifestyle.

You don’t see many people air drying their laundry these days, but there is increasing interest in returning to the old ways. It may be hard to believe, but there are many laws against it, for which you may be fined by the government or your sometimes not-so-friendly homeowners’ association.

First, why the renewed interest in air drying? Some of it is driven by the desire to be “green” to help save the planet by reducing fossil fuel energy usage. Air drying can save the release of 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year for each and every household. It takes over 100 trees to absorb than much carbon. And dryers cause over 12,000 residential fires a year.

Second, some of the interest is economic. U.S. households do more than 660,000,000 loads of wash every week. The energy cost for one load in a dryer is $0.21-$0.49. That dryer can add up to 10 to 20% of a typical electric bill, taking third place behind lighting and the refrigerator. The lifespan of a dryer, even at an average of just one load per day, is 11 years. Replacement is $600 and more.

Third, air drying is much easier on your clothes and helps them last longer. Air-dried towels are excellent exfoliants. Stores sell “special” towels just for that purpose; for example, Target has an Earth Therapeutics Natural Exfoliating Hydro Towel. That will cost you $6.99, or you can just hang your ordinary towel outside in the breeze, and you will have your own homemade version for free.

Finally, and you won’t even be able to imagine this until you’ve experienced it. There are few greater feelings than sliding into a bed with sheets taken from the clothesline, with that smell of the open air and a slight crispness to the fabric. Glorious.

But what about the legal impediments? Local government appearance codes often prohibit outdoor clothes drying, especially where it can be seen from the street. The notion, a misguided one, is that the appearance creates a kind of blight. Unspoken is the perception that it is a sign of lower economic class, people who can’t afford a dryer. The fact is, today, it is a sign of social consciousness and perhaps wealth, as in having those extra minutes to hang out your wash.

Zoning regulations, typical of many places including, the Village of Romeoville, Illinois, may prohibit clotheslines in your front yard, corner side yard, and side yard.

Homeowners’ associations often prohibit outside drying in the CC&Rs and declarations of covenants and restrictions. For example, Camino Village Homeowners Association in Sacramento provides in its documents that “The maintenance of outside clothes lines, except within fenced yards so as not to be visible from streets or the ground level of adjoining Lots.” Without a six-foot-high fence all around your yard, you won’t be drying outside in Camino Village.

California has attacked the problem directly by amending its statutes to protect the right to dry: “Any provision of a governing document, [of a homeowner’s association] shall be void and unenforceable if it effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts an owner’s ability to use a clothesline or drying rack in the owner’s backyard.” Other states that protect the right to dry, at least to some extent, include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Florida, for example, has a state law that prevents any deed restriction, like those in a homeowners association, from keeping you from hanging out your laundry: “A deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or similar binding agreement may not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources from being installed on buildings erected on the lots or parcels covered by the deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or binding agreement.”

So, if you want to join the movement, save yourself some real cash, and maybe help save the planet, what do you do?

First, check for any restrictions on your property. If there are prohibitions, petition for changes.

Look at your state laws. They may override your homeowners’ association restrictions.

Talk with your state representative and senator about getting a change to the state law to allow you to dry your clothes outside.

If your city, town, or county has such restrictions, you can seek a change. You may find you are not alone, that many others would try air drying, at least some of the time for some of their laundry. It is always good to have the option, regardless.

And, really, there is nothing anywhere equal to the smell and feel of air-dried sheets. Try it, and you won’t go back to that energy-guzzling dryer.

About Dwight Merriam:

Dwight H. Merriam has practiced law for four decades. He represents land owners, developers, governments, and individuals in land use matters. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President and of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a former Director of the American Planning Association, a former chair of APA’s Planning and Law Division, a former chair of the American Bar Association’s national Section of State and Local Government Law, the Connecticut member of Owners’ Counsel of America, a former Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute National Advisory Board, a Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a Counselor of Real Estate, a member of the AARPI, and a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Written by

Tammy Campbell is a freelance journalist, entrepreneur, avid blogger, and writing consultant.

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