Drying Laundry Indoors Is Unhealthy

Can promote allergies, asthma: study
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2012 9:21 AM CDT
Drying Laundry Indoors Is Unhealthy
Drying laundry indoors may be bad for you health.   (Shutterstock)

Got allergies or asthma? You may want to avoid drying your clothes inside your home: A study finds that many households suffer from too much moisture, and laundry is to blame for up to a third of the damp, the BBC reports. "Going into people's homes, we found they were drying washing in their living rooms, in their bedrooms," a researcher in Scotland says. "Some were literally decorating the house with it. But from just one load of washing, two liters of water will be emitted."

Some 87% of the 100 homes in the study dried laundry indoors when it was cold out. Three-quarters of the households had enough moisture to spawn dust mites. Indoor laundry drying was also linked to the growth of mold spores; some 25% of the homes hosted a type of mold that can cause lung infections. Researchers have a suggestion: New homes should have special drying areas. "These spaces should be independently heated and ventilated." (More laundry stories.)

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