Key Takeaways. Do not leave laundry outside at night as it risks humidity and bad odors. Better to spread it out during the day for good drying in the air fresh.
Yes, you can hang your clothes out at night. It'll take much longer to dry, given the lack of sunlight. Bats - old wives' tale. Might be worth investing in a tumble dryer though, if time prevents you from hanging clothes during the day, or if there's a lack of space for a clothesline.
Leaving wet clothes in the washing machine overnight is generally not recommended for several reasons. Wet clothes that sit in a closed, dark, and damp environment, such as the washing machine drum, are prone to developing unpleasant odors and even mildew.
Also, make sure to never dry your garments open-air at night. The reason why we should not dry garments at night is because the humidity level increases drastically at that time. However, the higher the humidity level, the higher the possibility of bacteria and fungi growing there.
Q: Is it OK to leave clothes out overnight? A: Yes! Nothing bad will happen to your washing if you leave it out overnight, other than it will get a little damp from any dew. In the height of summer you don't even need to worry about dew.
Do not leave laundry outside at night as it risks humidity and bad odors. Better to spread it out during the day for good drying in the air fresh.
The short answer is yes, but it can take up to 12 hours to dry clothes outside in the winter. This means that you may even need to bring them inside to finish the drying process and make sure your laundry isn't damp.
Experts have found that clothes put on drying frames or draped over warm radiators raise moisture levels in our homes by up to 30 per cent, creating ideal breeding conditions for mould spores – and one in particular called aspergillus fumigatus, which can cause potentially fatal lung infections.
While clothes can pick up and spread germs, in most cases, the risk they present is low. (1) “The main reason not to sleep in outside clothes is discomfort,” Robert Philip Lindeman, MD, Ph. D. tells Sleepopolis.
So long as the weather is dry, sunny, and breezy, there is technically no minimum temperature that clothes need to dry. However, be aware that the lower the temperature, the longer items will take to dry out. In temperatures below freezing, some items may also freeze and turn stiff before fully drying out.
Too much moisture
If you dry clothes in your bedroom or have any sort of damp problem, the air in your room can become very wet, and this can interfere with your sleep, too.
Soaking clothes overnight, whether inside a washing machine or out, is best avoided. Follow recommended guidelines when soaking clothes and using chemicals, and always remember that prolonged soaking can and will damage your clothes.
While placing garments in the dryer or on the clothesline right after the cycle finishes is best practice, wet laundry should generally not stay in the washer for more than 8-12 hours. Mildew and mold thrive in warm, damp environments, and the washer provides an ideal setting if laundry is left too long.
Even house expert Martha Stewart states that there are no adverse effects if the clothes are left overnight in the washer or dryer. The best way to determine whether the clothes are okay is to smell them. If the clothes do not have an unpleasant odor, they are fine to put out to dry.
One of the most prevalent New Year's superstitions is that on January 1 no washing should be done. However, some people go one step further and make it a custom to keep any dirty clothes unwashed from Christmas until New Year's Day.
If you need to dry clothes indoors, try to do so in a room with good ventilation, such as a bathroom with an exhaust fan, and keep the door closed to prevent moisture from spreading to other areas of the house. It's also a good idea to use a dehumidifier to help remove excess moisture from the air.
The moisture in your clothes has to evaporate into the air, so if it's too humid your washing will take longer to dry. Keep an eye on humidity levels and bring clothes in overnight to avoid dew or frost.
Germs do survive on textiles for hours, days, and weeks and can transfer onto skin and other surfaces. It is biologically plausible that infectious diseases can be transmitted directly through contact with contaminated textiles.
According to The Healthy, you are a magnet for germs once you leave your house. This is why you need to make it a habit to change out of your clothes once you come inside. It is worth the extra few minutes that it takes for you to slip into something more comfortable, and clean!
Martha Stewart says leaving wet clothes overnight is “perfectly alright.” Martha's blog even says this can be a smart move if you're air drying the next morning—because sitting overnight helps get rid of excess water.
He suggests drying laundry outdoors in shaded areas. One caveat: Experts note that anything left outside could come back covered in allergens, such as pollen, or carrying insects. Karpova recommends shaking things out before bringing them indoors.
If clothes are not fully dried after washing, left inside a washer, left wet and crumpled for long periods, or simply left to dry in too humid of a space, mold can begin to grow.
Air drying clothes indoors can lead to several health risks like raised humidity levels that lead to mold or mildew growth. This can irritate asthma or allergies, and cause several breathing issues.
Jo Farrow, a former Met Office forecaster, said wind speed was key to drying clothes rather than outdoor temperature, though it is possible to put washing out at any time of year. Analysis by Ms Farrow, now a Netweather forecaster, found the ideal combination was 12C (53.6F) with a wind speed of 15pmh.
For a load of laundry that was spun in a washing machine, and hung indoors in average conditions, the "easy" items will be dry in about 5 hours, and the "difficult" items will finish in about 9 hours. Also see our Air Dry All Types of Clothing article for tips on each different clothing type.