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Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

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Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#91

Post by jxramos »

fiblye wrote: post #85
hombre_fatal wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes. So does UV light.

Your clothes get faded in the sun. A dryer quickly wears down the fabric and makes holes.

I remember reading somewhere where an author realized all that lint they collected from their dryer was a result of their clothes literally falling apart fiber by fiber. In other words all the mass of the lint didn't just spontaneously form breaking some conservation of mass law but came from the clothes shedding and abrading against each other.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#92

Post by NoPicklez »

Nursie wrote: post #87
WalterBright wrote: post #57

When I lived in Arizona, I'd take the clothes out of the washer, step outside, and put them on the line. When I finished pinning them up, I'd return to the beginning of the line and take them down, perfectly dry and fresh. Who needs a dryer :-)

Same in Perth, Western Australia. Gotta love the desert climate for that.

Same in Adelaide, South Australia. Although it has been raining a lot of late...

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#93

Post by monadic2 »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #72
anewdirection wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. Unless membership is optional, I would consider it a lesser value home. Which is ironic given its intended function is to (possibly) keep one asshole from ruining property values, in exchange for a different set of assholes (possibly) destroying value in another way.

Exactly. HOAs sound crappy but they're better than living next to assholes/slobs when you have zero recourse. HOA is really the only entity that will care about assholes. The problem with buying a home is that you don't know what your neighbors are like ahead of time.

FYI, some municipalities have democratically driven regulations; this seems like a much better course if you’re not trying to make a homogenous neighborhood.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#94

Post by NoPicklez »

I might be reading this incorrectly, but I always thought that the small came from the detergent having not been fully washed off the clothes. Which is why if you use too much detergent your clothes become stiff, due to the dried detergent.

Then again, clothes seem to smell vastly different when they dry quickly out in the open sun as opposed to when they dry slowly.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#95

Post by pmiller2 »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #84
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never until my dying day, live under the thumb of an association. Its a magnet for pedantic busybodies.

Sometimes your choice is between a shorter commute and an HOA. Avoiding an HOA may cost you 5-10 extra minutes twice a day, 5 days a week. I completely agree with you, and at the same time, that criteria can turn an already difficult search into an impossible one.

Just to bring this into sharper focus: 10 minutes a day, twice a day, 5 times a week for 50 weeks a year amounts to 5000 minutes per year, or just a little over 83 hours. Personally, I would find that acceptable just to not have to live in a place where people tell me what signs I can place in my lawn or what color I can paint my front door, but opinions can and do vary from person to person.

Oh, and BTW, the word "criteria" is plural. Its singular form is "criterion." Not that it takes away from your point, but consider it a tiny piece of friendly advice.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#96

Post by ComputerGuru »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #76
ComputerGuru wrote: post #34

I think it depends on where you live. Here in Chicago, if you leave wet clothes out to dry on the line, they’ll stink of geosmin (to which the human olfactory receptors are insanely sensitive, to the tune of being able to detect a few parts per million) rather than smell nice and fresh thanks to the humidity.

https://microbiologysociety.org/publication/past-issues/soil... Sounds like geosmin is the smell of earth, which to me is a fine smell. Perhaps you're a city dweller that's just not acclimated to natural smells?? Mind you I hate the over-perfumed smell of heavy clothes detergents, so I'm probably peculiar in my scent-life.

It's not the musty smell of the earth (or the smell of rain coming) but rather the pungent/sour smell of a wet towel left sopping too long in the corner or the way your clothes smell (hormones aside) after you go outside and come back in on a humid day.

(I hate the city and my ideal getaway is at minimum a few days in the middle of a forest or on a mountainside, just to give you some perspective of environments I find attractive or repulsive.)

EDIT: see other response with Chicago Tribune link [0], it seems that my description may apply specifically to our region and that wet towels elsewhere might not be subject to this nastiness.

[0]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-11-20-941120...

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#97

Post by ComputerGuru »

sukilot wrote: post #65
beervirus wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that chemical so prevalent in Chicago?

Great Lakes https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-11-20-941120...

Thanks for the link, I'm pretty sure it's talking about the exact thing I'm referring to. I didn't realize Chicago was special in this regard; I thought it was just a universal "water" thing.

> They may not be dangerous, but they are powerful in the effect they produce. Sensitive palates can taste geosmin and 2-MIB at concentrations as low as five parts per trillion.

I thought it was four per million, five parts per trillion is beyond comprehension! And as far as "sensitive palates" go, I'm always the one complaining to my wife who invariably responds with "it's just you," grumble.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#98

Post by scarmig »

monadic2 wrote: post #93
hombre_fatal wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. HOAs sound crappy but they're better than living next to assholes/slobs when you have zero recourse. HOA is really the only entity that will care about assholes. The problem with buying a home is that you don't know what your neighbors are like ahead of time.

FYI, some municipalities have democratically driven regulations; this seems like a much better course if you’re not trying to make a homogenous neighborhood.

Depending on the municipality, "democratically driven regulations" are there to make it harder to deal with the asshole neighbor, not less.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#99

Post by gamblor956 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #74
jbuzbee wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As part of the purchase, you are given the deed restrictions and you contractually agree in the closing process to follow them. We once backed out of a purchase when we read the overly strict restrictions. You also contractually agree that the association has the ability to fine you for violations and put a lien on your property if you don't pay. There are plusses and minuses. The minuses are obvious - PITA, picky bu…

Can't you buy from the owner and not sign the contract with the HOA? Presumably the HOA has a contractual grievance with the prior-owner; or are such HOA contracts enshrined in criminal law?

HOA restrictions/membership are part of the deed of the property, so you can only acquire the property subject to those restrictions/that membership.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#100

Post by [deleted] »

scarmig wrote: post #98
monadic2 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, some municipalities have democratically driven regulations; this seems like a much better course if you’re not trying to make a homogenous neighborhood.

Depending on the municipality, "democratically driven regulations" are there to make it harder to deal with the asshole neighbor, not less.

[deleted]
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