Airing is the practice of hanging or laying out articles and exposing them to air, and sometimes heat and light. This practice is commonly used to dry many types of fabric. One of the most common methods of drying using airing is the clothesline. It consists of a thin wire from which clothing pieces and bedsheets (among others) are hung, using pegs or simply laying the article over the line.
Air contains water vapour; warm air can hold more water than cold air. If the temperature of air drops past its dew point, the water will condense out. The dew point is the point where the relative humidity reaches 100%, and the air becomes supersaturated with water.
If water condenses on pieces of equipment, it can cause rot, mould, mildew, and other deterioration. To prevent this, they are brought out in the open, and undersaturated air is circulated around them to dry them out. Some extant mildew can be killed by airing for several hours before vacuuming the cloth. [1]
In a building with forced-air heating, the air is brought in from the outside and warmed, so the indoor relative humidity is lowered. In cold weather, the relative humidity inside such a building will be very dry, and airing will not be as important. In warmer climates where heating is less-used, condensation is more likely to be a problem. As exhaled breath is at about 100% humidity, breathing in a room will encourage condensation.
A human body heats and humidifies clothing it is wearing. Airing clothing after wearing dries it out again. [2]
Airing is used to reduce smells [2] [3] and allow clothing to be washed less frequently. [4] Reduced microbial growth aside, a common source of smells is volatile organic compounds. As they are volatile, they will tend to evaporate into the air when articles are aired.
Airing outdoors is best done when the outdoor humidity is lower, often 1000–1500, midmorning to midafternoon. [5] Airing for a few hours will prolong the life of fabric, but airing for too long in strong light can damage it. [3] [5]
Clothing is often hung to air in a clothesline or clotheshorse, outdoors in dry weather, and indoors in wet. An overhead clothes airer may be used to save space.
Delicate textiles are aired lying flat, in dim or shaded areas, to avoid fading the colours or weakening the fibers. A plastic sheet covered with a clean sheet, laid outdoors in the shade, can be used to air delicate items that can't be hung. [3]
A drying cover, a thin, dark-coloured, breathable cloth, is sometimes used to protect articles from the sun while heating and drying them in the sun. [5]
A external heating source allows items to be aired inside even in damp weather, but costs energy, especially if the hot air leaves too rapidly, before absorbing much moisture. A drying cabinet heats a confined space in which items are hung, or shelved on slatted shelves, so the air can circulate; the leakiness of the cabinet can usually be adjusted. Aboard ship, a heated hanging locker fills a similar role. An airing cupboard often uses waste heat from an appliance (such as a water heater) to dry items [6] on rods or slatted shelves. [7]
In climates where indoor humidity tends to rise too high and promote mould, airing cupboards may have separate ventilation. [8]
Western bedding may be aired for an hour or more after waking, by throwing the covers back or hanging them over the foot of the bed and/or a chair, to reduce mould, mites, and stale smells. [9]
Futons get musty, mouldy, and infested by mites if not aired regularly. The frequency of airing needed depends on the type of futon. Traditionally they are aired by hanging outside, but where this is not possible a futon dryer is used. [5] Airing them also fluffs them up, making them more comfortable to sleep on. [10]
In the Arctic, furs are aired outside in good weather, especially in spring. [11]
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HVAC system design is a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. "Refrigeration" is sometimes added to the field's abbreviation as HVAC&R or HVACR, or "ventilation" is dropped, as in HACR.
A dehumidifier is an air conditioning device which reduces and maintains the level of humidity in the air. This is done usually for health or thermal comfort reasons, or to eliminate musty odor and to prevent the growth of mildew by extracting water from the air. It can be used for household, commercial, or industrial applications. Large dehumidifiers are used in commercial buildings such as indoor ice rinks and swimming pools, as well as manufacturing plants or storage warehouses. Typical air conditioning systems combine dehumidification with cooling, by operating cooling coils below the dewpoint and draining away the water that condenses.
A clothes dryer, also known as tumble dryer, is a powered household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing, bedding and other textiles, usually after they are washed in a washing machine.
Mildew is a form of fungus. It is distinguished from its closely related counterpart, mold, largely by its colour: molds appear in shades of black, blue, red, and green, whereas mildew is white. It appears as a thin, superficial growth consisting of minute hyphae produced especially on living plants or organic matter such as wood, paper or leather. Both mold and mildew produce distinct offensive odours, and both have been identified as the cause of certain human ailments.
A futon is a traditional Japanese style of bedding.
A clothes line, also spelled clothesline, also known as a washing line, is a device for hanging clothes on for the purpose of drying or airing out the articles. It is made of any type of rope, cord, or twine that has been stretched between two points, outdoors or indoors, above ground level. Clothing that has recently been washed is hung over the line to dry, held in place using clothes pegs or clothespins. Washing lines are attached either from a post or a wall, and are frequently located in back gardens, or on balconies. Longer washing lines often have props holding up the mid-section so the weight of the clothing does not pull the clothesline down to the ground.
A humidifier is a household appliance or device designed to increase the moisture level in the air within a room or an enclosed space. It achieves this by emitting water droplets or steam into the surrounding air, thereby raising the humidity.
A cupboard is a piece of furniture for enclosing dishware or grocery items that are stored in a home. The term gradually evolved from its original meaning: an open-shelved side table for displaying dishware, more specifically plates, cups and saucers.
Linens are fabric household goods intended for daily use, such as bedding, tablecloths, and towels. "Linens" may also refer to church linens, meaning the altar cloths used in church.
The term "clothes horse" is used to refer to a portable frame upon which wet laundry is hung to dry by evaporation. The frame is usually made of wood, metal or plastic. It is a cheap low-tech piece of laundry equipment, as opposed to a clothes dryer, which requires electricity to operate, or a Hills Hoist, which requires ample space, wind and fine weather. It also served as an alternative to an airing cupboard. In cold, damp seasons and in the absence of central heating, a clothes horse placed by a fireside or a kitchen range provides a place to warm clothing before putting it on. The practice of airing, once ubiquitous in Great Britain, for example, in the constant battle against damp and mold, has become far less common with the advent of central heating and affordable clothes dryers.
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses subjective satisfaction with the thermal environment. The human body can be viewed as a heat engine where food is the input energy. The human body will release excess heat into the environment, so the body can continue to operate. The heat transfer is proportional to temperature difference. In cold environments, the body loses more heat to the environment and in hot environments the body does not release enough heat. Both the hot and cold scenarios lead to discomfort. Maintaining this standard of thermal comfort for occupants of buildings or other enclosures is one of the important goals of HVAC design engineers.
A crawl space or crawlspace is an unoccupied, unfinished, narrow space within a building, between the ground and the first floor. The crawl space is so named because there is typically only enough room to crawl rather than stand; anything larger than about 1 to 1.5 metres and beneath the ground floor would tend to be considered a basement.
The conservation and restoration of textiles refers to the processes by which textiles are cared for and maintained to be preserved from future damage. The field falls under the category of art conservation, heritage conservation as well as library preservation, depending on the type of collection. The concept of textile preservation applies to a wide range of artifacts, including tapestries, carpets, quilts, clothing, flags and curtains, as well as objects which "contain" textiles, such as upholstered furniture, dolls, and accessories such as fans, parasols, gloves and hats or bonnets. Many of these artifacts require specialized care, often by a professional conservator.
Indoor mold or indoor mould, also sometimes referred to as mildew, is a fungal growth that develops on wet materials in interior spaces. Mold is a natural part of the environment and plays an important part in nature by breaking down dead organic matter such as fallen leaves and dead trees; indoors, mold growth should be avoided. Mold reproduces by means of tiny spores. The spores are like seeds, but invisible to the naked eye, that float through the air and deposit on surfaces. When the temperature, moisture, and available nutrient conditions are correct, the spores can form into new mold colonies where they are deposited. There are many types of mold, but all require moisture and a food source for growth.
A Futondryer is an electric device that warms and dries a Japanese futon by forcing warm air through it.
PVC clothing is shiny clothing made from the plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC plastic is often called "vinyl" and this type of clothing is commonly known as "vinyl clothing". PVC is sometimes confused with the similarly shiny patent leather.
A tick mattress, bed tick or tick is a large bag made of strong, stiff, tightly-woven material (ticking). This is then filled to make a mattress, with material such as straw, chaff, horsehair, coarse wool or down feathers, and less commonly, leaves, grass, reeds, bracken, or seaweed. The whole stuffed mattress may also, more loosely, be called a tick. The tick mattress may then be sewn through to hold the filling in place, or the unsecured filling could be shaken and smoothed as the beds were aired each morning. A straw-filled bed tick is called a paillasse, palliasse, or pallet, and these terms may also be used for bed ticks with other fillings. A tick filled with flock is called a flockbed. A feather-filled tick is called a featherbed, and a down-filled one a downbed; these can also be used above the sleeper, as a duvet.
The conservation and restoration of quilts refers to the processes involved in maintaining the integrity of quilts and/or restoring them to an acceptable standard so that they may be preserved for future generations. Quilts have been produced for centuries, as utilitarian blankets, decorations, family heirlooms, and now treasured museum collections objects. Quilts are three-layered textile pieces with a decorated top, a back, and a filler in the middle. The composite nature of these objects creates an interesting challenge for their conservation, as the separate layers can be made of different textile materials, multiple colors, and therefore, varying degrees of wear, tear, and damage.
Fabric treatments are processes that make fabric softer, or water resistant, or enhance dye penetration after they are woven. Fabric treatments get applied when the textile itself cannot add other properties. Treatments include, scrim, foam lamination, fabric protector or stain repellent, anti microbial and flame retardant.
Avoid storage in basements or other places where high humidity and poor air circulation are found. When mildew already exists on the fabric, kill the growth by exposing the textile to gently moving warm dry air and to warmer temperatures. Shaded outdoor airing for two to three hours on a warm day will kill mildew fungi. Then it can be removed by careful hand vacuuming (see Cleaning Procedures).
Air clothing after wearing and before it is stored. A good airing of several hours or overnight allows the moisture absorbed from the body during wearing to evaporate. Airing also helps deodorize garments naturally.
A musty smell often can be diminished by airing quilts in a shaded area outdoors or in a well-ventilated area indoors. Place a large plastic sheet on the ground or floor, cover it with a clean white sheet, and then lay the quilt on top of the sheet for airing. Air quilts away from direct sunlight as direct sunlight or bright indoor light fades colors and weakens fibers. Do not drape quilts over clotheslines. The yarns and fibers are strained, and the weight can break stitches or tear fabrics. Never beat or shake a quilt to remove dust.