Drying Laundry Indoors Is Unhealthy

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.)