Maytag commercial clothes dryers
This is a list of laundry topics. Laundry is the washing of clothing and linens (e.g. sheets and towels). Laundry processes are often done in a business, room or area in a home or apartment building, reserved for that purpose; this is referred to as a laundry room. The material that is being washed, or has been laundered, is also generally referred to as laundry.
Laundry topics
Chemicals
Laundry detergent powder
- Biological detergent – laundry detergent that contains enzymes harvested from micro-organisms such as bacteria adapted to live in hot springs. The description is commonly used in the United Kingdom,
- Bleach
- Fabric softener
- Laundry detergent
Washing
A modern dry cleaning machine with touchscreen and SPS control, manufacturer EazyClean, type EC124, photo taken prior to installation
- Combo washer dryer
- Dry cleaning
- Posser or washing dolly, a tool for agitating the wet fabric
- Washboard and washing paddle, also known under many other names
- Wash copper, a portable or built-in boiler
- Washing machine
- Wet cleaning, a retronym meaning "not dry cleaning"
Drying
- Airing cupboard
- Clothes dryer
- Clothes horse or drying rack or many other names
- Clothes line
- Drying cabinet
- Hills Hoist
- Kitchen maid (pulley airer)
- Mangle (machine)
- Sheila Maid
- Winter Dyke
Finishing
- Box mangle
- Fluff and Fold, a service provided by commercial laundrettes
- Ironing
- Tunnel finisher
Industrial
Industrial laundry sorting
The unloading side of a dryer in an industrial laundry which dries the linen
A feeder where linen is placed and which takes the linen to the ironer and folder
Concepts
Engraving of Scotswomen singing a waulking song while waulking or fulling cloth, c. 1770.
Some of these relate more to textile manufacturing than laundry, but there is overlap in how wet cloth is processed.
- Color fastness, the degree to which a textile retains its color without fading or bleeding
- Fulling – a step in making woollen cloth - cleaning the fleece to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker.
- Posting, trampling or treading wet clothing
- Shrinkage
- Stain
Organizations
- Dry Cleaning and Laundry International
- Dry Cleaning Institute of Australia
- Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance
- Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union
- Laundry Workers Industrial Union
- Magdalene asylum
- Project Laundry List – a New Hampshire group that encourages the outdoor drying of clothes
- Worshipful Company of Launderers – a livery company in the City of London that promotes the profession of the launderers by awarding scholarships to laundry students.
Companies
- 5àsec - a French franchise network
- Washio (company) - defunct laundry delivery service
- SudShare - an American app-based laundry cleaning and delivery company
Culture
- Dadeumi, the traditional Korean practice of rhythmically beating cloth, associated with the hardships of a woman's life
- Dhobiwallah, or dhobi, the washermen in South Central Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc.), and their caste group, historically associated with washing clothes
- Fullo, the Latin word for a person washing laundry
- Washerwoman or laundress
- Housekeeping
- Laundry symbols
Accessories
A collection of irons
Law
- Barbier v. Connolly
- Kimball Laundry Co. v. United States
- Muller v. Oregon
- Pearson v. Chung
- Yick Wo v. Hopkins
Places
- Baths and wash houses in Britain, public places that included facilities for washing the body as well as clothes
- Dhobi ghat, any open-air washing-place in southern central Asia
- Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat, a well-known open air laundry in Mumbai, India.
- Laundry room, in a private dwelling
- Lavoir, a public open-air wash-house in a village
- Self-service laundry, also known as a coin wash, laundromat, washeteria, laundrette
- Tvättstuga, a shared laundry room in a hall of residence or block of flats
- Utility room, in a private dwelling that includes laundry functions
The Dhobi Ghat open air laundry in Mumbai
A self-service laundry in Paris
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