When the washer does not work and washer repair is necessary, it is easy to become frustrated as the laundry piles up. Depending on the problem, and the wait for washer repair services, some may end up taking laundry to a laundromat. This is surely an inconvenience, but it is still easier than how people used to do the laundry before the invention of the washing machine! Laundry washing was quite a process back then, and just thinking about it might help struggling washer owners get through until their appliance repair is complete. Thankfully, when used properly, most washers require little in the way of home appliance repair.
Earliest Laundry Washing Techniques
Ancient people began washing their clothing in rivers and other bodies of water a long, long time ago. Clothes were washed by submerging them in water, then rubbing and twisting fabric to get the dirt out. Garments were also laid on rocks and beat with boards and rubbed with stones to get stains and ground in dirt out.
The Washboard and Bat
The process of washing laundry eventually moved from the riverside to the home, where people began washing their clothing in tubs and basins, using washboards and bats. Washboards started out as plain, wooden boards, but they eventually developed into boards that had ridges for scrubbing clothing on. Washboard bats were flat wooden bats made in different widths and sizes for use on different types of fabrics. The bats were used to slap and bat the clothing on the washboard, forcing the dirt out.
The Invention of Lye and Soap
For a long time laundry was just washed in water, until the habit of soaking it in water and lye - which was found to brighten dingy fabrics - was developed. Before lye, laundry was washed on an as-needed basis, which was only every few weeks or so. When lye soaking was introduced, because the soaking took days at a time, laundry washing turned into a seasonal spring and fall event in many societies, with intermittent scrubbings in between. With the invention of actual soap, laundry was soaked and scrubbed with that.
Throughout Medieval times, only the wealthiest people could afford to wash their clothing with soap or use other new techniques like bleaching, bluing, and starching. By the 1700s, almost everyone used soap and many of these other methods.
Hand washing clothing with washboards, bats, and soaking in lye and soap went on for a long time, until the invention of various machines that could soak, scrub and wash automatically. Today’s washing machines are complete with their many wash features and are the culmination of all these washing methods, made into one machine that can do them all.
When the washer is not behaving its best and appliance repair is necessary, it is easy to focus on the inconvenience this causes many households. People depend on their washing machines. Waiting a few days for washer repair services is probably still not as inconvenient as having to hand wash clothing on a washboard, or scrub it on a stone. Even if a few trips to the laundromat are necessary while waiting for washer repair, washing machines can usually be up and running again within a few hours. To avoid these situations, and the need to go to the laundromat or even consider using a washtub, proper washer use and care is recommended to prevent the need for home appliance repair!
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