Laundry Sinks
Introduction
A laundry room or laundry room[1] is the place, space or construction where clothes are washed. This is also the name given to the domestic container where laundry is done.[2].
A sink generally has a smooth board or stone that in some parts of America is called batea. In a modern home, a laundry room may be equipped with an automatic washer and dryer, and include a large sink for washing certain items, as well as an ironing board.
In neighboring houses or rural homes, the laundry room or its elements have traditionally been located on the ground floor or basement. Before the introduction of running water in homes, towns used to have a public laundry where women went to do their laundry.[3] The construction models, water supply, location, etc., are very diverse.
History
When focusing on the history of laundries, we cannot ignore the situation of the infrastructure that towns and cities had in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, dates in which the first laundries began to be built.[4][5].
At that time, the towns and many cities did not have electricity or sewage, much less running water, much less drinking water, which is why water management became essential. Thus, the use of water had an order:
Normally, well water and rainwater were intended for animal consumption and for human hygiene.[5].
The “human mouth” water, which was used for drinking, came from sources, that is, from springs of water that could be collected directly or through water carriers, people who took, for a price, the water from the sources and springs to the homes of people who could pay for it.[5].
Before the construction of laundries, people used places where running water was available to wash, if possible.[6].
Sometimes the water flows depending on the rainfall regime, and therefore, they present irregularities and a strong temporality.[6].
On other occasions, dammed water was used, either due to rainfall or due to flooding of rivers.[6].
We must not lose sight of the course of the water that occurs in the aquifers, and arises in the sources that sometimes continues in the rivers, is distributed in ditches and is dammed in irrigation ponds before going to the troughs and washing places.[6].
Other times, water from rivers and ditches was used, and in the latter case, it was necessary to take into account when and which ditch was going to carry water for irrigation.[6].