Steam press irons

[Chancer]

I have read postings in the past about washing and ironing of bed linen etc for gite changeovers and often thought "rather you than me!", now it has dawned on me that as I intend to rent my apartments as location meublée it looks like I too will have the unenvious job.

I should point out that I am no domestic goddess and can count the number of times I have used the iron and board in the last 6 years on one hand! That said I can iron and on the rare occasions I do it find it quite therapeutic but having to do it regularly soon becomes work, a bit like sex really [;-)]

I can recall that some of you recommended some sort of commercial ironing truc so when I recently saw one of these in a troc needing soe repairs and TLC I snapped it up:

http://www.eksen.com.tr/press_iron_steam.html

I have repaired it now and it seems to work as it should but what I really want to know is, is it any good for what I will be needing to do or is it a chocolate teapot?

It doesnt have a stand although I can soon knock one up and whilst my experiments with hankies (no point diving in at the deep end) seem to have been OK it seems that one cannot smooth out wrinkles and creases etc as one can with a normal iron and ironing board, should I perhaps have opted for a roller type machine?

One last thing, I expect to rent primarily to workers on short/medium secondment who will probably return to their own homes at weekends, although only time will tell if that is indeed the demographic I will have as renters (with location meublée de tourisme it cannot be their main home), given that 99% of these will be French would they usually bring their own bed linen? The apartments will not have washing machines although their is a laverie in town.

I do have the documentation somewhere for the registration criteria for meublées de tourisme but I cannot recall if it mentioned that fresh bed linen should be supplied.

Thank you in anticipation.

[Russethouse]

Quillan is the forum ironing expert ! Good Luck [:)]

[mint]

 I had one of these things but, when I gave up ironing bed sheets, I gave it to a friend.

You are supposed to be able to iron all sorts of things with them but I never found mine to be any good for shirts or anything remotely fiddly.

The best thing about them is, you could really fold the sheets in halves or even quarters and only iron some of the surfaces.  The pressure ensures that the other bits get ironed as well.

The worst thing is that they take quite a long time to heat up so they are only worth putting on if you have a big pile of ironing to be done.

[Claude]

Are you going to supply the duvets and pillows? If I were you I would supply all the bedding and wash it every weekend. Otherwise there is the possibility that the sheets are going to get dirtier and dirtier as I can't see anyone working all week being interested in spending an evening in the laundrette. If you supply a duvet but not the sheets are you sure they are going to bring their own and not just sleep in the mattress cover?

Are you going in to clean at the weekends?

[Chancer]

That is exactly why I asked the question Claude.

I thought that I had read somewhere that the French traditionally take their own bedding with them, certainly all my French friends that have stayed with me in the UK have done so,  but maybe thats because they know I am not a domestic goddess, come to think of it they brought their own food as well, nchange their watches to UK time  and insisted on eating at 12.30 sharp French time!

P.S. Claude; if you really were me then you would be going purple now at the thought of washing and ironing bedding for 6 apartments every weekend [:-))] Just the thought of it is enough to turn me back to the drink!

[Claude]

I hadn't realised you had six apartments. In that case let them bring their own!

[idun]

We have always taken our own bedding when renting gites and appts in France, it is usual.

I own a Laura Star steam iron system, I think it is brilliant, but they are expensive.

[Babbles]

look for a commercial laundry, they don't charge much but you do often have to leave it there for a while, the one I've used in Pezenas can take a week in peak season. They're no good if you have anything fancy with frills or embroidery as they don't get the finish which is the reason I stopped using them. By the time you've costed washing and ironing in terms of electricity and time it's certainly the better option to get the pros to do it!!