Laundry Drying Rail Space Planner
Arrange entered garment widths on identical drying rails and compare required rails with the number available.
YOUR CALCULATION
Result
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Calculation steps
Work through one step at a time or reveal the complete calculation. The steps use your current inputs.
How to calculate
Expand the item counts, sort occupied widths from largest to smallest and place each on the first rail where it fits. Insert gaps only between items on the same rail.
Rail use=sum(item occupied widths)+(items on rail−1)×gap
Worked example
Four 45 cm shirts and two 60 cm towels with 5 cm gaps need 3 rails in the displayed first-fit layout when each rail has 1.5 m of usable length. With two rails available, one additional rail is required by this layout.
Assumptions and input details
Occupied width is the measured space taken along a rail, not necessarily the flat garment width. At most 200 items across 30 groups. This deterministic first-fit decreasing layout is a practical arrangement, not a proof of the smallest possible rail count. Rails are assumed identical. It does not predict drying time, airflow, clearance below garments or load-bearing capacity.
Unit definitions
Unit selection is independent of language. Each selector contains only units for its physical quantity. Calculations use defined base units internally.
Choose from 23 length definitions, including explicitly labelled regional measures. Area conversions square the length factor; geometric volumes cube it.
Regional measures are not interchangeable merely because their names look similar. This is a documented selection, not a claim to include every historical unit.
NIST measurement tables · Japanese traditional units · Mainland China and Hong Kong unit distinctions
Using this calculator
Can I enter my own problem?
Yes. Replace the example values with your own inputs. The result, calculation steps, tables and applicable diagrams update from those inputs. Blank or invalid values clear the result; example values are never silently substituted for missing inputs.
Are the results exact?
Results use floating-point arithmetic and displayed rounding. Read the formula, assumptions and any stated data precision before interpreting the result.
Is my input uploaded?
The calculation runs in your browser. No account, file upload or external AI service is required. Inputs are not saved between page reloads.
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