How to make a Clothesline Pole?

vandal49588

If a clothes pole is this much trouble, I'd quit washing and wear the same thing until people could no longer bear my stench.

BigTex

This thread is sort of the peak oil equivalent of an Aggie joke.
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max_in_wa

max_in_wa

Ferretlover

draffen · Coal Joined: Oct 16, 2007 Posts: 1

I made a couple of clotheslines last summer. Just affixed some 2" x 6" x 18" pressure-treated boards about 16 feet apart to my wooden privacy fence. Affixed two plastic coated "clotheslines" (from Wal-mart) to each set of 2 x 6 boards. It was cheap, simple and best of all it is hidden from neighbors by the same privacy fence. The height of six feet above the ground is adaquate for most all laundry. Large sheets can be folded to keep them off the ground.

max_in_wa

hotzcatz · Coal Joined: Jul 27, 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Hawaii

We hang our laundry on lines strung under the house but our house is about seven to eight feet up off the ground. Some of the lines are old electric horse fencing which we got in a "free box" at a yard sale. Some of them are an official pull out/ retractable clothes line which never gets put away and stays pulled out all the time but it was at a different garage sale and we have two dollars invested in it. There is also some plastic covered steel cable and some quarter inch double braid nylon lines strung around. Some are tied to house support posts, some are tied to hooks screwed into the floor joists above.

The nice thing about hanging the laundry under the house is that it stays dry in the rain and the trade winds are usually blowing so it dries pretty quickly even in the rainy season.

Wooden clothes pins are much better than plastic ones. You can hang a basket or a cloth bag from the line to put them in or just leave them clipped onto the line.

The clothes lines that I always used to see installed outside in people's yards were usually 3" diameter galvanized metal posts with a wooden 4" x 4" bar at the top or with a welded bar across the top to tie the lines onto. Sometimes there would be one of those inline screw tighteners.

As for the height of the lines, if I were installing one, I'd make it so the clothesline was just about as high as I could easily reach. It's no good having a clothesline you need a step stool to reach.

There is no one specific answer, each clothesline will be different depending on who has what to build it with and where they are building it.

GeoUSA

Here's an alternate solution for people with a wooden deck that worked well for us. I installed eye bolts on the outside rail posts of the deck and ran clothesline between them. Using eye bolts of different lengths allows multiple lines for clothes on each side of the deck.

I installed additional lines on the metal posts of our deck cover. It's convenient to have deck furniture to hold the laundry basket and provide a staging area for folding the dry clothes. It also avoids the need to install any more poles in the yard.

My brother installed clothes line in his attic. He has the nicer pull-down stairs and claims this process works well in the winter and on rainy days. Hopefully he will not suffer mold issues in the attic.

nocar · Intermediate Crude Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Posts: 666

Just to make you envious, I have never needed a clothesline pole. I just string the line between trees at a convenient height and let it stay.

I second that wood clothes pins are better. The plastic ones seem to disintegrate with time. Probable a thing with sunshine UV

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 652

Its a sad day indeed when someone has to ask how to make a clothesline. We have never before been so dependent on technology and lack of common sense and knowing how to do the most simple things, like clean a chicken or buther a hog.

IndigoMoon

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 652

That is funny. I have been up too many hours and fading fast. Laid tile at kids house all day and all night last night to get done..hahahahah...

i might like to butter a hog tho..