# clothes lines



## wg_bent (Jul 14, 2007)

My wife wants a clothes line.

I thought one of these would be good.  Anyone use one? Good or better than 2 pullies and a rope?
Linkey


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## Hogwildz (Jul 14, 2007)

I have seen these. Keep in mind I never used one. But it seems to me they don't give the coverage or air space that a line does. I am thinking a getting the OL one with the pulleys. I used to have one that retracted (no pulleys). It was stationary on one pole, then the line pulled out & you hooked it on another pole. When done, unhook and it reeled itself back into the housing. Was kinda neat, and out of the way when not in use. Came with that house, not sure were to get them.

Heres a few I found online:

http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html...ne-retractable-drying-line-indoor-outdoor.htm

http://www.organize-everything.com/recl.html     this is similar to the one I had.

Heck they are everywhere. I am guessing you did a search and found a bunch. Pick whichever suites you best.


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## begreen (Jul 14, 2007)

We've got the conventional line with pulleys. It lets a lot more air to circulate around slow to dry items like blue jeans. If you go with the pole, be sure it's anchored well. Wet clothes are pretty heavy. 

Our neighbor has a different approach. He has a series of hooks in a group of 3 trees that he strings his clothesline up when he needs it, and then rolls it up when the wash is dry. The trees are about 30 ft apart. If he needs extra line he just completes the triangle with the rope, back to the first tree.


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## TMonter (Jul 14, 2007)

We have an umbrella clothes line. It works quite well and my wife seems to like it. My only complaint is that most ropes on it only last 2-3 seasons before I have to restring it, even when using UV resistant rope.

Anyone tried some other rope types that work well?


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## colsmith (Jul 15, 2007)

An umbrella clothesline is okay if you are limited for space in your yard.  But if not, a rope is so much cheaper and less likely to need little replacements frequently.  We are using some of that yellow nylon braided line that came with our house, my mother had it up permanently for I don't how many years, at least 10.  One of the posts (a hunk of old telephone pole sized wood) eventually rotted and came down this spring, but the rope is still good!  We had it in 3 long stretches, now just 2, the ends are tied to apple and pear trees. 

http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/104502_castello-dryer.htm

If you are looking for something smallish with lots of space, I would HIGHLY recommend this one.  We keep it outside all summer (has hubby's socks and underwear on it even as we speak) and bring it in when the fall turns wet.  In the winter we dry clothes on it in the living room near the wood stove and the stuff dries FAST.  We have had a very similar one, 3 tiered, for almost 20 years.  We have made some unorthodox repairs to it, but the thing is great.  With all the little plastic coated wires there is a LOT of drying space. The racks drop down and the thing folds up skinny if you want it out of the way.   We use it for all kinds of clothes, towels, etc., sometimes also putting shirts on hangers on the top support between the wires to keep them nicely apart for drying.

We have hung up all of our clothes to dry since August 1991 (and most of them before that) so I am very experienced in this area!


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## littlesmokey (Jul 15, 2007)

I can not believe we are trying to find the better clothes dryer. Do you realize the ideas you are discussing are sixty years old. Fact is in the real world where "clothes dryers" inside the house don't exist it is two poles as far apart at you want. A "T" of 3-4 in. pipe, drilled on the horizontal every twelve inches, eyebolts inserted, coated braided wire strung between with a turn buckle every two or three runs, tightened to maintain integrety. Of course you  have the mandatory full apron bag on a hanger for the clothes pins. Kids.............sheeeezzzzzz you don't know nothin"


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## Sandor (Jul 15, 2007)

We have the T setup, about 40 feet wide and two cheesy portable Wal Mart drying racks.

Obvious or not, put your outdoor line will it will receive the most sun.

The drying racks are good for lighter stuff and we just place them on the deck when needed. They also are used for drying all of the clothes indoors during the winter. Adds about 2% RH per load for 24 hrs, and they dry overnight.

If you get serious about it, watch the weather. If the long range forecast (for what its worth) is predicting days of rain, I will get everybody to catch up on laundry and use the available sun to dry it.

Outdoor cats keep the birds from using your line as a perch.


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## wg_bent (Jul 15, 2007)

o.k. I went with a pole.  Found a aluminum one at the BORG for 30 bucks.  A couple considerations were centered around keeping the place from the redneck factor.  There's already a massive pile of wood in the back, lots of random bicycles around, a trailer, and my ongoing woodfired oven experiment.  The pole is a lot more compact and isolates that stuff out of sight of the road we live on, plus I mounted it so it's easily removed by my wife if we have guests.  It' only weighs about 10 or 15 lbs.  She's a happy camper, and it's already working on it's ROI.  

One of the biggies is towels.  With a pool we're always washing and drying towels.  NOT ANY MORE  Yippie.

One thing that struck me yesterday was a question my wife asked that shows there's probably a larger general public problem in understanding energy usage.  She asked what used more energy.  The washing machine running a cold water load or the dryer.  When I explaind that the Dryer needed to make heat, she still didn't get it.  She said but their both plugged in... don't all things that plug in use the same amount of energy?

I GOTTA get a Kill-a-watt.  Then she'll understand.

Education of the public is key.

Lots of these kids with the hot Honda's think they are o.k. since they're driving 4 bangers, the gas is less and they get the performance to boot.  But running the piss out of a hot honda still consumes a lot of gas, and probably aren't doing much better than a Mustang with a V8.  I had a friend with a Mustang GT who claimed he could pull 27-28 on the highway if he was careful.  Educating people on how appliances, houses, cars, etc... is key, and I'm sure not enough is being done.  My wife largely looks at things from a $'s perspective.  

How do we find a way to get people to understand things with not only a $ perspective.  Gore was marginally effective, but one movie that came across as a bit pius (and had some debatable science along with some amazing science and facts) isn't enough.    We need to educate the kids better.


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## begreen (Jul 15, 2007)

Here's a handy guide for you and your wife to go over. That should help her see the difference between the dryer and the washer. 

http://www.ouc.com/knowledge/usage.htm


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## 11 Bravo (Jul 15, 2007)

You're dead on lil smokey.......vinyl coated line strung between 3 trees, clothes pins, clothes pin bag......total investement of <$10.      A little rain is just an extra rinse cycle......


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## littlesmokey (Jul 15, 2007)

11 Bravo said:
			
		

> You're dead on lil smokey.......vinyl coated line strung between 3 trees, clothes pins, clothes pin bag......total investement of <$10.      A little rain is just an extra rinse cycle......



Either you're buying high grade colored wire, or those fancy aluminum turn buckles.  

Warren:

If you are drying wet towels, I mean wet, make sure you distribute the weight evenly. The weight of the towels and a little wind may collapse your pole.


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## Czech (Jul 16, 2007)

We've got one of the retractable ones mounted on the back side of the house, unlatch it and pull it to unwind the six coated lines. It hooks to a piece of 1" galvi that is stubbed into a sunken piece of 1 1/4" in the ground. I like it because it winds up when done and I can pull the pipe when not in use so its easy to mow and such. Nothing like clothes off the line, sure beats a drier sheet!


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## moralleper (Jul 16, 2007)

The wife and I use the following.  it works really well on a sunny day. Sunline 15-7 Retractable Clothesline I think you can find it on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/WHITNEY-DESIGNS-INC-Retractable-Clothesline/dp/B0000BYDEA


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## Metal (Jul 23, 2007)

We can't dry our clothes outside because:

1.  HOA won't allow clothes lines.
2.  Wife and one daughter have bad allergies.
3.  Have a lake behind the house and birds would make rewashing necessary very often.

Some of the new washing machines have an improved spin cycle that gets the clothes much dryer.  This helps keep down the amount of drying time.  Another way to save is to keep your dryer vent as clean and short as possible and don't overload it.


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## Eric Johnson (Jul 23, 2007)

I always make mine out of treated 4x4s, 8-feet long with tees dadoed out, drilled and bolted to the main post. That's three treated 4x4s, some carriage bolts and a few galvanized lags with loop heads. You can sink them right into sand with a few rocks or bricks stuffed down the hole for stability. In clay, like where I'm at now, it took several different attempts, before I finally gave in and poured concrete in the hole around the base of the posts. Even then they sagged in after one season. More concrete and some rebar (don't ask) finally did the trick. No honey, I'm not moving them again.


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## babalu87 (Jul 24, 2007)

I buried about 18" of an 8 foot galvy pipe in some cement and put an eye on it with a pulley, across the yard I put a tree stand hook in a pine tree about 12 feet up and put a pulley on that. Put some good nylon rope between them, an old paint can full of clothespins and I havent touched my clothesline for 6 years.

I can hang meat on it too


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## ChrisN (Jul 24, 2007)

Metal said:
			
		

> We can't dry our clothes outside because:
> 
> 1.  HOA won't allow clothes lines.



It's insane home association rules like this that drive me crazy!  when will people wake up to the fact that we have to change our lifestyles if we want to sustain our way of life?  My associatin forbids clotheslines too, but I have my line stretched between two trees in the backyard and no one has ever said a word about about it.  As a matter of fact several homes in my 30 lot associatin have outside lines.  If I was given a hard time about mine, I would lobby very hard to get the rule changed.


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## stoveguy2esw (Jul 24, 2007)

i put one in when the neighbor  knocked over one of the posts for our origional clothes line. just took the cross member out of the anchored vertical pipe and inserted the umbrella type into the top of the post, even rotates freely. works just fine


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