Trying to put it on the line

[Craig Summers]

Based on rising energy costs and a desire to give me more honey-dos, the SWMBO wants me to put in 2 clotheslines, one at our house, the other one at her mother’s house (MIL).

For ours, it would be free standing, with 2 removable poles.
The MIL would have one permanent pole, and attached (retractable) to a garage on the other end.

I was wondering:
1) What have other people done?
2) What they would recommend?
3) What brands of retractable lines are recommended?
4) What have they found to helpful in layout and design?

(And I already searched and read the Guy Germaine thread on Clothesline Poles (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=59435&highlight=clothes+line))

Craig

[Nancy Laird]

Craig, the first thing I would do is to check with your homeowners' association or in your CCRs to make sure that you are "allowed" to have a clothesline. Some HOAs and CCRs don't allow them.

Next, make the poles from 3" diameter steel rather than of wood. Attach the cross brace with at least two long bolts, and attach the eyebolts through the cross braces. Then, attach the line with turnbuckles so that when the line starts to sag (and it will), you can tighten it up. Drop a piece of PVC into the ground set in concrete so you can remove the poles if and when you want to. That's the only way I know to avoid sag, leaning poles, and rot.

Just my suggestions based on experience.

[Joe Pelonio]

I remember clothesline days, from when I was a kid. The clothes were stiff and wrinkly compared to the dryer. The average dryer (electric) costs about $85 a year to run per: http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/appliances/dryers.html

I'd talk to her about it some more and try to come up with other ways to save. For example, a more efficient furnace will save more than that after payback, a programmable thermostat is inexpensive, even just turning the thermostat 2 degrees lower can save 5.5% on annual energy costs.

[Butch Edwards]

Based on rising energy costs and a desire to give me more honey-dos, the SWMBO wants me to put in 2 clotheslines, one at our house, the other one at her mother’s house (MIL).

For ours, it would be free standing, with 2 removable poles.
The MIL would have one permanent pole, and attached (retractable) to a garage on the other end.

I was wondering:
1) What have other people done?
2) What they would recommend?
3) What brands of retractable lines are recommended?
4) What have they found to helpful in layout and design?

(And I already searched and read the Guy Germaine thread on Clothesline Poles (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=59435&highlight=clothes+line))

Craig
Craig... I'd tie a stout rope from tree to tree.....:D


you shoulda seen the stack of walnut I picked up sat. at a public auction for 25 bucks.... probably 250 BF, and a couple pieces were 3" thick.....
;)

as for the poles,Nancys' idea works, however, I'm not a fan of removable poles as they can spin in the PVC(or metal)sleeve...and if they are over 10 yds apart, you'll need a forked prop in the middle of the line for heavy clothes(jeans/rugs/etc) especially.. my poles are about 25 yrds apart..waaaaay too far (but I don't use 'em anymore anyway)... good luck

[Chris Padilla]

Our stairs serve as a mini-clothesline at our house. :)

[Lee Schierer]

Next, make the poles from 3" diameter steel rather than of wood.


Hopefully you meant 3" pipe or tube? A 3" steel bar would weigh a ton and eat up most of the cost savings for the first year or two. :confused:

For my experience, I've found that a 4 x 4 treated post set in concrete in the ground lasts just about as long as a 3" thin metal clothes line post.

[Nancy Laird]

Hopefully you meant 3" pipe or tube? A 3" steel bar would weigh a ton and eat up most of the cost savings for the first year or two. :confused:

Yes, Lee, I meant pipe or tubing - certainly not solid steel. Setting a 4x4 in concrete would work, but the OP wants the poles removable. Whatever he puts in is going to have to drop into a receptacle in the yard.

[Jim Becker]

I kinda agree with Joe...there isn't a huge amount of savings with line-drying versus using an electric or gas dryer these days with EnergyStar rated appliances. And his point about the comfort of said clothing is very true. Unless you use a preponderance of synthetic fabrics, you'll be in "hard cotton" country. That said, as a matter of principle in reducing your energy footprint, line drying certainly can be a part of that...and I agree with the advice not to skimp on the hardware. We clothing is darn heavy!

[Chris Padilla]

"Hard" clothing smooths up after a little bit of time. For all my jeans (Levi 501s exclusively: yes, I'm so 80s), I always air-dry them because the dryer always shrinks them and they are rather, uhm, snug for about a half-day until my body stretches 'em back out. Air-drying keeps them at the comfy size they were when they were on the bod. :)

[Von Bickley]

Craig,

My wife loves to hang clothes on the clothes line. Loves the fresh smell and feel. Mine are made of 3 sticks of 2" galvanized pipe and 2 Tee's. Use 6" eye-bolts to fasten the wire and tighten. We used a plastic coated wire for ours. You have to be careful when you tighten the wires or you will actually bend that 2" pipe. Mine are in the ground about 4.5 feet will ready-mix concrete around them.

hope this helps.....:)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We had a retractable one with a removeable pole. When my shop went in, the removealbe pole had to go. To satisfy my wife, I now have a retractable one between the house and the shop.

I'm not a fan of clothes dried on the clothesline but after40 years of marriage I've learned which battles to fight and which battles I can win. This one is neither so I installed a retractable between the house and the shop.

I won't be home for 2 weeks so I can't see what brand we have. But this is the 2nd and best one we've had. Here's what you want to look for.....1) one on which you can manually rotate a knob to adjust the tension...2) one that has a lock in which a spring loaded pin is inserted through a hole on the line drum to hold it.

The previous model we had you levered the tension but...the lever had a clutch of sorts and it slipped and it automatically set the tension. You could never really get it tight enough to support wet clothes without a lot of sag.

[David G Baker]

My ex used one of the umbrella type clothes lines. It worked great and I was amazed at how much she could hang on one of them.
Some items needed to go into the dryer for a few minutes to soften them up so they wouldn't get the "hard cotton" feel that Jim mentioned.
Don't know if it saved any $ but it was what she wanted to do so who was I to argue.

[Craig Summers]

Craig... I'd tie a stout rope from tree to tree.....:D


you shoulda seen the stack of walnut I picked up sat. at a public auction for 25 bucks.... probably 250 BF, and a couple pieces were 3" thick.....
;)

as for the poles,Nancys' idea works, however, I'm not a fan of removable poles as they can spin in the PVC(or metal)sleeve...and if they are over 10 yds apart, you'll need a forked prop in the middle of the line for heavy clothes(jeans/rugs/etc) especially.. my poles are about 25 yrds apart..waaaaay too far (but I don't use 'em anymore anyway)... good luck
Butch
Walnut ... Picked up or stole :D ? Heck of a gloat there $0.10 /BF

good points, i'll keep it a short length, and i'll have to think about the spinning problem in a sleeve

SWMBO wants the line in the sun, so tree to tree is too shady

Craig

[Craig Summers]

Craig, the first thing I would do is to check with your homeowners' association or in your CCRs to make sure that you are "allowed" to have a clothesline. Some HOAs and CCRs don't allow them.

Next, make the poles from 3" diameter steel rather than of wood. Attach the cross brace with at least two long bolts, and attach the eyebolts through the cross braces. Then, attach the line with turnbuckles so that when the line starts to sag (and it will), you can tighten it up. Drop a piece of PVC into the ground set in concrete so you can remove the poles if and when you want to. That's the only way I know to avoid sag, leaning poles, and rot.

Just my suggestions based on experience.

Nancy

Luckily no HOA here
I like the turnbucle idea, makes good sense

I would use metal if i still had the family steel shop, but now i have to use materials i have tools for.

I'm still trying to decide on round vs square for the sleeve & pole. Might have to get some Steel 1/4" structural tubing in either 4x4 (for 3.5x3.5 PT post) or 4x6 (for 3.5x5.5 PT post). Have to consider how much water will sit in the sleeve, unless there is a way to cap it

Craig

[Greg Cole]

Our stairs serve as a mini-clothesline at our house. :)

Or the railiing on the deck..... or the shower curtain rod... or hangars on door knobs.... not from energy conservation... just my LOML hanging clothes being set in her ways and avoiding shrinking stuff in the dryer.
Not too mention washing & drying clothing is as hard on clothing as wearing it....

Greg

[Craig Summers]

Yes, Lee, I meant pipe or tubing - certainly not solid steel. Setting a 4x4 in concrete would work, but the OP wants the poles removable. Whatever he puts in is going to have to drop into a receptacle in the yard.

On the other hand, 3" dia solid steel post 8' tall with a 4' cross brace would "only" weigh 290 lbs (#24.1 per ft). Welding the two pieces together might take some time.:(

Might be a great way to stop those clotheline pole thieves :rolleyes:

At todays costs, raw material would be @ $ 290 each, i remember when that would be closer to $64 each (pre-2001).:D

Anyhow, I might do a hybrid, wood post with a metal (pipe) tee

Craig

[Craig Summers]

Based on recommendations to date, and a few thoughts, I have gathered the following rough idea:
The clothesline assemblies could be made from a 4x6 wood post set into a steel 4x6x1/4 tube insert set into the ground. The steel tube insert should have a removable cap that keeps dirt etc out of the tube. The post will have a 1½” Schd40 (@2” OD) galv. steel pipe attached through the 6” faces, with J-bolts thru the pipes for 4 parallel lines, and braced to the post to prevent droop and bending. The assembly is set into the ground with the 4” sides facing each other no more than 10 yards apart, and is wedged to maintain plumb.

As per the first and fourth question, I am pondering more aspects of the clothesline design.

I want make sure that when running or driving a lawn tractor across the lawn that I don’t get “clothes-lined”

How high above the ground should the tee be?

I presume that this is dictated by the heights of the sag of wires with and without clothes
a) Sag without clothes gives basic safe clearance.
b) Sag with clothes gives maximum garment length, and the reach-up for attaching clothes to the line. SWMBO is 5’-4”. I don’t think I’ll be mowing or running under the lines with clothes there

How high is your tee, and how low is your sag?

Craig :cool: