Clothes Lines

[3930dave]

Topic came up as a tangent in another thread, thought I'd start this one......

One of the best setups I've seen was at my grandmother's house. Big country house, with attached large woodshed. Shed had a dedicated walkway along one wall, that had a tall narrow door at the end. The pulley was inside the shed, so you didn't even have to go outside to hang up clothes - nice, given Nova Scotia weather - back when, clothes still went outside on clear Winter days. Sloped side-lawn, so the line came out almost at 2nd storey height, and had a long run across a big lawn to a pole at the edge of the farm-field. Long run of line, and the clothes were already inside once you took them off the line.

Clothes Lines - who still uses them, and what different setups have you seen ?

Rgds, D.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My Dad always built ours; out of about 4 inch pipe. He made two T's, about six foot tall, set in concrete and about 30 or so feet apart, with about four wires tightened by turnbuckles. Yep, Sharn Jean and I had similar ones in our first house; until the baby came along and I bought a used drier for $10.

 

[Gunny]

We still use one in the warm months, just a couple of "T" post 25 feet apart. I love sleeping on sheets that have been air dried, shirts smell awfully good too.

 

[Wakey]

The old farmer down the street uses one, the only one I've seen in ages.

His appears to be a couple 4X4 posts with some sort of cord. I'm sure he likes it that way, the clothes feel better air dried or something because he ain't poor LOL

The best ones I've "seen" are these.

 

[Oaktree]

We still use one in the warm months, just a couple of "T" post 25 feet apart. I love sleeping on sheets that have been air dried, shirts smell awfully good too.

Same here, except I have a horizontal 2x4 between the 2 posts at the top so they don't tilt towards each other. Makes a good place to hang heavy stuff like rugs, sleeping bags, blankets, tarps, etc. Use it 7-8 mo/yr, we also have ropes on our enclosed sunporch to use in rainy spells or in the spring before the snow's melted under the outside line. In the winter it's a wooden drying rack in the same room as the woodstove. I've never owned a dryer.

Agree on the smell...been using a clothesline ever since I bought my first house 40-odd years ago. Clothes dried in a dryer just smell like lint to me.
Can't understand why so many HOAs ban them.

 

[Wagtail]

The 'Hills Hoist' is an iconic clothes line down here.

I have one and use it year round when the weather cooperates.

 

[mcfarmall]

Got one but I only use it for airing out damp sleeping bags and tarps. Wife loves to burn that natural gas!

 

[3930dave]

My Dad always built ours; out of about 4 inch pipe. He made two T's, about six foot tall, set in concrete and about 30 or so feet apart, with about four wires tightened by turnbuckles. Yep, Sharn Jean and I had similar ones in our first house; until the baby came along and I bought a used drier for $10.

Gramp was a well-driller, so things were always built out of pipe at their place - long lasting build, esp. if you kept the pipe painted.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Agree on the smell...been using a clothesline ever since I bought my first house 40-odd years ago. Clothes dried in a dryer just smell like lint to me.
Can't understand why so many HOAs ban them.

It does seem like Alice going down the rabbit hole........... I grew up in a city, in a neighbourhood with good sized suburban lots. Many urban houses back then used clothes lines.

Now (that we are so green ), people can't be bothered, or they are banned outright.

I don't have the greatest sense of smell, but laundry does smell way better on the line even to me.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Got one but I only use it for airing out damp sleeping bags and tarps. Wife loves to burn that natural gas!

We have an electric dryer here, but fortunately doesn't get used much. If it was used more, I'd get a natgas one.

We'll use the outside line as much as we can, early Spring to Late Fall. It actually crosses our open deck, with one pulley on a garden shed, and the other on an elevator bolted to a 4x4 on the other side of the deck.

Home Hardware - 52" Clothesline Elevator

Wife does a lot of personal work with fabric (sewing.......) so understands that dryers are hard on most fabrics, so prefers line-dry for that reason alone.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

The 'Hills Hoist' is an iconic clothes line down here.

I have one and use it year round when the weather cooperates.

Looks way better built than the ones similar to that here. Had one when first in this house, just square-tube light gauge aluminum - doesn't stand up well to heavy loads over time.

Rgds, D.

 

[randy41]

i used a couple of worn mower spindles

 

[3930dave]

i used a couple of worn mower spindles

Tractor related parts and clotheslines ! :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[Deere Dude]

My Dad always built ours; out of about 4 inch pipe. He made two T's, about six foot tall, set in concrete and about 30 or so feet apart, with about four wires tightened by turnbuckles. Yep, Sharn Jean and I had similar ones in our first house; until the baby came along and I bought a used drier for $10.

I used 3" galv pipe from work for t-posts and nylon covered cable and turnbuckles. My wife never dries clothes in the drier, lines only except when it will rain for a couple weeks in a row and needs to.

My jeans will never fit again if they go in the drier.

 

[bunyip]

We nhad a Hills Hoist which was pretty rough after years of abuse before we got the house, we pulled it out and replaced it with a new clone, worst move we ever made and should have rebuilt the Hills.
We are about to pull it out and replace it with a fold out rack, 8' wide and 8 runs of line, collapses to two vertical poles when not in use and gives us lawn space.
I remember those clothes lines across the street when I lived in the UK, they were very common in the 50's, we lived in the country but we saw them when we came to town, there was an unofficial washing day that everyone seemed to adhere to and the streets were quite dark when the washing was out, a bit like fish and chips on Friday and chicken on Sunday, I think Tuesday was washing day.

 

[Opti-Mist]

Ohh Yeah!!! The wife grew up in the city but developed an appreciation for a clothes line. Every home has had one. Can't beat one.

 

[3930dave]

We nhad a Hills Hoist which was pretty rough after years of abuse before we got the house, we pulled it out and replaced it with a new clone, worst move we ever made and should have rebuilt the Hills.
We are about to pull it out and replace it with a fold out rack, 8' wide and 8 runs of line, collapses to two vertical poles when not in use and gives us lawn space.
I remember those clothes lines across the street when I lived in the UK, they were very common in the 50's, we lived in the country but we saw them when we came to town, there was an unofficial washing day that everyone seemed to adhere to and the streets were quite dark when the washing was out, a bit like fish and chips on Friday and chicken on Sunday, I think Tuesday was washing day.

Haven't seen that outdoor fold-out style here, but you folks have way more outdoor sun hours annually than we do, so makes sense for your market.

With small indoor racks it can be hard to get at the inner "lines", but that outdoor rack sounds big enough that you could walk inside it, and have lots of line length.

Rgds, D.

 

[bunyip]

They are commonly used on the side of a house (wall mounted) or units where space is at a premium but can be free standing using the extra verticals concreted into the ground, they come in a variety of sizes and line runs.
This is a wall mount similar to what we have except we have the optional vertical frame so it is free standing.

 

[Stimw]

Some years ago I saw an ad for "Solar Clothes Dryers" $49.95 Limit 5 !!!
I think the limit was because mail fraud was set at $300.00 at the time!
So, are you talking about clothes lines or solar clothes dryers??

 

[Redlands Okie]

i used a couple of worn mower spindles

Need to be real careful using that setup. Not sure the RPM rating on that old spindle is sufficient for reeling that line in and out.