How to Make a Clothes Line
Many people enjoy hanging clothing outdoors to dry during warm-weather months. This helps conserve energy, and some people prefer the smell and feel of clothing hung out in the fresh air. Plastic clotheslines can be purchased inexpensively at most home improvement stores, but hanging the line in a way that prevents clothing from touching the ground can be challenging. Consider creating a wooden clothesline to provide a stable place to hang your clothing outdoors. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Three 4"x 4"x 8" boards
- Drill
- Eight eye bolts with 5" shanks
- Eight washers
- Eight nuts
- Two Simpson tie connectors
- 16 1/4" x 3" lag screws
- Post hole digger
- Two 90-pound bags of concrete mix
- Bucket
- Water
- Plastic clothesline
Instructions
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1
Cut one of the 8-foot-long four-by-four boards in half. Drill four holes evenly spaced along each half of the four-by-four. Once the holes have been drilled, insert an eye bolt into each hole and secure it on the back of the board with a washer and a nut. These eye holes will be used to hold the clothesline.
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2
Attach a Simpson tie connector with lag screws to one end of each of the whole four-boy-fours.
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3
Attach one half of the cut four-by-four board to the top of each Simpson tie connector with lag screws. You should now have two wood T shapes.
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4
Use the post hole digger to dig holes in the locations where you want the clothesline posts. The holes should be two feet deep.
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5
Mix the concrete with water in a large bucket according to the package directions.
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6
Place the bottom of the T-shaped post into one of the holes and pour the concrete all around it. The tops of the T should be pointing out to the sides and not towards the other hole. Repeat this process with the other posts. The eye bolts on the posts should face towards each other when the posts are placed correctly. Allow the concrete to dry for several hours or overnight.
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7
Tie pieces of clothesline to the eye bolts of one post, pull the line taut and tie it to the corresponding eye bolt of the other post. Be sure to pull the line as taut as possible, otherwise the line will sag under the weight of the clothing.
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