I am interested in building a sturdy outdoor clothesline. How do I go about it?
Clothes and linens dried in the sunshine smell fresh and feel crisp. Here are two ways to install one: The first method is for a simple, single line that is easy to take down and put back up. For the second a line is strung between two pulleys.
You can use a cotton or plastic clothesline rope. You’ll need two strong supports: trees or a porch post.
For the single line, you’ll need a heavy-duty hook; a metal eye hook; a cleat, a small metal fitting that you’ll wrap the rope around to anchor it; and a metal ring.
Mark the height you want the line to be on each support. On one support, screw in the hook at that point; start the hole with a drill. On the other, screw in the eye hook. Twelve inches below the eye hook, install a cleat. Tie one end of the rope tightly to the ring. Loop the ring over the hook, and walk the rope over to the other support. Thread the other end through the eye hook, pull it tight, and wind it around the cleat.
For the double-strung line, you’ll need two heavy-duty hooks; two pulleys; a line tightener, which will take up the slack; and a line separator, which keeps the top and bottom lines separate but parallel. Screw the hooks into the supports at the height you want the line to be.
Tie one end of the rope securely to the ring on the end of the line tightener. Thread the other end through the pulley, the line separator, the other pulley and the line tightener. Hang the pulleys from the hooks on your supports, pull the end of the rope through the tightener until taut and cut away the excess rope. Hook the line separator around the bottom rope.
2006 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.
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