Clothesline Poles

woodsinfall · Oct 20, 2002

I have asked my husband to put up a clothesline in our backyard. I want to avoid attaching it to the house or the garage, and I don't want want of those round things. What I had in mind was two T-shaped poles, with a line running between each end of the Ts. He has looked at places like Lowe's, Farm and Fleet, and Menard's and hasn't been able to find anything similar to what I described. Does anyone know where you can find that kind of clothesline pole?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

rancar · Oct 20, 2002

The type of clothsline pole you describe is frequently made with old utility poles with the horizontal line supports still attached. If you can't procure any of these old poles, you can purchase new utility poles from some lumber yards in your area that might carry them and purchase pressure treated 2"x6" horizontal supports that you can attach yourself. From what I've been able to observe, these work quite well in my part of the country. Hope this helps.

Bob

MikePA · Oct 20, 2002

I made two of the 'T' poles out of three 4" x 4" x 8'. Two of the 4" x 4"s are the posts. I cut the third one in half and used the 4' length as the cross piece of the "T"s. I used a simple lap joint about a foot from the top of the post and secured it with carriage bolts.

Wil · Oct 20, 2002

Most of them I have seen where pipe welded into a "T" with holes for eye bolts to fasten the lines to. If you don't have a welder, a local shop could probably fix you up at a reasonable price. Black pipe isn't too expensive and some rustolum (sp) paint should keep it from getting messy.

StoneHeartFarm · Oct 20, 2002

Mike has pretty much explained the way we've always made ours, too. Use 4x4's for the posts. Make the top of the T out of another 4x4 or a piece of 2x6 with small wind braces. Attach the clothes lines with eye bolts. Typically, we run 4 lines rather than 2.

I've never seen any of them pre made. You usually have to do it yourself.

SHF

njrqs · Oct 20, 2002

"Hills" over here makes many sorts of clotheslines.

Some, like the type you are referring to.

Hence the term "Hills Hoist" to describe the round thing you are referring to.

http://products.hills.com.au/Hills.HillsBranded.Website/product?code=a1000pro

Cheers

Steven · Oct 20, 2002

Go to home depot and get at least a 1.5'' threaded "t" connector. then get two 8 foot pipes and 4 four foot pipes and have them threaded on one end to match the "t" at the store. put two 4 foot pieces in each side of the t and the eight foot piece in the bottom set in the ground two feet with cemment, tie on some clothe line 3 on each side and your all done.

chim · Oct 20, 2002

I've made a couple sets from electrical conduit. One set was GRC and the other was IMC. Both these types are threaded pipe, the GRC being a heavier wall than IMC. I wouldn't bother using EMT (thinwall).

One ten-foot piece of 2"ID pipe has threads cut off, and is cut in half. Each half becomes the horizontal part of the "T". A 10' length of 2-1/2"ID pipe gets one end coped to fit around the 2" pipe, and the two get welded together. I drilled the 2" pipes straight through and inserted eye bolts to tension the plastic-covered cable clotheslines. I primed and painted them. They'll last a real long time. The first set was planted at our first house, and they looked fine 17 years later when we built our current house.

Planting them is a matter of digging (or drilling, if you have a PHD) a hole about 4' deep and a foot in diameter. Insert pole and backfill with concrete. In our soil they stay plumb regardless of how much laundry gets hung on them...............chim

wroughtn_harv · Oct 20, 2002

Some of your local fence companys make and sell them.

BTW a couple of years ago I put in a set at a home in a nice upper class north Dallas neighborhood. They had deed restrictions against them. The customer got by with it when she explained that they weren't clothes line poles but a solar dryer.

edt · Oct 21, 2002

I have used the same method two pt 4x4x10 dug into the ground about 3 feet used 2x6 pt as cross pieces installed eye hooks and rope has been up about 10 years note dug by hand had no tractor hope too never do it by hand again
EDT