While my garden is close to a money tree ~ we’re not quite there! Since I’m not working outside the home right now, I’m always looking for new ways to save my family money. Did you know it costs between 50 cents and a dollar to run a dryer for approximately an hour? More in the colder months. That adds up quick in a home with four people and two dogs. Some days I find myself doing three or four loads. Besides, I’m looking for an excuse to get outside and enjoy some fresh air and sun myself. But I was floored when Tom told me he wasn’t going to build me a line out of wood as I fully expected, but metal. In fact, galvanized steel. I’m sure glad he had that epiphany; it’s the best clothesline ever! You hardly notice it in the yard, chic even! Here’s how to make your own customizable clothesline.
The gist of our clothesline…
The general idea is to have rope lines hanging off the ground anchored by two metal T’s on each side made of galvanized steel. Buried PVC pipe is used in conjunction with quick dry cement to permanently hold the two metal poles in place. We went with three lines for adult clothes and linens and one low line for the kids.
Just like a good recipe, you can customize this clothesline to suit your needs. You may not want as many lines or a super low line for kids at all. Tom made ours 6 feet tall while the kids line dangles just about 3 feet off the ground. This gives us four lines measuring 30 feet long to hang clothes but anywhere in the 10-30 foot length range works well. I have yet to run out of space.
When folding from a line, it’s easy to sort what goes where. Straight from the dryer, the laundry tends to get bunched, covered in fuzzies and wrinkled if I don’t grab it fast before it cools down. And I never seem to be able to find that “other sock.” I hang clothes according to who they belong to which makes putting them a way a breeze.
Supplies we needed for the metal clothesline
- Four feet of 4″ PVC pipe already had extra from previous project
- Hacksaw to cut the PVC pipe
- Level
- Small shovel or trowel
- Crescent wrench to tighten U-bolts and quick links
- Pipe wrench to tighten all the metal fittings to the 1″ pipe
- Quick dry cement $4.48 at Home Depot
- 1″ galvanized steel end cap (4 of these) $2.18 each =$8.72
- 1″ galvanized steel T (4 of these). $5.99 on Amazon with free shipping. One at the top of 8′ pole and one at the bottom (prevent the pole from turning). $24.96
- 1″ x 10′ galvanized steel pipe $20.77 each (2 of these) $41.54
Pipe threader at Home Depot
At Home Depot Tom bought two 1″ x 10′ section of galvanized steel. Home Depot cut two feet off of each pipe and then cut each two foot piece in half. This gave us four one foot sections of pipe. Home Depot used this pipe threader so we could thread everything together.
Step-by-step instructions on how to build a metal clothesline
I. Dig two holes at least 2 feet deep and between 10-30 feet apart
2′ hole with 2′ pvc pipe
Your metal clothesline has some weight to it so you’ll want to ensure it stays put. You’ll do this by anchoring the metal poles inside two PVC pipes on each end. The metal pipe goes into the center of the PVC pipe and eventually gets cemented in.
Dig a hole at least two feet deep and bury your PVC pipe. The deeper it is, the less likely the frost will cause the pipe to heave over the winter. Make sure you keep the dirt outside the pipe as you want to eventually fill the inside with cement. I ended up having leftover 4′ PVC pipe from my underground watering tubes when we grew our 6′ tomatoes.
Dig a second hole 10-30 feet away from the first. Bury just like you did with the first PVC pipe.
II. How-to put together the clothesline T and extensions
Here you are building the top T of the clothesline. You will assemble in the order as listed below.
Piece 1
1″ galvanized steel end cap
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Piece 2
1″ x 12″ galvanized steel pipe
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Piece 3
1″ galvanized steel T
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Piece 4
1″ x 12″ galvanized steel pipe
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Piece 5
1″ galvanized steel end cap
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Shown below is the step-by-step assembly process of the top T bar of the metal pole. Basically the pipes screw into the galvanized steel T and end caps you can hand tighten and then use a pipe wrench to finish the job.
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Tom added another T to the bottom of the pipe that will get buried. This allows the pipe to adhere to the cement better.
The below diagram shows the metal pipe and pieces fully assembled.
III. Cement the bottom 2 feet inside the PVC underground
Your PVC pipes are already buried in the ground. The inside of the pipe should still be empty. This you will fill with cement to keep those metal poles permanently in place. In retrospect, I would have buried an extra foot of the pole.
1.) Add water to the hole to help the dig
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2. Cut 4″ pvc pipe into two 2′ lengths
3.) Place PVC pipe back in ground once you’ve dug out two feet
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4.) Make sure the pole is level
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5.) Quick set cement
6.) Helpers- one adds the cement the other adds some water. (If they’re cute, that always helps.)
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7.) Place the steel pole in the center of the cement and make sure it’s level!
Actual clothesline supplies we used in conjunction with the rope
- Clothesline tighteners – one for every line. I needed four because we had three on top and one low one for the kids = $12 ($3/each)
- 2 u-Bolts for every line (5/16 in x 1-1/2 in x 2-5/8″) so I needed eight = $32 ($4/each)
- 1/4″ quick links one for each line so I needed four. = $4 ($0.93/each)
Total Cost for everything $ 127.70
We could have shopped around a lot more for some of these items. But the dryer went down and Tom went to work. We saw similar metal clothesline kits online ranging from $300-$500. A big savings! And when you just buy a kit, you can’t really customize to your liking.
This is the order used for one line. U-bolt attaches to a tightener on one end. On the other side of the line a u-bolt and quick link were used.
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U-bolt $4 Home Depot
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Clothesline tightener
$3 online 
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Quick link $0.93
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U-bolt
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IV. How-to attach the rope to the metal T’s
U-bolt attached to a tightener
Tom purchased a thicker rope (1/4″) which proved to be much more difficult to feed through the tightener. I recommend using just regular diameter (3/16″) clothesline. On one side of the line you will put a u-bolt on the 1″ pipe and hook the tightener to this u-bolt. The tightener makes hanging clothes super easy since you can quickly and easily tighten or loosen the rope.
U-bolt attached to a quick link
The opposite end of the rope the u-bolt is once again attached to the u-bolt and Tom decided to add a quick link to the u-bolt because he thought it would be easier to tie the rope and make any future adjustments.
This side shows the tighteners attached to the u-bolts.
Add a line for the kids
Tom made a super low line just for the kids so they can get in the game and hang their own clothes. Dangling just 3 feet off the ground, it’s the perfect height. So if you have kids or grand kids, this might be an idea to explore. It accommodates both their shorter statures and smaller clothes to a tee! Even their pants don’t pose a risk of getting dirty. (The dirt pathway is from that drain pipe project we’ve been talking about….we’re gearing up to plant grass soon!)
How many loads of laundry do you do each week?
This is brilliant! Thank you! My grandparents had one very similar to this when I was growing up (I accidentally snapped one pole though when I wrecked our go-kart into it as a teen!). Where’s the best location for a line? North to south, or east to west facing, or is it by the way the wind blows? It gets shady in our yard after about 4 pm, from the big magnolia out back.