Before electric dryers were invented, people would hang their clothes on clotheslines. Even today, many people still use this method to dry their clothes when the sun is out and the weather is warm. With a clothesline wrapped around two pulleys in the back yard, it becomes easy to stand on your porch and push the laundry out on the line. Because the line is outside, however, it will be exposed to the elements and will eventually snap. When this happens, you will need to restring the line to keep using it.

  • Before electric dryers were invented, people would hang their clothes on clotheslines.
  • Because the line is outside, however, it will be exposed to the elements and will eventually snap.

Take the pulleys off of their hooks (or unscrew them from their supports). Tie one end of the rope to the ring on a line tightener, the device that allows you to pull the line taut.

Feed the other end of the string through a pulley, through the line separator, through the other pulley and finally through the line tightener. A line separator is an "S"-shaped tool that keeps the strings parallel and separate from each other. The rope fits into the curved part of the top and the bottom of the "S."

Hang the pulleys back up on their support hooks. Pull the rope through the line tightener until it is taut. Cut off any excess rope through with scissors. Fit the rope through the line separator curves.

TIP

If using a single line-clothesline, tie off one end to the far support hook and pull the rope through the one closest to you until it is taut. Tie it off and cut away any excess

WARNING

Don't pull the line too tightly. It should be taut, but some sag is OK (especially when there are clothes on it). If it is pulled too tightly, it may snap back at you.