# Clothes line posts - where to get them?



## MariaAZ (Jun 5, 2007)

Any ideas where one can get the metal T posts used for clothes lines?


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## insocal (May 15, 2005)

I think they are just plain galvanized pipe. Try a plumber's supply place or just Home Depot.


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## oneokie (Aug 14, 2009)

Welding shop? Know anyone that welds?


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## ejagno (Jan 2, 2008)

Ace Hardware had them but they are flimsy. I would definitely have some welded.


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## Madame (Jan 1, 2003)

Farm and Fleet or Lehmann's, perhaps?


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## Helena (May 10, 2002)

I would go with heavey wooden poles..from experience. But if you have a couple of trees you can put the ropes I would go that way. Trees don't bend with the weight of wet clothes. or if nothing else a good heavy duty clothes tree. Good Luck !!


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I would also have some welded or use the wooden one's.
I have the metal T post type that I think we got at Ace hardware a few years ago, the poles that stick in the ground come in 2 peices & they never have stayed nice & straight so my clothes line always sags. Now I want the wooden kind but dh cemented the posts in so digging them out will be a bugger.
May just put a wooden one up in a different place.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Someone just had a pair posted on Freecycle near here. 

You could probably make some out of 2" galvanized well pipe with a tee or make a U-shaped one with two 90 degree elbows. Otherwise you'll need to find a welder.

Pressure treated 4"x4" posts bolted together should make nice poles. Put turnbuckles on the ends of the wire to tighten them.


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

likely Menards but I'd use a heavier post like from the lumber yard


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

DH made mine from landscape timber.


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## NWMO (Jul 26, 2005)

Had a pair made last year a local "machine shop".....the kid had just made three pair for someone else, so he basically told me the length and size based on what he had already created......he had them ready to go in no time. I paid "price" on per foot of metal and his labor. Think I paid around 60.00 dollars for the pair......then purchased my own eyebolts to attach the line too. 

I have mine up and wife loves them....however......I dropped my T-Posts into a sleeve that I sunk in concrete.....but now the t-posts are tipping in......any easy way to brace the posts to keep them at a 90 degree angle?


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

NWMO
Do you want to correct the tipping inward? It is not difficult. Take the wires off and put to post back to true vertical or a few degrees tilted outward(away from the other clothesline post). On the inner side of each post do the following. Obtain a treated post in the 5 to 6 inch diameter range and at least 6 feet long. Center the post horizontally with it lying on the ground on the inside (toward the other clothesline post) against the clothesline post. This will form a cross and you need the horizontal post parallel to the same arrangement on the other clothesline post. Now, with the horizontal post lying against the vertical clothesline post mark the outline of the post on the ground. Dig a slip fit hole for the horizontal to slip fit into and dig the hole deep enough for the horizontal post to be a few inches below the soil. Lay the horizontal post in the hole and tamp the soil over the post. The horizontal post will be buried and will not interfere with mowing. In order for the clothesline post to now tilt inward it would have to push the broadside of the buried post inward which it cannot do.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

My dad put up pulleys so I can hang clothes without leaving my back porch (it goes from the porch post to the shed posts. I have three pulley lines. Sure beats lugging the heavy wet clothes out to where my old lines were.


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## VERN in IL (Nov 30, 2008)

Treated 4x4's is probably most economical.

IMO yeah, ACE Hardware has them, they are just not heavy duty.

Personally I would go to a Oilfield supplier and use some 4" steel pipe and cut/weld it up.

Are you needing two or THREE "T"'s? I would think a three "T" configuration is the best, as your line will be flapping/sagging less.

My Mom's clothes line is NOT cemented in, and it does just fine with guy anchor.(with turnbuckles to keep the line/poles taught and straight.)


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Got a mom and pop muffler shop around?

If they have straight sticks of exhaust pipe in heavy gauge steel, they might work very well.

Years ago, my dad made a pair of T shaped poles out of exhaust pipe. He painted them to match the house. They have lasted for years and years.


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## MariaAZ (Jun 5, 2007)

I never thought of wood posts before. I'd love to use trees, but the only ones we have that are big enough and spaced a usable distance are in the front yard and I am not quite sure I want to hang my laundry out there lol. 

My mom has a metal set that's been around since we moved there almost 40 years ago, made from very heavy metal concreted into the ground. DH suggested using pipe and fittings, but I like the idea of welded joints better.

How do the pulleys handle the weight of laundry? I like the idea, but I wash a lot of towels and blankets and am concerned about stretching.


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

You can use 1 1/4 inch pipe and fittings or weld them either one will work. If you use wood post use 4x4 and notch the top and put them together that way use two post and a cross piece for each end. Most large hardware store can get them for you any way you want them.


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## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

It took some doing to get them home, but I was at a yard sale where they had them in the back yard, looking unused. I asked, they gave them to me. Hubby was thrilled, hahahaha


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## SeedSister (May 25, 2003)

Once again I go to HT for answers and I get them....plus more! I love the wisdom on here. I have been shopping for clothes line posts and all I could find were those flimsy aluminum ones at Home Depot, Lowes, or Ace. I went on here and was excited to hear that I was not the only one that was having difficulty finding good ones. 

Norton MetalWorks is right up the road from me and cut to order. I am going to order mine new clothesline t-posts this weekend. When I called them they said they get orders for them quite often and suggest 3 inch galvanized steel, 8 ft long and t-post 2 inch that is ft long. They even drill the holes for the eye hooks. 

Thanks again, HT for coming to the rescue.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i just cut the top off a locust post that was used for laundry...back in the seventies. it had not rotted, but the top split into 4 pieces and started to peel away from the center. it is now shorter, but is still in great shape. i will turn it into a bird feeder.

i vote for locust posts about 8 inches in diameter.


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

NWMO said:


> Had a pair made last year a local "machine shop".....the kid had just made three pair for someone else, so he basically told me the length and size based on what he had already created......he had them ready to go in no time. I paid "price" on per foot of metal and his labor. Think I paid around 60.00 dollars for the pair......then purchased my own eyebolts to attach the line too.
> 
> I have mine up and wife loves them....however......I dropped my T-Posts into a sleeve that I sunk in concrete.....but now the t-posts are tipping in......any easy way to brace the posts to keep them at a 90 degree angle?


the best way to brace them is to have a T and underground spur that runs toward the center about 3 feet.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

For cheap line support poles use rigid metal conduit. Cut to length (say 6'). Get some coated clothes hanger wire and form a section into a W with long legs. Crimp down one end to where the wire just fits in, then flatten to secure the wire. Relatively cheap and they should last for many years.

Bamboo notched at one end would also work.

P.S. If metal pipe set in concrete make sure rain water cannot get inside pipe. Also that bottom is exposed to soil. Otherwise will rust out from inside.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

I put one pulley on the corner of the breakfast nook roof and the other up high on a tree. I just have to step out onto the deck and hang 'em up, with a little help from my friends. I put the clothesline up soon as the cabin was livable even tho I had to take laundry to town to wash it. I remember buying the supplies and cracking up at the girl at the counter. She was jealous I was getting an outside clothesline!










I planted a 2" galvanized pipe in a bucket of concrete and buried it in a big hole filled with rocks in the back yard for a tether ball pole. I took it to the machine shop and had an eyebolt & nut drilled into a cap for the top. Then I clipped the teatherball onto the eye. If that pole's strong enough for this abuse I bet something like that would work to hold up a clothesline. Hey, check out my backyard wild blueberry crop! It's more loaded with flower buds this year than I've ever seen it. I can't wait!


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

fishhead said:


> Someone just had a pair posted on Freecycle near here.
> 
> You could probably make some out of 2" galvanized well pipe with a tee or make a U-shaped one with two 90 degree elbows. Otherwise you'll need to find a welder.
> 
> Pressure treated 4"x4" posts bolted together should make nice poles. Put turnbuckles on the ends of the wire to tighten them.


that's what I'd do...

neither works for me... free ranging chickens... poles up in the air... clean clothes... they don't mix well!


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

If any wish to have galvanized steel t-posts for this purpose? The steel T's are welded 1ST, then they can be galvanized. I'd go with T's powder coated. My line set up doesn't work well for me, so just asked my DH to build me a clothes line. I sure hope I don't have to wait too long as the weather has been getting warmer & would love to start hanging my clothes...


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