I want a Sheila maid. How can I be sure it won't make my roof collapse?

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

I want to put it where the stairs go up to the attic room. So it needs to hang from the underside of the actual roof

I underhand you have to hang it FTP. Jousts but will those beam things that are on the underside of the roof be string enough?

There isn't anywhere where it can hang from the underside of a floor above if that makes sense, nowhere where there are horizontal beans

[ChristianGreyIsAJackass]

bewildered! off to google!

[ChristianGreyIsAJackass]

So you need to hang it from the joists, what are you going to be hanging on it? dead bodies?? surely a few wet clothes wont make your roof fall in?

[DomesticCEO]

Ooh I'd love a Sheila maid - but no idea about the logistics of it!

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

FFs

'I understand you are meant to hang it from joists

[MiniTheMinx]

You need to find the beams, it won't then pull anything down. You also need to make sure that where you put the cleat thing is secure, don't screw the cleat into the wall! when the load the sheila maid and it carries a lot of weight, the weight isn't on the beams but is distributed through the rope to the cleat.

You'll know this is true when you load it with washing, it becomes heavy to pull back up.

It is best to screw the cleat into skirting board. To find the beams in the ceiling use a hammer to tap the ceiling, it will sound different depending if hollow or beam. Good luck!

[catinthesnow]

Our pulley is attached to the underside of an upstairs joist and the rounded bits sort of stick out of the ceiling.
It takes a fair bit of weight, wet jumpers, pots and pans, wet towels.

Do the company provide the bits to hang it off the joists? Ask them for technical info.

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

Thank you

So do the sloping underside roof supports count as beams?

Excellent news if they do

I'm not sure the skirting board would be as secure as drilling deep into the wall would it? It might be stuck on with no more nails

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

Great people who know what I'm talking about!

I've been getting blank looks up until now

So, another question if you don't mind

It needs to go on a sloping ceiling. Not parallel to the slope but one end of it at the low end and the other at the high end if that makes sense. I know I'll need a longer rope but I can't see why this might be a problem but I may not have understood how they hang. Can you think of any reason why it shouldn't be hung on a sloping ceiling?

[ChristianGreyIsAJackass]

'FFS' charming, i wasnt being funny, your op is full of typos and it didnt make sense to me, I was clarifying.
Good luck :)

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

Sorry Christian I was FFs at my typos, not at you. I'd never be so rude :). I cross posted with you

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

Oh and I think the combined weight of the thing itself and a wet load of washing might be quite heavy

If I had the sort of beams or joists that support floors I wouldn't worry. It's that I'll need to use the roof supports and I'm not sure they'd be adequate

[ChristianGreyIsAJackass]

Ha! Sorry!
I thought perhaps it was for pans after I had posted, but are they the same thing?
I dont see why you couldnt hang it from a diagonal beam, although it might not hang right if you didnt distribute the weight evenly?

[Brightonite]

Some people know this as a 'hanging jenny'....

[plantsitter]

You could hang it fro a diagonal beam cos you can let one side down more than the other. No idea if roof beams would be strong enough though. However I suspect the screw-in hooks would fall out (braining whoever was underneath) before the roof fell in.

[Mandy21]

We have one - yes, each side is on a separate rope so you'd just need to align each rope so it hangs horizontally, even if the ceiling is sloped. We have the cleat in the wall and its strong enough. It does take quite a bit of weight, but am sure you'll be fine with the joists. The only thing I'd mention is ventilation - if you're going to use it for hanging wet washing, can you ventilate the area?

[fossil971]

Rafters is the word. The rafters should be strong enough because they are heavy enough for the weight of the roof, tiles, snow etc.

I thikn it should work OK, obviously one string will be longer than the other but if you tie them together you can still raise/lower by the same amount. It's easier to hook a loop over your cleat than try to wrap around each time.

[MacaroniAndWalnut]

Hurrah

Rafters. That is the word

Brilliant. Thanks guys