Help me with my ceiling clothes maiden!

[millefeuille2]

I am getting a ceiling clothes maiden, pulley maid, whatever you want to call it, in the utility room. I'm very excited. However, I'm very new to this and need some guidance please. Please could someone who's got one help me out?

1. What's the ideal length? Utility is 2.2m x 1.7m. Will 1.2m be enough?

1. We've decided to go for a wooden one rather than the ubiquitous Lakeland extendable metal one (which apparently bows easily). Good choice?

1. Anything else?

Thank you in advance!

I haven't bothered

Definitely get the longest and highest capacity you can fit.

Not round dowels as they can roll and then your washing can fall off!

The ends of the poles are great for undies and socks.

I’ve had the Lakeland one in daily use for 3 years.

no bowing whatsoever!

The length of the rope you need will depend on where you hang it - get the tape measure out.

We only needed a small rope, we actually cut some off.

I have a wooden one above my Aga. I haven't varnished it or anything. It's one of the best things I have in my house. The cord has frayed once in 10 years, and was easily replaced.

I have never dried sheets on mine. I tumble dry them if needed. I use it for shirts, jumpers, t shirts, trousers etc. Anything that can't be tumble dried really.

Omg that's so true re dowels rolling! Flat ones it is.

This is the one I'm considering btw, if we go for flat bars. Any thoughts on nylon or metal wheels, and extra pulley?

www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/285/pulley-clothes-airer

This is mine. It was hard to get a good photo. I painted the slats.

Hmm I’m not sure how you’d get double sheets onto a 1.2m airer, unless you’re planning to fold them?

I have the Lakeland one, no bowing and it’s much lightest than heavy wooden ones. I have a little step stool so I can hang clothes without putting it up and down as it hangs above doors in our slim utility room. Husband can reach up without the stool. I love it, enjoy!

I miss mine, used to have ours over the aga. Might have one put up over the bath, ugly as it will be.

I have one. Had it for 20 years; have replaced rope a couple of times. Should have varnished the bars as they've gone a big discoloured. Mine is 6ft / 4 bars and holds pretty much a full wash. I tend to hang certain items like shirts on a hanger in th airing cupboard / but everything else goes on it.

Just put mine up last weekend, well used already! I went for 1.8m laths and an extra pulley so the rope goes down the wall rather than across the room. I wouldn’t bother varnishing the wood, I don’t think it’s necessary. If I had more space I’d go for the next length as you don’t get as much on them as I’d hoped, but still very happy with it.

We've got a wooden one on the landing, had to chop about 6" off it to fit after we got the loft extended. Even our truncated version is brilliant. Didn't varnish it, and it's fine, and more than 20 years old.

Mine's nearly 30 years old and is over the aga, but about 2 feet in from the wall, so the diagonal rope isn't in the way. I put woodstain on the rails when it arrived and I've not needed to do anything else to it since. I thought varnish may crack due to the constant heat.

The ceiling's very high, it has 2 pulleys on the ceiling and a cleat on the wall.

I can hang tops or trousers on hangers on it and can still open the wall cupboards underneath them. Do check how much weight it will hold doing this though and check it's balanced. I use the same amount of garments that it would take if I laid them on the rails. Thick cotton garments like jeans are a lot heavier than chinos, so again don't overload it weightwise. Pulling a heavy load up is okay, when lowering a heavy load, be careful the rope doesn't slip through your hands. I put a knot in mine every 2 feet or so.
Pants, bras, gloves and socks easily go on the ends of the rails.
Check that the metal frames are parallel before you pull it up, they can twist as you load it.

I've also got one similar to this which is handy for those days where the rack isn't big enough to take a full load. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DE0T95O/ref=sspa_dk_detail_12?

Nope bars not varnished or stained. I spin at 1400 so the clothes are never sopping wet when they go on and dry faster.

I have a wooden one from Sheila Maid, it's 213cm long and I couldn't live without it now. It can hold either a large 9kg load or two smaller, loads of space for bedding. I wouldn't go any longer personally as it is heavy to lift up with that much wet washing on but I never use anything else to dry washing now

I have a outdoor /indoor maiden which I have had for many years and I love it as it is only small but it has saved me so much money over the years as i haven’t had to use my dryer on my washing machine unless it was a emergency and I ran out of bed sheets/ duvet covers.

I have heard so many people say they haven’t got any space for one or they look ugly but this was a couple of years ago but only last week I checked the prices online and they have trebled in price.?
I wonder why ?

Yeah the varnishing isn't a big deal. It's just when we took ours down to move it the laths had gone quite grey/spotty, do I sanded them down and hardwax oiled them before putting up. This is after about 15 years of constant use to be fair.

Thanks all. I noticed a PP had put hers over the base units. Is that what others have done too? I was expecting it to go on the side of the room without units, to allow the sheets to hang down.

To the PP who asked about size - I normally fold sheets in two, sometimes four, to hang on the floor airer, so 4 slats and 1.2m should be fine for me. But will think about 1.5m after reading your comments.

Over the units is great as it doesn't hang over where you might walk.
Just remember to have 1.2m between the brackets you will need a bit more length to let the ends project.

I have a 1.2m 6 lath one and it’s great. I’m aiming to move that over the sink and buy a longer 7 lath one for where that one currently is. I can easily fit a 10kg load of washing on mine and have it dry by the next morning. Bedding wise I fold all my sheets either in half (fitted sheets) or into thirds lengthwise (duvet covers) and that way I can do 3 king sized beds at once and have them dry overnight plus it’s already half folded by the time I come to want to put it away. I have my brackets set slightly narrower than recommended though which means I can hang sheets in between them and pillowcases at the end. Hardest working member of our house and I wouldn’t change it for the world. No rotting or bowing and it’s been up and used daily for 7 years now.

Mine is over my sink/units

@NotMeNoNo please could you explain a bit more - if I get the 1.2m one, I'm assuming that's measuring the laths end to end, so the brackets would have to be presumably 0.8-1m apart or something like that?