Ceiling-mounted Clothes Airer??

dogstarheaven

been thinking about the best way of drying my clothes for sometime now, and thought the idea of the old-fashioned Kitchen Maid that is a wooden lath with a pulley-system. Has anyone used one of these before, if so what are your experiences? (they're a bit expensive, so would anyone know of a good price for one too?). Thanks!:p

st999

Ah! the old kitchen pulley. Dried your clothes but they stunk of whatever you were cooking at the time.

I still remember the screech as it was pulled up. And the downstairs and upstairs neighbours as well.

My wife got rid of ours 30 odd years ago when she bought a tumble drier.

cherub1965

i've got one in my utility room,would be lost without it for bedding,towels etc.mines original to the house,so glad i didnt take it down.
dont think i would fancy one in the kitchen though,might make the washing smell.
i put towels on and they are dry in the morning,cost a fortune for all towels and bedding in the dryer and i hate having a maiden around,dog always ends up collapsing them:mad:

dogstarheaven

oh no. course, i wouldn't have it in my kitchen. with all the cooking i do, i have enough probs making lamb/spicy/fish dishes when i don't have an extractor fan. I hate the smells it gives to my hair or clothes!
the KM will be in my daughter's room which will now be our spare room as she's left for Uni. last yr. Since clearing it out this week (lots, lots of recyclable stuff for charity/paper etc.,), there's a lot of potential to do what we want with the room. Daughter obviously has given her blessing for us to do this, of course. It's taken my a yr, to finally do something about it!

With the KM, I'm not sure, what size to buy. Altho' the outlay of buying one is costly (£50+), it'll be better for me practically about drying the clothes on there than on a clothes horse and radiators (didn't like any drying in the front room as the piano is in there and the condensation isn't good for it at all).

Penelope_Penguin

I have one in my kitchen - it was there when we moved in I cook from scratch every day, and unless I'm doing oily fish or pancakes (when I make sure there's nothing on there) the washing has never once smelt of food

I've often thought that the cheapest way to do this is to buy the cast-iron end pieces, then buy laths, pulleys, rope and cleat from a local hardware shop.

Penelope_Penguin

st999 wrote: »

My wife got rid of ours 30 odd years ago when she bought a tumble drier.

That's neither moneysaving, or energy saving :money: I love the low-tech alternatives of line drying (summer) and creel-drying (winter) :money:

dave_ave

You can buy them on eBay - various lengths at various prices.

I made my own and bought the pulleys and rope to put it up in our utility room.

The hardest bit is finding the joists to screw into!

Cardew

Make sure the room is well ventilated or mould can take hold.

Poosmate

I've thought about getting one of these put up in my bathroom over the bath area. The bathroom is already geared up for damp conditions anyway and it faces south(ish) so gets some heat from the day to dry it out quite quickly.

Anyone know of any reasons why I shouldn't put one over the bath?

Thanks

Poo

Torry_Quine

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I have one in my kitchen - it was there when we moved in I cook from scratch every day, and unless I'm doing oily fish or pancakes (when I make sure there's nothing on there) the washing has never once smelt of food

I have the original pulley in my kitchen and like you despite cooking every day have never had food smells on my food.

Poosmate

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I have the original pulley in my kitchen and like you despite cooking every day have never had food smells on my food.

LOL, sorry this made me laugh!

What does your food smell of then?