Elevated clothes drying rack solution

Elevated clothes drying rack solution#

Why and Where#

This mini project addresses the regular need to hang dry laundry for the small apartment dweller. This Paris, France apartment is typical in that it is a) fairly small, and b) has high ceilings. Given the high ceilings, the goal is to raise the drying clothes to the ceiling so that one can still move about and use the full, precious floor space as drying occurs overhead (which can take awhile). For short- to medium-height people, it can be a winner. NOTE: this solution imitates the approach of a store-bought kit, pictures of which were shared with me so that I could adapt the principle mechanisms.

Components#

All of the items below were purchased (at a moderate price) at a Leroy Merlin home improvement store in Paris.

quantity	description
4	swivelling pulleys
1	large chain quick link (acts as multi-cord pulley)
2	large eye screws (1 acts as cord hook, 1 anchors quick link/pulley)
4	medium angle brackets
80'	50mm double braided polyester cord
2	3 cm metal o-ring
8	wall anchor screw pairs
1	bamboo, ladder-style drying rack (probably intended for vertical use resting on floor)

Design#

The bamboo ladder rack is suspended horizontally from its 4 corners by the braided cord. The 4 braided cords feed up through swivel pulleys at the ceiling (fastened by doubled zip ties to the angle brackets). From the 4 pulleys the cords route horizontally along the ceiling to pass through a chain quick-link located at a corner of the ceiling; from there the cords route together down to a hook located at elbow level. The ropes are tied as a group to metal o-rings in 2 spots: when the lower o-ring is on the hook, the ladder rack is in the lowered position for adding or removing clothes from the rack. When the upper o-ring is hooked, the rack is at max height so that clothes can dry overhead.

Rack raised to ceiling level with clothes drying