Elevated Pulley Washing Line

IsThisOneFree

OK, I really have no idea where to put this so mods, feel free to move it or let me know if I should delete and re-post elsewhere

Anyway, my Mum has arthritis in her knees and slightly in her elbow and shoulder. Currently she has a traditional clothes line at a regular height. What I want to get her is a pulley system (so she can stand on the footpath outside the door and "feed" the clothes along the line rather than her having to walk along the line. Pulley systems seem to be easy enough to get, but what I'd also like to do is get some kind of system which she can easily elevate up and down .... so she can drop the line to eye level (or a little lower), put the clothes on and feed them along the pulley, and then elevate it back up when she's done.

I can find pulley lines quiet easily as it's escentially just 2 wheels with a washing line running over them. And I know that elevated washing lines exist too ! But the only thing I can find which seems to meet both my requirements is this:

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Indoor-Living/Housewares/Laundry-Iron-Nonelec/Dryers/Clothes-Line/52-Clothesline-Elevator/_/N-ntkp9/R-I4427258?Num=1

The problem is:

- I can't find any videos of it in operation (to confirm it does what I want)
- I don't know if it'll definitely meet my Mum's needs (eg it might be too difficult for her to winch up and down)
- I don't know if I can get it shipped from Canada !!

Does anybody have any ideas where else I could get/make these ? Would somebody like B&Q have anything similar (I've already searched their website). Or does anybody have any experience with these types of things and have any recommendations/tips/gotchas ?

Thanks in advance for any help

irelandspurs

contact these and see can the make one for you,they are near me and are good.http://washinglines.ie/

quietsailor

Did you google this because I did and got pages of hits example you shouldn't need a video when looking at this picture. If your unsure of where to go from here get help from a friend who is good at DIY - I'm trying not to be insulting but if you can't understand how it works from the pictures then you might not have the skills to make it and end up wasting money.

If it's any use to you;
The winches you see in the irish site can be found in any marine sales shop (~€35) or on ebay - just search for "Hand winch" and you'll find them.

Metal suppliers will sell you any type of box section or pipe necessary, Miko metals in Cork are such a supplier.

Galvanizers have a minimum price structure usually - e.g €80 for the first 65kg and €1 per kilo after that so you'll be paying €65 unless you can find other items to galvanize - painting would be a cheaper option.

If your mother's line is very short you will need to fit two of these height adjusting pulleys as if she drops one end of the line and not the other most of the line will still be too high for her to reach.

I don't know if the attachment will come out clearly - basically you don't have a winch to tighten/loosen the clothes line, instead you have 2 winches - one at each end and the raise and lower the clothes line. It is a simpler system than the one your talking about. The ones that came up first when I googled - solar drying systems - had the line raised and lowered by a rope you held in your hands, for an elderly person they might not be able to grip that rope properly and it would hurt them. My attachment uses the winch ratchet action so it can never run free.

Apologies for the rough quality of the attachment, I hand drew it very quickly.

Anyway the best of luck with it, it's a good thing your doing and I hope it works out properly for you

edit: bugger I just realised you want a pulley system as well as a height adjusting system, the second attachment would sort that out.