Positioning your airer
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Can I mount a pulley airer on a sloping ceiling?
Yes, so long as the airer is not side on to the slope. If it’s end on, the pulleys will be vertical and both ropes can be set to different lengths so the drying rack remains level.
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I have a suspended ceiling or a ceiling not suitable for the screw pulleys?
Clothesmaid have designed and developed their own Wall Brackets to get over this problem. These are strong ready assembled wall brackets in white or black and suitable for our Popular and Clothesmaid airers only. This enables you to fix to the wall instead of the ceiling. For more information click on the wall bracket TAB on either the Popular or Clothesmaid airer page.
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How can I locate hidden ceiling joists?
By gently tapping the ceiling with the handle of a screwdriver a hollow sound is heard where there is no joist. When this changes to a solid sound this should be where the joist is. Use a small pin if necessary to confirm. Ceiling joists are normally evenly spaced.
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Is it easy to hang a clothes drying rack?
Yes, we provide full assembly instructions with our products and these can also be found on our website: assembly instructions. We also have a YouTube channel with an installation video, click here.
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What is the clearance height of the ceiling airers when fully retracted?
When fully hoisted to the ceiling our space saving Popular model only needs 20cm clearance to avoid a door. The Woody needs 21cm, The Clothesmaid needs 26cm, The Five needs 24cm and The Six needs 24.5cm clearance.
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I have a concrete ceiling so can I still use a ceiling airer?
Yes we provide Flat Plate Pulleys that can be drilled and fixed to concrete and metal surfaces. These are available in black only. See our Spares/Accessories page.
What are the overall widths of the ceiling airers?
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What is the width of The Six?
This is a generous 57cm wide. This top selling ceiling airer in its most popular length of 2m, gives 12m of indoor hanging space – longer than many washing lines!
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What is the width of The Popular?
This is only 36cm wide. This space saving drying rack has a low profile so when fully retracted takes up only 8 inches (20cm) of space in the ceiling void.
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What is the width of The Clothesmaid?
This is 39cm wide and our top of the range airer. Its traditional Victorian design comes in a choice of black or white with matching cast iron pulleys, cleat hook and 10m of high quality cotton sash cord. Everything you need including fixings to get your hanging airer system operating and drying clothes in no time!
What optional accessories might I require with my airer?
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When do I need an extra double pulley?
When you are positioning your airer in a larger room away from the wall. The extra pulley will keep the rope close to the ceiling and provide a good angle down the wall to the cleat. Please see diagrams on Assembly which illustrates this.
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Why would I need a 15m cord?
This is useful when you are positioning the clothes airer away from the wall or if you have high ceilings. In this case it’s advisable to buy an additional double pulley. See diagram on assembly instructions.
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How do rubber grippers help?
These prevent your wooden slats from sliding. Available in black only. See our Spares/Accessories page.
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Why are hanging hooks useful?
These are popular for hanging small clothing items and for drying items such as herbs and flowers. Some of our customers buy a small airer to hang kitchen utensils using the hanging hooks. They also come as standard with our Pot Shelf for hanging kitchen utensils.
Wooden airer slats
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What size/profile are Clothesmaid’s replacement wooden airer slats?
Our high quality hand finished slats are 15mm wide x 33mm high but oval shaped so they fit most cast rackends. Also our unique Rubber Grippers ensure your slats will not slide! See our Spares/Accessories page
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What lengths of replacement slats do you supply?
We provide standard lengths of 0.9m, 1.2m, 1.5m, 1.8m, 2.0m and these are found in Spares & Accessories. Clothesmaid can supply bespoke lengths up to 3m, hand finished to customer’s requirements. Please call us for a quote.
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What sort of wood are the clothing slats made from?
Our high quality wooden slats are made only from Grade 1 Scandinavian Pine, sustainably sourced from certified forests and finished to a high standard. We source, cut to size and finish these by hand. If you thinking of buying from a competitor its worth checking the quality?
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Why are the wooden slats untreated?
This is to prevent any staining or discolouration of clothing. This is the traditional and tried and tested finish and will not stain or snag your clothes. Sometimes with prolonged dampness the slats can bend a little but this will not affect their performance. We manufacture and hand finish all our slats which are the best quality.
General
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What comes as standard in the box?
All Clothesmaid ceiling airers come with high quality cast rack ends, pulleys and cleat coloured matched in hard wearing enamel finish. With best quality wooden airer slats and braided rope you can quickly assemble and install your clothes airer in no time!
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Can traditional ceiling airers save you money?
Using a traditional airer will allow you to dry your clothes without the need for a tumble dryer. Hang your washing machine load overnight and they will be dry by the morning. See our Eco-nomics page for more details.
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What advantage is there of a hanging airer over a free standing airer?
The ceiling mounted hanging airer utilises the warmth of the ceiling void to quickly dry clothes. It is a very robust drying rack which won’t topple over like the flimsy metal airers if accidentally knocked. It can be kept completely out of the way when not in use.
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Where can I get replacement cast iron ceiling pulleys?
Clothesmaid supply quality cast iron, powder coated pulleys with either cast wheels or nylon wheels in a range of colours. These are black, white, red, green and blue. See our Spares/Accessories page.
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Where can I buy jute rope for a ceiling mounted clothes airer?
Clothesmaid stock 10m and 15m lengths of quality bio degradable Jute rope available for immediate delivery. See our Spares/Accessories page.
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What lengths of clothes airers do Clothesmaid supply?
We provide standard lengths of 0.9m, 1.2m, 1.5m, 1.8m, 2.0m. We can also supply larger custom lengths to customer requirements up to 3m. Please note that for airers or slats longer than 2m this is to customer requirements and at their risk.
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Where can I get replacement cast iron rackends?
Clothesmaid supply solid cast iron, powder coated rackends for durability in a range of colours. See our Spares/Accessories page.
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Where can I buy cotton cord for pulley airers?
Clothesmaid stock 10m and 15m lengths of quality cotton sash rope available for immediate delivery. See our Spares/Accessories page.
Why buy from Clothesmaid?
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Why should I buy a ceiling airer from Clothesmaid?
Clothesmaid are meticulous about quality sourcing our materials from long established companies. There are cheaper ones on the market but ask them if they are providing FSC certified Grade 1 Scandinavian Pine for the slats, British made quality cords and solid cast iron fittings that are powdered coated for durability?
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
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Do you charge for delivery?
Clothesmaid charge a very competitive rate for delivery given the size of our products. If the order value is over £175 then we do provide free delivery within Mainland UK, excluding Highlands. Some competitors offer free delivery on everything but there is no such thing so you will be paying for it one way or another!
Didn't find the answer?
We hope that we have covered the questions that are frequently asked but if have any other queries then please feel free to call us on 01283 576080 or email [email protected].