Studies show that an average American family spends 12% of its electric bill going into their clothes dryer. It’s no brainer that if you can get a free alternative for a lifetime, that would be huge savings for your pocket. Getting ready clothes drying racks can bring a solution to that problem. But you cannot be satisfied with every aspect with a readymade rack, especially if you’re a DIY person.
A better solution for you is to make it for yourself, and you must know how to do so. Making a dryer of your own isn’t so easy if you’re a beginner, but it’s not that hard either if you have the right instruction. I can help you learn how to build a folding clothes drying rack and get you through the process. I’ll help you make a cloth dryer to stay out of a pricy cloth dryer and unnecessary bills.
How To Build A Folding Clothes Drying Rack
There are two types of folding clothes drying racks that you can go for, a portable one or a wall-mounted one. I’ll help you build both of them, and you can choose either one and go with the one you prefer. So, go through this guide to know How to build a folding clothes drying rack, both wall-mounted and portable.
How to make a wall-mounted drying rack
If you have spare space on the wall, next to a window where you have proper ventilation, you can attach it there. So, make sure you have such space, and then you can start building the best wall mounted drying rack. You’ll need 2-inch and 3-inch lumber pieces, ½ inch dowels, two support hinges, and a French Cleat.
Make the outer frame
First of all, measure the space, how big you want your drying rack to be. The rack can be the size of a window with a window shape to it. Let’s make it the size of the window with the measurement of 20 inches of width and a height of 22 inches. Get a piece of straight lumber, 3 inches in width, and make cuts in 22 inches for two upper and lower arms of the frame. Now make another two pieces of the right and left arm of the frame with 20 inches in length. Make pocket holes with a drill, ¾” inches on each side to join the pieces, and use 1-¼ inch of screws to attach them.
Cut the inner frame
For the inner frame, the upper and the lower arms will be less than 22 inches that you will attach inside the mainframe. Same for the left and right arms, make them less than 20 inches so that they can slide into the mainframe easily. After you complete the cut on the 2-inch lumber, make four grooves halfway through at the end of the lumbers so they snap on. Before you join them together, make sure you made five holes with ½ inch drill bits. They will take in the ½ inch dowels that you have to buy separately.
Join them together
Before joining, take the dowels and cut them in size to get with your measuring tape and the inner frame. Use wood glue before you get the dowels in the grooves on both sides. Now you have to join the lumbers together, use wood glue in this part as well. After they’re in place, use a flat hammer to tighten them and use some long clamp them together. Once they are dry, screw them in for a strong, rigid frame.
Finish and pain
Once both the frames are made, you can now attach them with two hinges at the bottom, using the screws that come together. Now paint them with the color of your wall and let them dry before you install it. After drying, you have to attach the cleat on the side that you won’t be standing on. Once attached, drill on the wall and the man frame, use a piece of duct tape before drilling the painted frame. Use oversized screws to attach them, bigger than the lumber size, probably 5 inches. If everything is done, now you can fold the inner frame into the mainframe, and the dowels will work as your rake for hanging the clothes.
Make a portable, stand-alone cloth drying rack
If you don’t have a wall space to spare for the rack, you can make a portable cloth drying rack as well. Follow these steps to make your clothes dryer, and I’ll show you how to make an all-dowel modern rack here:
Get your things
To make an all wood dowel rack, you’ll need four copper elbow joints, 8 T-shaped joints, four caps to attach to the feet if you want. You’ll also need some sandpaper, wood glue, polyacrylic, hand saw, support hinges, some rope, and of course, the dowels. Once you have them all, now is the time to cut the dowels in shape. You’ll need 5/8th inch dowels with ½ inch copper fittings to get them in place properly.
Cut and join the frame
First, cut down the dowels, 36 inches in length; you’ll need six of them and one or two pieces with 35 inches in length. Now cut six more dowels with 12 inches, and 8 more with 4 inches in length to make the frame. Sand them all to make the edges smooth so that you can put them in the copper joints easily. Take the T-shaped joints and attach the 36-inches dowels on each end of them, do it for four 36-inches dowels. For the ends, you need the copper elbow joints to join the 36-inches dowels and complete the frame.
Finish the joining
Once you have two parts of the 36-inches dowels, you have to join them with the 8-inch dowels at the ends and the 12-inch dowels in the middle. Now you will have two completed parts of the rack that you have to join together finally. Use a ½ inch drill bit to make screw holes for the hinges, 6 inches inside the frame for both. Leave a little space for the hinges, so that the frame can move freely. Now you have to attach the 35-inch dowel to the bottom with the cord I’ve mentioned earlier. Drill two holes and the ends of the dowel and hang it between the two frames with four screws using the drill. You can paint the rack before putting the legs of the rack to the copper caps.
Benefits Of Clothes Drying Rack
Using clothes drying rack can come with so many advantages to make your life easier and natural, such as:
- A drying rack dries your clothes with natural heat and wind, which means you don’t have to lose the integrity of your clothes into an electric dryer.
- You can cut down your energy bills big time if you use clothes drying rack, as I mentioned earlier, by 12 percent.
- The rack comes in with significantly a lower cost than using an electric dryer. Where an electric dryer can cost you a thousand, a DIY dryer costs you about 30 bucks.
- DIY racks are super-efficient and portable as you can close it down and put it in any narrow place or take it anywhere.
- Drying clothes with a rack means you’re using a green tool that makes no toxicity in the air and uses no chemicals as well.
Frequently Asked Question
Here are the most frequent questions about cloth drying racks that you might have in your mind:
What types of fold out drying racks are there?
How do you dry clothes in a small space?
Is Drying clothes indoors bad?
Final Thought
Making a cloth drying rack is one of the easiest jobs that you can do within an hour. It takes very few tools into the job and takes a very small investment as well. Now, as you know how to build a folding clothes drying rack, you can make any rack that you want.
Whether you love the dowel rack or not, you can go for a solid lumber rack as well. Keep the measurements right and join them together with grooves and screws instead of copper joints. No matter what you do, make sure to wear safety apparel, and do your DIY job safely.
