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I’ve visited Ben’s home and collection a couple of times over the past few years, and they are both absolutely amazing. But the real gem is Ben himself.

I first met Ben when he drove from Cedar Falls to Des Moines to pick up some Maytag posters I had collected from my short time working there. At the time I was only collecting vintage bikes and typewriters, but Ben encouraged me to give appliance restoration a try. He then helped me locate my first Maytag 806 pair and guided me through their restoration.

That eventually led to my collection of over 30 washers and dryers, 4 dishwashers, 5 GE ranges, and an Amana Radarange. That in addition to my dozens of blenders, mixers, toasters and other small appliances. Along the way, Ben was always there to help me with any question I had and supplied me with many parts, ephemera, and tips on machines to add to my collection – never asking for anything in return.

This new hobby then inspired me to retire from my uninspiring 30-year career in IT and jump into the appliance repair and parts industry, which I have found very rewarding. For the first time in many years, I look forward to going to work every day.

All because I met Ben. I’m sure many others here on this website can tell similar stories about Ben’s generosity, knowledge and friendliness. Congratulations, Ben on your beautiful collection and the space you created for it! And thank you for changing my life in such a positive way!
 
 

This has come together just as you'd imagined and explained it.  What a road it has been over the years, you shoud be very proud of your efforts and commitment to this, congratulations and thank you for sharing your hobby, expertise and diligent researching ability and above all, your friendship with all of us. 
 
Absolutely stunning! What a wonderful and beautiful collection. That '55 Norge kinda looks familiar..?!

I love living here in Hawai'i, but lately I've been trying to talk my husband into moving back to the mainland (looking at Illinois and Alabama) so I can access vintage machines and a basement!
 
Ben, I'm just in awe your dream has come to full fruition. And magnificient machines in a world-class, befitting setting for them.

I still remember meeting both you and Cory at the 2005 Wash-in Omaha. My jaw dropped when I saw y'all drive up to the restaurant in that beautiful black Cadillac. And Greg surprised me with a birthday cake since my birthday was recent at the time of that wash-in.
 
Thank you for sharing your project with all of us Ben. You did an amazing job and you have an incredible collection.

I can only imagine how much work that was to get to where you are today with all those machine restorations and the hard work you did in that basement. I also have a home around the same age as yours and can appreciate all the backbreaking effort you must have put into it.

Curious how you found working with the epoxy flooring and what you think of it now that its done and you've had it for awhile. I'm doing some work in my basement as well and have been considering going that route over the old concrete floor in parts of it. Yours looks stunning in the pictures!

I also echo what others have said already, you are always super generous on the forum about helping others with questions (including myself) and detailing out all your restorations for others to reference in the future. Thank you for everything you do!

Congratulations on your beautiful home, getting to the finish line on the project and building such a fantastic collection!
 
The new Cedarfalls laundry room

Wow Ben, you’ve done an amazing amount of work since we were there in January although it looked pretty credible then, where do you find the time?

We’ve started working on the museum project here again, trying to clean up the clutter that accumulated over Covid.

We’ve had Chris and Tate here for another week this week, organizing parts and eventually gearing up to hooking up a lot more stuff in the museum

These machines were made to be in big American basements. You have the perfect home Ben for this type of collection, I’ve been surprised both in my own home and at the museum you never seem to run out of water capacity drain capacity natural gas capacity to run these machines 240 V capacity can get a little bit strained if you run too many dryers at once, lol

Ben, I really love the 1959 pink lady Kenmores, I can’t wait until you get those hooked up someday that’s a very fast dryer and gas. I’m still looking for the parts to convert my white electric 50 amp model to a gas one.

Keep us posted on the progress. Can’t wait to see the collection in person again.

John
 
Thank you!

Oh goodness, everyone. You all certainly have touched my heart with your kind comments. I really do think of this community as family, and in turn I love to give back as much as I have been graciously given by many of you.

Funny that the 2005 Omaha convention was brought up (thanks for the link, Mike! I spied a few shots of myself - wow!). For me, that weekend was a pivotal moment in my life. The drive west along the old Lincoln Highway in western Iowa in Cory's 1959 DeVille, getting to meet many of you for the first time, and seeing Greg's amazing collection in person (I distinctly remember Eddy showing Cory and me the Kelvinator. I was blown away!). If it wasn't for that trip 19 years ago I don't know that I'd be typing this reply. Some of the closest friendships I have today stem from that weekend.

Maybe, perhaps, we do a 20 year anniversary Midwest wash-in next summer? ;)

James - I went with an epoxy coating for the floor out of necessity. Sadly, due to the aggressive slope that was poured into the slab I was unable to consider using a VCT tile, which would have been my preference. And yes, follow the instructions and remove as much original flaking paint as possible and etch the cement prior to application. The two mistakes I made was not using enough of the floor covering chips as bare spots can be seen where I didn't apply as well as I could have, and I wish I had applied a UV sealer on top of the epoxy in the wash studio. When I did that room in 2020/2021 I apparently didn't study enough application techniques. I did seal in the wash room and there is a stark difference already between the two rooms. I also made sure to install level leg foot covers on all machines in hopes to not scratch the coating, which of course happened anyway. Oh well, it looks better than it did.

Bob - oh gosh, I have no idea what brand of coat that was. Your guess is as good as mine.

Laundress - someone else recently coined that it could be a man cave, but I like to think of it more as a 'laundry study'. :)

Ben
 

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