Think Twice, Cut Once
Hi Dan,
I'm new to the board but I work as an architectural draftsman in California. I sympathize with your Mom's depression-era ideas about spending money on "luxuries" - My Mom gripes every time I get my hair cut for $15 when she thinks it should only be around 25 cents. But it's not 1936 anymore and there are a few things to consider:
1)DO NOT use extra-length rubber hoses, steel braided or not. If you have a flood, I guarantee your insurance company will seize on the rubber hoses as a reason to deny payment for the flood and possibly cancel your insurance. My house had a non-controversial flood in 2000 and I had to do a year-long dance with the carrier before the matter was settled. Their first line of questions centered around "who did the work on the part that failed?" Clearly a fishing trip.
This means you're going to have to go with rigid and probably copper plumbing.
2) If you do decide to move your W and D, you will probably have to have an electrician run dedicated outlets to the new location. Perhaps the existing junction boxes in the basement can be broken into so that new circuit breakers are not needed at the main box ($$$). Major appliances are almost always on their own circuit breaker. Plugging a washer into a wall outlet that may be shared with other appliances, or is not rated for a major appliance, is looking for trouble.
3) If your dryer is electric, you may need a new 220v outlet or a new gas line if the dryer is natural gas.
4) Most importantly: Be sure that any changes you make to the house are either professional looking, or can be quickly restored to original condition before the house goes on the market. Half baked "do it yourself" projects greatly damage a home's resale value. Today's buyers are much more litigious about a house's shortcomings after the house has changed hands. Full disclosure laws and home inspections are also a pain.
5) Your most attractive alternative might be a transporter device down to the basement (I mean an elevator or lift chair, not a teleporter). I doubt very much you could get any kind of tax breaks from moving the laundry set up to the main floor, but you might be able to get a medical tax credit for the transporter, plus use the transporter at the time of the house sale as a handicapped-friendly addition.
Sorry to rain on your parade ... the good news is you got this advice for free. My clients usually pay me to deliver bad news. <G>
Scoots.
