Preferred Laundry Space

[mrsalvo]

Hi Guys!
Recently read a thread on another site asking what would be your preferred laundry area. The question posed was if you had to choose between a basement or garage what would your choice be. So I'm asking here if you could choose the ideal space, where would you place your washer / dryer and all things laundry in your home and why.

For me, a separate large laundry room / mud room as you come into the house off of the kitchen, totally separate room. My ideal room would have upgraded cabinets with a place to hang finished laundry, a nice sink, and plenty of room to fold the clothes. Very clean and bright. No dinginess or cramped spaces.

In my day, I've seen plenty of dark, dank, dirty basements with a single light bulb (that would flicker) that gave me the creeps, out of a horror movie. I've also seen washers stuck out in the back yard, off an open porch, that looked just soooooo....well whatever. My least favorite place to stick a washer / dryer was in the kitchen, even though many older homes feature this arrangement. Fixing food next to a pile of dirty laundry laying on the floor grosses me out...but that's just me. Guess if I had to choose between the basement or garage, I'd choose the garage, not a separated garage, even though the smell of gasoline might be present.

But alas, I have a cramped utility space that leads to the garage that I make the most of and keep it clean and clutter free. Cant stand to do laundry in a dirty area.

Barry

 

[rp2813]

I would hate a basement laundry.  I wouldn't want to haul loads up and down steps. 

 

An attached garage would be an OK location. 

 

The home we'll be making an offer on has the laundry area just off the kitchen, and there is no door between the two rooms, but at least it's not in the kitchen.

 

I'm used to a laundry sink.  Our potential new place doesn't have room for one, though.  I'll learn to adapt.

 

[maytagbear]

Some places

get too cold in the winter to have the laundry in an unheated garage, just saying.

When we owned our built in 1915 house, the laundry was in the basement. Under-lit, but otherwise OK. Loved the double cement utility tubs!!

Apartments 2-4 had laundry in the kitchen, and I liked it. Two and three had partial walls which sort of separated the food section from the laundry.

First apartment, and this apartment do not have ANY in-suite laundry connections, which makes me extremely sad and broke. Both buildings have on-site laundry rooms on each floor, but the money adds up rapidly.

If I could have my choice next time, it would be in my bathroom.......

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytagbear]

Some places

get too cold in the winter to have the laundry in an unheated garage, just saying.

When we owned our built in 1915 house, the laundry was in the basement. Under-lit, but otherwise OK. Loved the double cement utility tubs!!

Apartments 2-4 had laundry in the kitchen, and I liked it. Two and three had partial walls which sort of separated the food section from the laundry.

First apartment, and this apartment do not have ANY in-suite laundry connections, which makes me extremely sad and broke. Both buildings have on-site laundry rooms on each floor, but the money adds up rapidly.

If I could have my choice next time, it would be in my bathroom.......

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytagbear]

Some places

get too cold in the winter to have the laundry in an unheated garage, just saying.

When we owned our built in 1915 house, the laundry was in the basement. Under-lit, but otherwise OK. Loved the double cement utility tubs!!

Apartments 2-4 had laundry in the kitchen, and I liked it. Two and three had partial walls which sort of separated the food section from the laundry.

First apartment, and this apartment do not have ANY in-suite laundry connections, which makes me extremely sad and broke. Both buildings have on-site laundry rooms on each floor, but the money adds up rapidly.

If I could have my choice next time, it would be in my bathroom.......

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[askolover]

Well I've never had a basement or a garage with laundry area in it but I think I'd prefer it to be in the basement since I wouldn't want any garage fumes to be sucked into the dryer, mixed with the gas flame, and make my clothes smell funny like when I paint cabinets and trim in the house with oil paint...I can smell the burnt diesel/kerosene odor on the clothes until everything dries and the house airs out.

 

[dermacie]

My home is a 1960s split-level and the laundry is located on the ground floor next to the gameroom. The room contains the furnace double wash tub and a hot water tank. maybe 11'x8'. I always thought that I wanted a laundry next to my kitchen until I saw one, way too small.

 

[vacerator]

Derek,

I like how houses there are built into the raised grades due to hills.
My cousin has a ranch, and the drive slopes down around the back. The garage is part of the basement, with the rec room, and laundry. You need a snow blower for sure with that steep grade.
They put a deck of the kitchen, and stairs down to the yard with a landing half way down. Other houses in their plan (subdivison) have front street level garages and raised front entries.

 

[wayupnorth]

My washer and dryer are in my bathroom as that seems to be where most of the laundry is generated.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Near the bedrooms...

.....would be where I'd place the laundry room. After all, most laundry is returned to bedrooms and areas near the bedrooms so why haul it all over the house? Some new homes being built today are placing the laundry room near the bedrooms and it makes a world of sense to me.

My laundry room is downstairs - a little room leading to the garage. All the bedrooms are upstairs. Lots of going up and down the stairs on laundry day!

 

[ea56]

Our laundry area is located in a closet in the upstairs hallway between the bedrooms and I find it very handy. The downside is that the space is limited because of the depth of the closet. Therfore, most all of the newer FL’s are too deep to fit without removing the bi-fold doors and putting up a curtain to conceal the machines when not in us, something I won’t consider.

But, if I was building a home to order, I’d have an old fashioned laundry room off the kitchen or on a back porch, with at least one laundry tub, so I could have a wringer washer if I wanted.

Unlike many people I am also not adverse to having the machines in the kitchen. The home I spent my teen years in had the washing machine in the kitchen, to the left of the kitchen sink, with a laundry tub in a cabinet next to the washer for the suds saver. We also had a Maytag Wringer for a few years in the kitchen, instead of the Whirlpool automatic. The dryer was out on the open back porch. I never thought this set up was bad,

And when I lived in apartments in my 20’s I had a Maytag A50 twin tub in the kitchen along with a Whirlpool portable dryer. This was very convenient and money saving too. I highly recommened this to anyone living in an apt. You can do almost all your laundry at home this way, save very large items.
Eddie

 

[48bencix]

Had them in all locations

I like this the best, in the Kitchen, down at the end next to the Refrigerator. Our Kitchen is a galley design open to the Family Room above the cook top. First pic is in 2010 before the Speed Queens. Next is the new units in their place. You can throw some laundry in and do other chores. Of course, the best part is to hear the machines work and if you want, run in to lift the lid and see the spin/drain.

 

[turquoisedude]

Me too!

I've had or lived in homes that had laundry equipment located in all three spots.  I prefer a basement installation, with a laundry tub or tubs (gotta use that suds-saver somehow... LOL) but that's probably because of what I have used most.    However as I get older and the ol' joints are starting to scream with every staircase I climb, I can see the utility of having a 'laundry alcove'.  We had such a set-up in our apartment when we lived in downtown Montreal - it was adjacent to, but not in the bathroom, and had a set of folding doors to hide the machines when not in use.  

 

[mrsalvo]

Very much enjoying this thread, always curious to see how others are set up. Enjoying the pictures, post more!!!!

Back when I was a young man, my grandmother had her washer/dryer/laundry sink in the basement. At the age when cousins were getting newly married or started out on their own, some of us would bring our laundry to grandmas and we'd all get together around the washer and visit with coffee and light food while we one of us would do the laundry, usually on the weekends when we were off from work. We'd pitch in and help get the laundry done. It was a family "wash-in" before the days of AW, we were ahead of our time without knowing it!!! Fun times!!!! And none of us wanted to buy a washer/dryer because we all wanted to go to Grandmas. We'd help Grandma around the house too, sadly her knees gave out and she could hardly get up and down those stairs. I miss those days so bad. Good for the soul.

 

[countryguy]

I'd choose to have a laundry room next to the bedrooms after all this is where most of the laundry originates. I'd have a room large enough to include a laundry tub, upper cabinets and floor to ceiling storage as well. I definitely would want to be able to shut the door so that if company arrives unexpectedly, they wouldn't see piles of dirty laundry on the floor waiting to be washed.

Gary

 

[lordkenmore]

Lord Kenmore thinks perhaps it would be best to have one of the wings of the mansion or the ancestral castle be dedicated to laundry. That way, one would have plenty of space, and could perhaps even have special rooms for various machines. Such as "The Laundromat Lounge" for Westinghouse Laundromats, and the Dryer Drawing Room.

[this post was last edited: 3/6/2018-17:38]

 

[lordkenmore]

My dreams of a mansion aside...

 

After years of living in rentals--some worse than others--I'm almost at a point of I don't care...just as long as the equipment works properly! Unfortunately, even that modest request has been problematic at times. For example, I used, for more than a year, a WCI Frigidaire that had trouble with the complexity of going into spin.

 

But thinking of ideals...a part of me really likes the idea of having the washer and dryer near the bedrooms. This seems efficient since most of my laundry historically has been clothes, bathroom towels, and sheets. My only reservation is the concern of the effects of overflowing washing machines and burst hoses. (I shut water off when the washer is off--but a hose can burst while the machine is running...)

 

A basement is lot less handy, but I see some points I like. First, there is more chance of space for more than one machine. Secondly, an older house might have a laundry chute, and I have fond memories of Grandma's laundry chute...

 

 

 

[circlew]

My new laundry room is in the basement, essentially in one end of where the old one was. I considered placing it on the first floor, but it just wouldn't fit into the floor plan unless I added on more than I did. I put in new basement stairs that are wide, have a landing, and good riser to tread ratio, so are easy to use.

 

[gusherb]

My current laundry is in the kitchen. I never liked how cramped the closet is and that it's a step up from the kitchen floor (good when I had a FLer though). But that closet is so small only an LG or SQ FLer would fit, or a TL machine. I like the convenience of having it in the kitchen but I'd prefer a spacious laundry room. 

 

[iej]

I grew up in suburban Dublin in Ireland in the 1990s in a house that was built in the mid 1950s.

The laundry room had never been radically changed and was accessed from outside. There was a covered patio area which had a glass canope. You walked out of the kitchen (backdoor) and across the patio and into the laundry room / utility room through an external door.

It was a fairly reasonable sized square room with counter tops and a double sink under the window.
The washer and dryer (old 1980s Siemens machines) where along the other wall under a worktop and there was an extra full height larder freezer too. The gas boiler also sat on the wall on the other side and all the pumps and controls for the central heating system for the house.

The room was big enough and pleasant enough to iron and spend some time in. We had an ironing board, a steam generator iron and an Elna Press on the counter.

The covered area of the patio also had washing lines and there were lines in the utility room too.

It always smelled of detergent and that general nice kind of scent.

The dryer was vented so you always had a waft of scented steam blowing out a vent in the wall in winter too.

The room was definitely designed with washing machines in mind.
I saw the original brochure for the house and one of the selling points was a purpose built laundry room and drying room. It looked to be setup for a 1950s non automatic washer and spin dryer. So I guess there would have been a more laborious laundry day involving a lot of hot water and the sink.

I'd say that house had an automatic washer installed definitely since the 1960s at some stage as the countertops in that room were very much of the 60s era as was the plumbing for the machines

Bear in mind that winters here arent all that cold compared to much if the continental US, so going in and out with laundry wasn't that big a deal.

 

[golittlesport]

near bedrooms

Our laundry room is near the bedrooms, which I like. All the laundry accumulates in that area...clothes, towels and linens. It is a small room with a door, but holds the large front loaders just fine. With the cabinets and counter it is very functional. I placed a shower curtain rod from wall to wall above the door for items to air dry or hang shirts out of the dryer. There is a bathroom just across the hall if I ever need a sink to pretreat.

My dream laundry room would a similar arrangement, but larger with a laundry sink, space to keep an ironing board up full time and more storage.

 

[grwasher_expert]

Here in Greece most homes have their washing machines in the bathroom.I have it in the kitchen because my bathroom is pretty cramped.Very few homes have dryers and/or separate laundry rooms.

 

[iowabear]

In the basement given the noise and lint.  But I've never lived in a place where they were otherwise so that's all I know.

 

Whenever I see upstairs laundry installations in cheap new construction (combined with cheaply made appliances) I just imagine water disasters (and our collective home insurance premiums going up.)

 

And that's a really great idea CircleW makes about new basement stairs that are safer and more comfortable.  Relatively easy thing to do that could make a big difference.

 

 

 

[cornutt]

When I was a child, in the Southeastern U.S., the laundry room usually not in the finished part of the house. It was in the garage, or on the back porch, or in the basement (if the house had a basement, which most houses built in the '50s did not), or in a little unheated room off of the carport. IMO, the worst were the ones that had the detached laundry room off of the carport; you had to go out in the freakin' cold to haul laundry back and forth, and sometimes the you couldn't do wash because the plumbing in the room froze. People who used their back porch sealed them up in the winter by covering the openings with a heavy plastic, which actually worked fairly well.

A common thing in '70s houses was to have an alcove off to the side of a hallway somewhere. Usually there would be bifold doors to close it off. There was just enough room for the machines; no tub and no counter space. We lived in one house where someone had not done their figuring properly and there wasn't actually enough depth for the vent connection behind the dryer. A previous owner had already run into that problem and had "fixed" it by installing another 240V service and vent connection in the garage. So the washer was in the house, off of the (finished) basement hallway, and the dryer was in the garage.

When we designed our current house, my wife wanted a laundry room near the kitchen, so we have it just down the hall from where the kitchen is. Guests don't see it unless they go looking for it, but it's still convenient.

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">The first house we purchased in Cupertino not far from the new Apple complex was 900 sq feet. I assume a wringer washer was supposed to have gone in the small kitchen since the Crosley sink sort of had a separate drain area. The house had been modified so the washer and dryer were in the front yard facing the street. Sounds funky, but we constructed a long covered (GE Lexan) patio that ran the length of the house. There was a solid wood fence and double lattice at the top 1/3...perfect for peeking out. The washer and dryer were next to the water heater closet. I even installed a small laundry sink for giving Cinder, our black cocker spaniel, a bath. There were these small French doors that went into the kitchen and a little bistro table out there too for coffee. Doing laundry out there was fun especially when heavy rain pounded down on the Lexan roof. I guess there were times when it was chilly, but they were the best of times.</span>

 

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">There's still plenty of those little houses in "Rancho Riconada" for sale. Building restrictions now prohibit them from being leveled and 2-story mini-mansions put in their place. Those mostly 2 bedroom, 1 bath, carport, wall-furnace homes sell for $1.5 million and up. The house pictured is a current listing at $1,395,000...a real bargain with a pending sale.</span>

 

http://https//www.realtor.com/reale...85-Moretti-Dr_Cupertino_CA_95014_M26488-04637

 

[thomasortega]

Note to add.

When Darryl and I finally build our house it has to have laundry hookups and a dryer vent on each room.

Just in case, in the bedroom there should be one on each side of the bed and one in front of the bed.

Don't forget the living room, the garage... and also a dedicated laundry room with not much, maybe 50 or 60 laundry hookups.

Oh, and also laundry hookups in all of the closets and in the bathroom... We never know, right?

And all the electrical, water heater and sewer must be ready to run all of them at the same time. Again, Just in case.

We never know when we may end up with a wash in or guests enough to use all the towels in the world, so we need to be ready to prevent any issues.

 

[thomasortega]

It just reminded me of a member here that has a Kelvinator pair in his bedroom.

Far the cutest machines I've ever seen here.

 

[circlew]

That house in Cupertino - in that rough condition - might sell for $60,000 or less in my neighborhood.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Being from northern New Jersey, and having spent some time as an appliance repairman, I like the washer in the basement. The worst possible place would be wedged into a closet on a main hardwood floor.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Location

Our laundry room is on the first floor in its own room. However, it is near the kitchen. So any time you are cooking and drying clothes, they will inevitably come out smelling a little like your dinner. This isn't ideal, but the home builder had the option to have the laundry either where it is, or in the kitchen behind sliding doors. So, I will not complain at all! It would be great to have a second floor laundry. I do not like it when the machines are shoved in a closet though. I feel like they require their own room. Also, if I were to ever build my own home, the dryer would be on the outside wall of the house to eliminate the distance from the back of the dryer to the outside of the house. I can not stand dryer ducts!