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OT - main floor laundry

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

My new obsession is the house and I need your opinions.

The house has a small mudroom/main floor laundry that is accessible from the garage door or the foyer. I have never been a huge fan of main floor laundry because the designers rarely allocate sufficient floor space for an adequate laundry area and the dust that the dryer creates is tracked into the main house.

My partner has main floor laundry in his current house but it is a 2 storey so he still hauls laundry up and down the stairs. If I keep the laundry on the main floor, I would have to sacrifice one of the three bedrooms to because laundry room so it would accommodate surfaces for drying flat, my steamer, iron/board, and some storage for supplies.

So, for those of you with or without main floor laundry, what do you think? Is it as good as you thought it would be? Do you wish it was in the basement and more spacious?

Last comment is that the basement will likely not be developed other than an area for a stained glass work area and it has 3 fairly large windows so there would be a fair bit of natural light.

Opinions??

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25 replies

Latest reply was from unfrumped

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Our laundry room is right off the garage and the kitchen, and it serves as a bit of a mud room (and the dogs' bedroom!). I think the designers of this house did a good job in allocating enough space for the room, and it has plenty of storage, so I have no complaints. Also, we live in a split level contemporary house, so our bedroom is only seven stairs up from the main floor -- not much stair climbing to carry clothes to and from the laundry room.

It's actually the best laundry situation I've ever had -- it's out of the way (not in a closet, with doors that block a hallway when you're doing laundry), not in a dark dusty basement, and just enough removed from living areas that any noises from the machines are minimal (although we got new machines this year and that problem is much, much improved!).

I have a friend with four children who recently renovated their home and added a laundry room to their second floor, where the bedrooms are. For them, and the volume of laundry generated by six people, it's a much better solution! Hauling six people's clothes up and down a full flight of stairs does not sound fun to me.

Emily

Veteran

I do not have mainfloor laundry - my washer and dryer live in a corner of our unfinished basement. The thing I really don't like is doing laundry in an unfinished space with inadequate light. I'd prefer a finished space on the main floor, but any well lit finished space will do If you don't mind the stairs, I'd try for a larger, finished space in your well lit basement.

Sona

Veteran

I have a main floor laundry room too right off the garage. it alo serves as our mudroom where we all store shoes, bags,school stuff. It has a sink and a rack for hang drying stuff. I keep my steamer in an upstairs bedroom: there is no place in the laundry room and I actually like being able to steam/iron on the upper level and put clothes away asap after that. That's the solution we worked out. I can tell you we've had one washer leak from an overloaded washer I think and its much easier to deal with that on the main level then the upper level where you then end up with wet ceilings and water stains. Just my 2 cents...on my lessons as a home owner!!

shiny

Veteran

Having laundry near the bedrooms is ideal from a convenience point of view, but annoying if you like to dry your clothes at night while you are trying to sleep. (Too noisy, too hot).

That said my parents have the ideal situation: their laundry is attached to their bathroom, which is then attached to their walk-in closet, which is attached to their bedroom. It's an ingenious layout. The bedroom is far enough away you can run the dryer at night. But close enough to bathroom and closet it makes doing the laundry oh-so-easy!

I grew up in a ranch and the laundry was off the garage entrance. That was the entrance closest to the driveway so everyone used it, rarely did anyone ever walk all the way to the front door. Which meant that people were constantly traipsing through piles of laundry. Drove my mom nuts.

I lived in a house with laundry in a closet in the guest bathroom, which was between the kitchen and the garage entrance/foyer. It was nice to be able to do the laundry while cooking, but inevitably (with young kids) laundry would pile up all over the guest bathroom, and like you said, not enough space for air drying, etc.

Then next I lived on second floor of house with laundry all the way in the basement. There was plenty of room down there, but I had to walk down rickety, old, steep steps to get to the basement. One day I tripped and fell down the last flight of steps. And knocked my head out on the concrete wall. And went unconscious for who knows how long....

Now I live in a two story duplex, main rooms and master suite on first floor; kids' bedrooms on ground floor. Laundry closet is on the ground floor. It is just big enough for stackable washer/dryer behind a closed door. However, there is plenty of space in the hall for air drying and ironing. It's out of sight for anyone visiting on the main floor. The steps leading to it are minimal. Pluses: it's right near the kids' bedrooms and their bathroom, so they do their own laundry since it's steps away. It's right next to the linen closet so it's easy to put the linens and towels away. It's out of sight of company -- even if we have things drying or the ironing board out. If kids aren't home, I use their bathtub to hang fine washables to dry. Minuses: can't run the dryer while kids are sleeping (unless it's their choice -- emergency clothes for school tomorrow).

Our upstairs neighbors have their laundry closet in their kitchen. They like this arrangement as they can fold laundry right on their kitchen table. They have young kids so they have a LOT of laundry. It also keeps their main floors warm and toasty in the winter. They invested in high-end washer/dryer that doesn't make a lot of noise.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

We have a 3 story condo - bottom story is the garage, 2nd story is 2 bedrooms and a bath, top story is kitchen/living room, loft, and a bath. The laundry used to be in the 2nd story bath between the bedrooms. We remodeled and put it down in the garage. Sure, it's cold on the cement floor in winter when it's snowing (the detergent sometimes freezes) but it's much better than having the lint, mold, etc. from the unit being in the bathroom. Also, no noises to keep you up if you run it at odd hours. I vote for laundry outside of your normal living area if given the choice.

MsMary

Veteran

The best laundry situation I ever had was when I lived in a small condo and the laundry was in the hall between the two bedrooms. Super easy and accessible and I don't remember noise being an issue even though we had a baby at the time.

I would hate having the laundry in the basement. That said, I think I would hate even more to change a 3 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom house, just to get the laundry on the main floor.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

MaryK, I would also hesitate to lose a bedroom in favor of gaining a laundry room -- seems unwise from a resale point of view.

Shiny, that fall story is so scary! After my mom had a stroke, I moved her laundry from the basement up to the first floor family-room closet. It wasn't ideal, but she lived alone, and i already worried about her navigating the stairs to the second floor bedroom, much less another flight of slippery, wooden stairs into the dark basement.

shiny

Veteran

Yes, Janet it was scary -- carrying heavy load of laundry down dark and rickety steps is no fun.

I might convert a third bedroom, assuming I didn't need the extra. If you plan to stay there for a long time, might as well transform the house to your liking and not worry as much about resale value. Next owner could always convert it back. Or if you had trouble reselling, you could convert it back before selling.

If the bedroom is large enough, I'd be tempted to split it up and make half of it a walk in closet!

MsMary

Veteran

Shiny makes a good point. Perhaps you could compromise and turn the third bedroom into a laundry room, with a plan for how to easily change it back if you needed to, either for resale or because you just plain want the bedroom.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I am no help. After years of living in apts or condos with coin laundry in remote places, I am just happy to have my own washer & dryer. Mine is next to my bathroom, in a still unfinished space.

I do have plans to build a very large, walk-in closet / woman cave with enough room for steaming and ironing. That's after my living room and bedroom are finished! They're only semi-done now. It won't be next to the washer / dryer but it will be on the same floor.

Gaylene

Veteran

Our current house is a custom-built and I specified that I wanted the laundry on the second-floor next to the bedrooms. The washer and dryer sit below a large counter that I can use for sorting and for drying flat items (if I need more room I use a lower-level guest room). I have a set of cabinets for storing supplies above the counter, a hanging mount for my ironing board (which I set up in the nearest bedroom in front of the TV) on the side wall, and an overhead rack thingy that is on a pulley system that I can use to hang stuff from the ceiling (created by my builder from a picture I found in a European catalog,) If I need more hanging space, I use the shower rod in the nearest bathroom. I tend to grab stuff from the dryer, toss it on to the bed in our master bedroom, and fold there.

I don't think I'd voluntarily go back to a basement laundry, regardless of how much room I'd have. I like not having to haul stuff up and down stairs.

In your situation, I think I'd leave the washer and dryer in their current location and turn one of the unused bedrooms into a combo clothes-care/craft/work area. My sister has done this in one of the smaller bedrooms in their condo; she calls it her "woman cave". She has a comfy chaise in there along with bookshelves, a music system, and TV. She sews, irons, crafts, contemplates, naps, reads-- whatever she wants. It is her retreat. She's filled the room with photographs and pictures that reflect her interests. If they ever sell the condo, the room can be easily re-staged as a bedroom.

ETA: Sona's caution about water leakage is a good one. My builder installed a metal "bathtub" pan on the floor of the closet under my washer and dryer. The pan slopes to an outlet with a drainage hose that goes through the walls to the basement drain. He was also quite careful to make sure that the floor beneath the washer and dryer was reinforced to dampen excessive vibration during the high-speed spin cycle of the washer. I shudder when I see a second-floor laundry on just the bare floor of a closet-- or even the main floor if there is a finished basement below.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I wouldn't give up a bedroom for a laundry room either (actually, I take that back - I sew, so if I could have a combination sewing/laundry room as long as I could convert it back for resale purposes, that would be awesome) and I agree, laundry on the second floor makes me a bit nervous. Although, rationally speaking, it shouldn't be any more trouble than a bathroom on the second floor, and plenty of people have those.

Why is the dust from the dryer ending up in the house? It should be vented outside no matter what, and if it's not then that needs to be fixed. We have a non-permanent dryer exhaust which gets lint all over the garage, but it's the garage so it doesn't matter that much (and we rent, anyway).

Echo

Veteran

Our home is very old, and the entryway and bathroom are actually an addition because the house was originally built before there was running water. So our laundry is in the mud room. I am pleased having laundry on the main floor because it allows me to toss a load in quickly without going off somehwere separate to do it, but I do not like that it is the first thing people see when they enter the home (although that is common with older, country homes when you aren't using the front door that often opens into a living room). We plan to move the appliances to the other side of the room and put sliding doors in front of them soon, so that will kind of hide them.

We considered putting laundry in the basement, but it is unfinished and not a terribly pleasant place to be.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

thank you all for sharing your experiences. We have modified the plan to make the bedrooms a bit smaller (one quite a bit) but still usable for our purpose or as a BR. We've added about 2.5' x 8' to the mudroom/laundry and made the linen closet more usable. I think it is a good change and will make the mudroom much more usable without losing a bedroom in the process.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

My laundry is currently in my basement and although I like the mess and noise away from the main floor, I hate hauling the laundry up stairs. If I were building, I would want my laundry room as close to the bedrooms as possible, since that's where most of the laundry originates and is returned to. Friends of ours built a house and actually sacrificed a small spare bedroom that was between their master bedroom and their daughter's bedroom and turned that into the laundry room. They say it's the best decision they ever made.

Krista

Veteran

Every time I drag the laundry down the very narrow stairs into the 100+ year old unfinished basement, I think to myself "I cannot wait until we move out of here so I can have a main floor laundry room." It's my dream scenario for a home!

Anonymous

I happen to have our floor plan here from when we bought this house. The laundry is a small closet between the two bedrooms. I love that the laundry is right by the bedrooms. I do miss not having a laundry tub but we put one in the basement, and there is a bathroom right across the hall where I can hang things on the shower rod or to soak in the sink or tub.

I do my ironing in the great room, and the ironing board lives on a hook on the back of my closet (which is that square room right beside the laundry room in the master bedroom.

http://www.amberdragon.ca/house2.jpg

velvetychocolate

Veteran

My very best laundry situation was in a vacation rental home in Palm Springs - house was a rancher and the laundry was in the hallway en-route to the bedrooms. Not right next to the bedrooms, but still very close and it was well equipped with a nice counter for folding things and places to hang stuff up that needed to be hung up right away.

Our last house? A split level, with basement - laundry was in the basement, but I didn't mind it - because the laundry room was super bright (husband put in very white flourescent lighting in there). I still had to carry laundry up three 'half-flights' of stairs but it was ok, because the laundry room itself was so functional (tall floor- to-ceiling cabinets for cleaning products, garment racks, tons of hangers in a giant basket and a folding table).

Right now? I'm in a very old Victorian - laundry is in the basement - lighting is terrible, no place to fold anything, the stairs are extremely narrow and very steep. I pretty much hate it. It's dark, creepy and ugly. There are spiders down there. There's a bare lightbulb hanging from a socket in the ceiling. Every time I go down there, I swear - I hear "scary movie music."

...

I guess I'm saying it depends on the house? And it also depends on how well equipped the laundry room is going to be. Ideally, I would suggest a functional laundry room (not just washer and dryer in closet) as close to the bedrooms as possible. It's easy to bring up tea towels and washcloths from the kitchen.... but it's a royal pain to carry clothes to the main level or basement. Dream situation would be an actual laundry "room" close to where most of the bedrooms are. Not a closet, but a room that has super bright lighting, a place to fold, a place to hang stuff etc. Nice cupboards for storing various detergents and stain removers etc.

If it's not possible to have an actual laundry room on the floor where most of the bedrooms are, I'd still vote for basement - but it *has to be* super bright, has to have nice cupboards for cleaning products, a garment rack and/or giant closet rod etc. In my old house, I'd hang up all the stuff that needed hanging, toss foldable stuff in the basket and go up the three half-flights of stairs - dump the laundry onto a clean bed and fold it up there. Also kept my ironing board on a hook in my closet and the iron on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. I didn't mind this routine, because my bedroom had really high ceilings, a giant window with a beautiful view, and it was actually kind of nice to iron and fold in there.

Current house - basement laundry area is dark, there are spiders, there's no place to fold things, no place to store laundry cleaning products.

In the end, wherever the laundry 'room' is - it needs to be very bright, clean, functional and pleasant to be in.

I would not put a laundry on the main level if the bedrooms weren't there - I'd keep it in the basement and make it as nice as possible. So, in my view - it's either basement or on the floor where all the bedrooms are.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Great input. Ceit thanks for sharing the floorplan. I really like that there are fewer but very large and open rooms. We were thinking that perhaps we should look at 2 BR homes since we don't need extra BRs. We have also made the kitchen/eating area 9 feet larger than the original plan so thought about foregoing the separate dining room. We looked at a number of homes by different builders and decided to stick with the one we were working on already. We re-worked the ensuite/WIC, straightened a wall between the GR and MBR, re-did and enlarged the kitchen adding the peninsula and 2' of cupboards and now the mudroom. We think it is done now.

Anonymous

House planning can really take time! The dining room in our plan I use as a library/sitting room. I couldn't see needing two eating areas so close together!

We have almost finished the basement, we bought it unfinished. There are two other bedrooms down there now (one a guest room and one is my study with a pullout couch). Those will eventually become the kids' rooms when they get a little bigger. The only major thing left is to put in a bathroom in the basement.

I look forward to hearing about your house progress!

anne

Veteran

This is an interesting thread!! Just for a comparison (not being helpful) to the original questions) Australian houses are almost all on one level, don't have basements and always have a sink. A sinkless laundry I have NEVER seen! Apart from some units where it the bathroom and laundry are combined.

In my fantasy house the laundry would open on to the family room, where I would have an able to be screened off section where I could fold laundry and iron while watching TV and being with the family. My family and lounge rooms get covered in laundry sorting and baskets pretty often!

shiny

Veteran

I just thought of a practical matter: it'd be difficult if not impossible to get a washer and dryer through most bedroom doors, wouldn't it?

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Cocolion, what a great idea. The ensuite/WIC is about 12' x 12' and there will probably be room in the middle of the closet to have my steamer. I like to steam in the morning to freshen things up and it only takes a minute.

Laura, I find even with the direct venting of the dryer, a laundry area still creates more dust that other areas of the home. My partner had a new deluxe washer/dryer installed in his main floor laundry a year or two ago and that room has more dust than the rest of the house. It is venting properly but there is lint, etc.

The stairs to the basement are quite wide and have a good sized landing at the half-way point so if I find that the main floor laundry is not my thing, I will have a space fitted up in the basement and move it down. I can use the extra space on the main floor for cabinets and/or a bench.

I am trying to design a home that will work for me now, for me and my partner to combine homes when his children are on their own. I am planning to retire in 5-6 years and he will likely follow a few years later. The main floor will be larger than my current home with open space for entertaining in the great room, adjacent eating area, and kitchen with an island with overhang and peninsula but the lower level will not be developed unless one of us has a child that moves away and visits. Then we will probably build a bedroom and bath in the lower level to accommodate the visits. We had the lower level windows made larger for this purpose just in case.

I am almost near the end but the price is really climbing and that concerns me a bit. I am a very cautious person when it comes to finances and it is really hard for me to keep in mind that that extra $1000 is not huge in the bigger scheme of things and that this is the home I plan to live in for most of my life. The little extras just add up so quickly. The home started out at 1560 square feet and is now up to 1690. The extra space was to accommodate a larger ensuite with a jetted soaker tub but also added 2' to the kitchen and great room. Then we decided the kitchen didn't have enough cupboards so we added another 7' to the back and allocated half to the work area and half to the dinette.

We were laughing that there isn't a single room we haven't made a change to yet. I thought perhaps the second bathroom but we changed the tub to a nicer domed model.

ETA: Shiny, that is a good point. I checked and most W/D are 27" and the bedroom door openings are 30". Tight but doable as long as there are no tight corners in the halls.

Ack.

Anonymous

Oh, definitely do changes now! What costs $1000 now to have the builder do will cost way more than that later. Our house was pretty much built when we found it, or else I would have changed some things in the kitchen and bathrooms. Oh well, I am planning on what I want to do in 10 years when we update the kitchen

I love your philosophy on home design. We thought the same way. While we are in our mid and late 30s at the moment, with two children (3 and 1), I wanted to be in a house that could accommodate kids but then not be huge when they move out. So yes, with the kids at the moment it is a bit squinchy, as our son sleeps in a crib in our room, but soon we will move him out to share the upstairs bedroom with our daughter for a couple years, and then we will move her and then him to the basement. Then my study will move upstairs to the bedroom vacated by the kiddos. Our basement is a walkout, with big windows, so it really will be a nice space for them. We have managed to put a soundproof music room (my husband's man cave), my study, a spare bedroom, a large play/tv room, and a bathroom (hope to get that done this year), not to mention a giant utility room/storage room. I really hope we will be in this house for a long time because it is perfect --- it's a raised bungalow, so once you are in the house, you pretty much can live on one level too and not have to deal with stairs. The basement walkout is great too.

unfrumped

Veteran

I have an upstairs laundry in the hall between master BR and kids' rooms and I love it. I wish I had a mudroom on the first floor, but if I did and with 2-story living, I would just arrange for a sink and place for shoes-off/wear slippers and still have the laundry by the bedrooms. Eventually I expect I will return to single-level living, and even then I'd much rather not have the laundry off the kitchen or back door area, but combined with the bed/bath rooms somehow, as in some of the posts above.

It also depends on the stuff you want in the room, as you note, and keep thinking outside the box about where you do what and where you might do it instead--as in, some clothes maintenance chores are not actually "laundry". Also, if you don't need humongo appliances you have more options to tuck in somewhere.