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So if you do the full laundry room off master - would you only be able to access it through the master or would there be hallway access? One day I hope to have DD doing her own laundry and I would not enjoy having her come through our bedroom. The space being taken from the master bath doesn't bother me though, while it's nice to not have a cramped bathroom I agree with Becky that I think huge bathrooms are a waste.

I agree with not wanting stacked machines, they just always seem like a pain to me. I wouldn't really want to go up to the attic. I would consider the hallway closet by kids rooms, just know you might have to be careful with timing - our laundry room shares a wall with DD's room, we can run the dryer while she is sleeping but not the washing machine. We havn't found it to be an issue.

So my first choice would be off master IF there is a way to create hallway access. Second choice would be hallway closet by kids rooms.

I would put the laundry room where all the bedrooms are. Or where the most laundry is coming from. (For me, I have 3 kids and they produce so much laundry!)
Limit the use of stairs as much as possible.

I have a sorta nice laundry room with additional sink (but no counters) and I never use it to potential bc who wants to stay in a room and fold? So I don’t think the “extras” are necessary.

I would generally agree with a closet near the kids rooms, for all the reasons others have given, but a laundry sink is kind of essential for me. Which I guess puts me in the small room off the hall near the master. If you ever need to soak anything or pre-rinse messes, having a utility sink is key so that you don’t have to dirty/take up a bathroom sink. I also never fold in my laundry room, so the idea of lots of space for folding doesn’t really resonate with me. And it seems like moving it up to the third floor would just be a hassle going up and down unnecessary stairs.

We’ve always had dedicated laundry rooms and the one we have now is totally massive but has built in shelving so we use it for storage and have a chest freezer in there. We definitely never fold laundry in it but a laundry sink is essential for us. Stains, messy stuff that you don’t want in the regular sinks (paintbrushes, etc). I would not be happy to buy a house without it. The other thing I would consider is noise of the machines and whether you want a top loader or front loader machine. If it’s near kids bedrooms, you won’t want to be doing laundry if they are sleeping or napping, which I find we do a lot. Our machines have always been older so they definitely aren’t very quiet if we had people over or someone is napping. I would not want a stacking machine as I prefer top loaders.

I would vote use the attic or off the master.

Napwise...we have a laundry closet that's attached to the boy's room. Only if there's something super clunky in the washer does it bother him. Otherwise, it's fine.

I purposefully did a lot of laundry when he was sleeping to try to get him used to it though. But in his room with the white noise on, it's pretty hard to hear to washer/dryer going. The only additional noise is if DH is doing laundry because he can't close the dryer without slamming it.

I would never want to have a giant bathroom but only a laundry closet. I would be annoyed every day at the disproportionate allocation of space. Our current laundry room has a sink, my first time having one, and I love it so much! Would never want to go back to no sink.

@periwinklebee: I'm not sure how effective sound proofing would be since you're supposed to keep the closet open when the machines are running so they don't overheat.

We don't have any sound proofing, and it's not too bad.

Also, having experienced a flood due to a leaky washer, I would definitely NOT put it on a third floor (more chance for major damage below). Thankfully we're on a slab so it only affected the two rooms the closet borders.

We currently live on one floor and have the laundry in basically a hallway closet close to the three bedrooms. We have talked about moving it to the basement at some point, but it's SO convenient being close to the bedrooms, I am forced to walk by it so notice the laundry, and start a load.
I do usually run it at night, one because that's when I tend to notice it, but we also get discounted rates on electricity then. The noise has never been an issue, I actually like it as a 'white noise'.

I would hate having to lug laundry up and down stairs.
I voted to put it in the master, but hallway by kids room would work as well.

My laundry is currently in my 100 basement, so I hear you. But I will be the naysayer and say that you should leave it there! I would only even put my washer in the basement or the first floor bc it mitigates the (however unlikely) damage if it were to leak. I deal in construction litigation by trade so I see a lot of this, mostly in new construction high rises but I’m still scarred :). We left ours in the basement when we moved and now that we are renovating the basement, will have the fancy laundry room I’ve always wanted.

So my comment is not about convenience, but we looked into moving the ground-level laundry room (off the kitchen & garage) up to the 2nd floor in our previous house. What we learned is that it is challenging to retrofit this as you basically have to rebuild the subfloor to accommodate the shaking/weight of the machines. It can also be harder to safely route the vent (although I'm sure your contractor can comment on this) and you're limited on location unless you install totally new plumbing. So I'd be aware of that if you decide to go 2nd/3rd floor.

I noticed your comment above about the potential for making a walk-in-closet for the master and I would definitely prioritize this if there is currently no closet space for that room. Super important in a big house like that, as is having dedicated closet space in general. Not sure if that would affect your plans.

@Pollywog: that’s a good point. When my kids wet the bed or something, I pull off the sheets and leave them in a laundry basket in the hall. If laundry was upstairs I’d be more likely to put them right into the wash. Throw up still gets dealt with right away though.

Do you have a floor plan of the existing or proposed second floor you can post? That might help visualize what space to work with. But I can say confidently, you'll want laundry on the second floor, not the attic.

I think I've mentioned it before, but Houzz is a good sounding board for problems like this. I might have missed it, but what does your architect recommend? What about stackable but in a small laundry room? Or stackable plus a sink on the side or built ins on the side? That is what we are putting into our renovation/build. Its on the other side of the master bath so there is plumbing there. I really wanted a sink since i use it so much for for laundry stuff. We ended up with a long narrow laundry room with a stackable at the end and cabinets along one wall.

Also another thing to consider is the noise generated by a washer and dryer. You might not want that to share a wall with your master bedroom if you are someone who runs laundry at night.

@periwinklebee: I don't have a walk-in closet myself (older home with small closets in each bedroom) but if we did it would be AWESOME. However, having no closet space at all would possibly be a dealbreaker because then you need to fulfill that function with furniture and find storage elsewhere for so many things. Good luck with all your planning!

We have a small laundry room off our kitchen that basically connects the kitchen to the outside/rear entrance. Think kitchen > laundry > back yard. I appreciate this because we, like so many said, can be there to know/hear when things are done and need moving over. And similarly, we never fold in the laundry room. We use the rest of that space for a tall cabinet that holds all our cleaning supplies, random tools, etc. as well as a chest freezer and the cat litter boxes and food dishes so they are away from the kids. Works perfectly for us. In your situation I would probably perfer either the hall closet near the bedrooms or the main floor.

Not to totally throw you for a loop...but have you considered putting the laundry IN the master bath?

My mom lives in a tiny MIL house attached to my brother's house, and the only place it made sense to put her laundry was in the downstairs bathroom. The bathroom is big enough to be handicap accessible (should she need it in the future). There's a vanity and toilet on one side of the room, and a tub and storage/laundry on the other side. She has large front loading machines with a counter built over them and cabinet doors only on the lower part to close off the appliances. Above, there are a couple cabinets and shelves for towels. It's more open than a laundry closet, so it doesn't necessarily feel like it's taking space "away" from a large bathroom.

Just throwing that out there!

I'm not sure I'd want laundry in my master bath, but we do have a full washer and dryer in our only full bath. It's great and I would 100% choose it again. We also have space in there for the kids dresser so having washing, folding, storing, dirty clothes basket, and changing kids all in the same place is wonderful.

Yes I do have to stay on top of laundry because EVERYONE uses the same bathroom, but I do better with motivation to keep my house clean.