Our washer and dryer are currently next to the garage, where ideally a mudroom would be. It's a SMALL space, literally the machines and space to bend over in front of them and that's it. It's where we go in and out of the house so it's there's always shoes on the ground and jackets on top of machines.
Would you move the units upstairs to a closet in the playroom (there is another closet in that room) or get a stackable unit to keep it on the first floor (where we spend most of our time, also great for throwing really dirty stuff in before we get inside the house) and have a small space to put coats and shoes.
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I would love a stackable unit! Ours is in a closet off of the kitchen/dining area and our current machines are larger than the doorway (thanks 1970's house). We can't open the dryer all the way.
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Where are your bedrooms and bathrooms that you shower in? I'd want it wherever it would be the most convenient for the majority of your laundry. Although I'd take into consideration the cost of move it and having to put in fixtures. It would definitely be easier to just get stackables and keep them where they are!
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I'm not a fan of second floor laundry. A lot of homes don't have the right structure to support that. Plus, laundry units are loud. I'd hate to have to schedule laundry around naps and sleep.
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@Ms. RV: Good point about naps and sleep!!
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I love our second floor laundry. It's a must for anywhere we live. I like having it be really close to the bedrooms.
@Ms. RV: Ours are right across from DS's room and it's never bothered him. I run stuff all the time at night. I'll have to see when we have DD if she'll be more aware of it, since it's next to her room.
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I prefer basement or mud room laundry.
Yes the laundry is on the second floor, but for most of the day I'm not on the second floor and that's where we sleep so I don't want to be going up and down all day or listening to the dryer all night.Our laundry is off of the rec room in the basement and it works well because I can fold while the kids muck around and I can't hear it at night. It's also far enough away that guests don't see my laundry piles.
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I would go with whichever option is closest to your bedrooms. I dream of a laundry room/master closet combo
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I'm not a fan of second floor laundries. Especially not if the floor is not properly designed to support it. Not to mention when you have washer issues! Yes, you can buy a pan but they only hold so much.
I would keep it at the existing location. If you relocated you will still have to exhaust the dryer directly to the outside! -
Our laundry room is on the same floor as our bedrooms and I love it.
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I had second floor laundry in one of the homes we lived in (it was a hall closet right next to the master) and I wasn't a fan. I didn't like running laundry at night because it would wake me up (LO didn't seem to notice, but we moved out of that house when he was 7mo). I was also always paranoid about the washer overflowing so I wouldn't run laundry if I wasn't home the whole time. And if the house wasn't designed to have a second floor laundry room you could run into a lot of shaking and maybe structural problem.
I personally love having laundry in the mudroom - it's close to my kitchen so it's easy to throw dirty washcloths/towels straight into the machine. Plus I like to fold clothes in front of the tv, so if the laundry is upstairs I have to bring the clothes down to fold, then back up to put them away.
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Make sure you can get regular size stackable ones. We have this stupid small laundry closet so we can only have really small compact washers and dryers. It's so annoying and the machines are more expensive. I'm very anti our laundry set up.
But I do agree that running the laundry during naps and bedtime is more important than going up and down stairs with laundry.
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In Australia, I would say almost all laundries are in either the garage or the ground floor. I have never heard of having a laundry upstairs! Would you have to carry the washed basket downstairs to use a clothesline, or do you always use a dryer?
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@Ms. RV: Our laundry's on the second floor, in a closet backing onto LO's room. I hate it for that reason and because I don't want to fold all my laundry upstairs! I'd rather have first floor or basement and fold laundry in front of the tv in the evening...It feels inefficient to lug my clean laundry downstairs to fold and then back up to put away, so I'm stuck upstairs.
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@Foodnerd81: We actually spent the money to expand our laundry closet because it was so tiny. It ate up a bit of space in LO's closet on the other side, but it's worth it to have a regular sized washer/dryer. Plus, we put in an access to the water shut off in case of leaks and if we're away for an extended period.
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Ours is upstairs near bedrooms and I love not carrying clothes up/down.
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I love having our laundry up on the second floor by all the bedrooms. It is so nice not having to haul laundry up/down and it has never bothered DD, DH or I when we are sleeping.
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@tinyperson: well all around the laundry closet is our neighbors condo, so they probably wouldn't be too happy if we expanded... (This totally reminds me of an Areested Development episode where Lucille expanded into the other Lucille's apartment).
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We loved our second floor laundry in our last house so that's what I voted for!
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I hate our stackable. It fills the tiny closet, I have to put all laundry soap, etc on top of it, and stuff falls down on my head if it is the slightest bit unbalanced. Makes such a mess! Also, small capacity is terrible. I can't wait to move and be done with the stupid stackable!
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@Ms. RV: My kids sleep better when our upstairs laundry is running. It's like additional white noise.
I love our second floor laundry! So long as you have the proper structural support, that gets my vote.
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@iheartleopardprint: We always use the dryer. I'm not a fan of line drying. You can only do it a couple months of the year here and you never know if a thunderstorm will come through and soak everything. And things come out all hard and scratchy. Plus I don't have time to haul stuff outside and hang it. Much easier to just put it in the dryer right next to the washer.
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@Foodnerd81: boooo! Too bad. It made a world of difference for us.
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Thanks for all the responses! I'm leaning toward putting it upstairs provided it is structurally sound. I fold my laundry on my bed in front of the TV and all our bedrooms and showering baths are upstairs.
I also think having a good sized mudroom outweighs my having to lug table linens upstairs once a week. Kids stuff is just going to get bigger, plus they'll probably play sports and have equipment.
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We have this exact issue and have been debating those options over the last few years! I'm also leaning towards upstairs (in our walk-in closet) mainly because I really don't want a front-loader. Otherwise I would do stacking units in the existing laundry room just for the ease/cost aspect. I'm kind of scared of the logistics of setting everything up upstairs, or we probably would have done it already...
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Our neighbors had second story laundry and it flooded while they were on vacation (not sure of the details here--I think they started a load before they left the morning of for some reason) and the whole house had to be redone. So I will always prefer first floor laundry.
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@iheartleopardprint: I'm Aussie too, and I've always wondered about this upstairs laundry thing too. I'm guessing most people that have this set up only use a dryer?
My laundry is in our bathroom - I have a large cupboard in there which has a full sink in it and a stacked washer dryer. All my clothes go outside on the line to dry, towels and sheets in the dryer.
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@FannyMae: I couldn't imagine solely using a dryer. I'm in QLD, so we use the line all year.
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I'll let you know, we're in the process of moving the laundry from the basement to the second floor ;). This house is very awkwardly set up for basement laundry; I have to haul tons of clothes to the opposite end of the house and through two closed doors. I'd be more likely to line dry in the nice months in its new location (straight shot out the back door). I've been dreaming of this for a while!
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@iheartleopardprint: @FannyMae: it's funny because I literally don't know anyone who line dries outside! But I live in the city in New England, so no one has that kind of outdoor space anyway and it's cold most of the year. Even my friends with big houses and backyards only use the dryer.
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@FannyMae: @iheartleopardprint: I'm in the Northeast in the States. My request for our backyard this summer is for DH to set up some kind of non permanent clothesline situations. I love the smell of line dried clothing! If it's too starchy I just throw it in the dryer on low to soften up!
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Our old house had a washer in the garage, new house is on the 2nd floor. I LOVE HAVING IT ON THE 2ND FLOOR!!! So easy to throw in laundry, so easy to pull stuff out of the dryer and just put it on, it's in our "living space" where it should be. Sort of life-changing.
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@FannyMae: @iheartleopardprint: Yes it's quite different here! I spent 6 months in QLD! I'm also in the Northeast and the number of days/year you could hang clothes on a line and have them actually get dry is probably like, 30-60. The rest of the year it's too wet, too humid, too cold, raining, or snowing. I don't know a single person who doesn't own a dryer!
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I can imagine that snow would be the biggest issue for sure, I couldn't imagine frozen clothes! It gets quite cold and rainy here too, but luckily I have my clothes line undercover across our deck - even still if its winter and very cold/rainy it can take a day or two to dry (and maybe even a quick 20 minute dryer run)
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We put in a second floor laundry, and it's the greatest thing ever. It's never once woken the kids (or us) and I can only hear it if I'm really trying to.
It's super convenient to be able to throw stuff in/switch loads after the kids have gone to bed.
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Our laundry room in our current house is on the 2nd floor along with our bedrooms. I, personally, hate it. True to the out of sight, out of mind anecdote, we have let laundry build up far more in the year we've been in this house than we did when it was in our mud room. On top of that, it gets folded far less frequently now because we just don't spend time on the 2nd floor for much more than sleeping. So, I either lug it downstairs to fold and back upstairs to put away or it sits for a few days until one of us needs something. I literally dream of converting the second floor laundry room to a 2nd full bath and moving laundry to the basement.
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I prefer my laundry room to be as close as possible to the bedrooms.
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I voted for second floor, but if you do this, make sure that there is the proper drainage and if possible, have the vent in the wall instead of on the floor (in case of flooding).
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