Where to put a laundry rm in a 2-story house?

[treehugginhippie]

We are in the process of designing our new home to be built. We want it to be 2-story with all 3 bedrooms to be upstairs. I thought for convenience we would put the laundry rm upstairs (ie-all the clothes will go there anyways...so I won't have to go up and down the stairs carrying laundry).

Someone mentioned to me that they knew someone who had it upstairs and hated it. Most of the floor plans I see have it downstairs too. So should it be on the same floor as the bedroom or not? What do you think?

TIA

[JustKiya]

Depends - do you plan on using a dryer, or do you plan on linedrying?

If you want to linedry, I'd suggest putting it downstairs - lugging wet laundry down stairs DEFINITELY sucks.
If you plan on using the dryer - leave it upstairs...cloths go on up there, clothes go off up there, and they might as well be washed up there too.

[mmace]

Mine is on the second floor and I love, Love, LOVE having it up there! All four bedrooms are upstairs (three on second floor one in attic) and it makes it soooo convenient having it closeby. Other than kitchen linens and hand towels for the guest bath downstairs, all of our laundry is upstairs anyway. I also got a three bin laundry hamper that sits in the laundry room and everything dirty goes directly in there - no hampers anywhere else - so it is great to have all the dirty stuff right there when I'm ready to throw in a load.

[KMK_Mama]

I thought it was weird when I first heard about the laundry room being upstairs, but that's where I would put it. I have friends who have it upstairs and love it. I have a one story house but it's nice having it close to the bedrooms.

[lucyem]

I have both an upstairs and a downstairs laundry. We have horses, dogs, muddy kids, etc. The upstairs is for just clothes and I have a smaller washer & dryer there. It is located in a closet across from my clothes closet and next to my bathroom. The closet also has a wall drying rack. Downstairs off the kitchen I have a huge mudroom. I have a large washer & dryer there. Those are for big stuff like blankets, rugs and all the animal stuff. I am going to miss having the two sets when we move. If one breaks I have a back up. That did happen once. If I am not in the mood to run upstairs to deal with laundry I can bring it down and do a whole bunch in the mudroom while I am cooking or working outside. Having it upstairs means I can grab towels while getting dressed and throw them in for example. No dragging tons of laundry through the house stepping over baby gates and dogs. Plus upstairs no one sees my scary laundry pile

[momto l&a]

This house as an upstairs laundry, I detest it.

The entire house shakes when the washer or dryer is going.

Not the best built house either IMO

[artemis33]

Well, I have never had an upstairs with the bedrooms laundry so it is hard to say.....

But I've always thought it would be nice to have a laundry room on the main floor near the kitchen, since that is where I spend the majority of my time.

Anything would be better than having it in an unfinished basement like I do now!

[mama kate]

We discussed this a lot when we aere designing a house -0 the only think dh (an engineer) was paranoid about was if the washer became disconnected, a hose broke whatever and no one was home what a huge mess it could turn in to with possibly ending up with damage on the floors upstairs then damage on the lower level ceiling. I think it totally is preference though - it would be nice to have it where most of the bathrooms/bedroom are. also think about if this is your "final" house is your master suite up or down? if down then you deal with having to haul it all upstairs. just a thought.

[trini]

Mine is downstairs right off the kitchen and it is nice because I am usually down there so I can keep loads going. But I can see how having it upstairs would be very convenient in terms of not lugging things up and down the stairs.

My only concerns about upstairs would be the potential water damage that the pp mentioned and the noise. Sometimes I run start a load then go up to bed.

I think my ideal would be the washer and dryer downstairs but a laundry chute from our bathroom. Then you'd only have to carry clothes upstairs.

[mightymoo]

I don't have experience with having it upstairs, but I know from a real estate perspective a 2nd story laundry room is considered a big plus by most buyers. Course if you are building a house you may not care that much about resale, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

If I were building, I'd put it upstairs, I'd much rather not have to deal with lugging the laundry around (ours is in the basement)

My MIL suggested I could change the layout a bit open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and carve off a little bit of the current dining room for a washer dryer, I'm seriously considering doing that when we are ready.

[mamaloveseee]

My husband's uncle has theirs upstairs and they said it is more convient; they designed their home that way.

[fromscatteredtribe]

Originally Posted by mmace

Mine is on the second floor and I love, Love, LOVE having it up there! All four bedrooms are upstairs (three on second floor one in attic) and it makes it soooo convenient having it closeby. Other than kitchen linens and hand towels for the guest bath downstairs, all of our laundry is upstairs anyway. I also got a three bin laundry hamper that sits in the laundry room and everything dirty goes directly in there - no hampers anywhere else - so it is great to have all the dirty stuff right there when I'm ready to throw in a load.

that is our experience too!!

[Leta]

As a builder's daughter who has had to deal with way more, "Where should we put the laundry room?" queries than anyone should have to, I can say, definitively, put the laundry room next to the kitchen. It is the best, most logical place for one. If you can have an ironing board and a sewing station in the laundry room, all the better.

Because it is a multistory house, I would also suggest that you put a laundry chute upstairs, or a W/D hookup in an upstairs closet, or both.

[TereasaT]

We have our laundry room upstairs. I do love it for the convenience. Ours is right outside our boys' rooms, and you can't really hear it with the door closed.

We have had a hose come apart. We had a drain pan and a drain pipe in the floor, but they couldn't drain all the water at once so we did have some water damage. It was a pain! They had to come in with those huge, industrial fans and dehumidifiers which were ridiculous loud to dry everything up. Thank goodness they didn't have to tear into any walls or replace the carpets. Drying it was sufficient.

Having gone through the water damage, I would say put the laundry room downstairs.

[Aliviasmom]

Personally, I think it's odd to have it on the second floor. I've always (as long as I can remember) had washer/dryers on the main (ground) floor with cement underneath. I can't imagine if the washer overflowed or something! And if you needed a new one, you'd have to move it up stairs. Plus, it doesn't take up much space to just add a laundry chute.


ETA: Our washing machine and dryer are in the basement, and our bedrooms are on the second floor (with a floor in between) so each floor involves lugging laundry up/downstairs. It's not too bad.

[griffin2004]

No doubt about it == upstairs!

[annethcz]

We just moved into a rambler (1 story house) with a basement. In the past, I've always had the laundry room in the basement or lowest floor of the house. I never thought it was a big deal to lug laundry up and down the stairs, because that's just what's done.

But in our new house, I have the laundry room on the main floor (next to the bedrooms). I can't tell you how convenient it is! I love it. I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal, but it just makes doing laundry sooooo much easier.

[OnTheBrink]

Definitely upstairs! We love ours upstairs. Our family room is upstairs, too, right next to the laundry room. (Downstairs is kitchen, dining, living, playroom, mudroom, office, bathroom) My husband is the laundry folder and he just grabs a load from the laundry room and sits down in the next room and folds while watching TV. Plus, all the bedrooms (and dressers and closets) are upstairs, so it makes the most sense.

I think it's set up so that if it backs up, it actually drains into the tub drain (share a wall).

[savannah smiles]

Totally ot but annethcz, your children are beautiful! I love the one of your dd in the mud!! I clicked on your picture and was struck by total hair jealousy - so full, so shiney. :

As to the topic at hand, I like having the w/d on whichever floor the bedrooms are. I've lived with about every placement one can have and, for me, having it near the bedrooms is the best. Our current home has the w/d on the 2nd floor and I can't say I've ever worried about water damage too much. As for lugging a washer or dryer up the stairs, I'd just have the delivery men do that.

I'll agree with a pp who said that having it in the basement is the worst! Never again!

[clane]

All of our bedrooms are upstairs and laundry rm is downstairs. UGH! I hate carting the clothes up and down the stairs. The vent for the dryer is also a roof exhaust, so it travels up 2 stories to vent. DH is not pleased when I send him rooftop to extract the misc lint that the filter doesnt catch.