Browse Forums Laundry 1 Apr 23, 2011 7:57 pm First a little background so it makes more sense... I have a computer program (which you can download for free!) called My Virtual Home. It's a home plan design program that allows you to walk through your design, furnish it etc. It's pretty cool. Anyway, I've been using the program to design our home. We have a rear sloping block and plan to build a custom designed home on it. We have had the block since 2007 and we were waiting for property prices to increase before building so we can sell the home we're currently in and build our dream home. As the block is on a very steep rear slope, the house will be double story at the front and triple at the back. The bottom level being a theatre room and rumpus (or a 'man cave' as my husband calls it). The middle level (which is the street/entrance level) has a study, living area, kitchen and powder room. Upstairs we have 4 bedrooms and the bathroom. In a recent tweek of my plans I have placed the laundry on the top level. Husband thinks I'm insane as he thinks it should be on the very bottom level (man cave level) for ease of access to the washing line, but here is my reasoning... 1. I currently DO NOT use the clothesline outside. I put all our washing on the clothes airer inside. I don't know why, but it's a habit and I figure habits are hard to change. 2. If it's on the bottom level, it would mean having to rely on husband and step-son to take their dirty clothes down TWO flights of stairs to the laundry. I can't see that happening. It would also mean that I would have to carry clean washing up TWO flights of stairs to put it away. Seems like a lot of work 3. If it was on the top level there is more chance of husband and step-son putting their dirty laundry in the actual laundry and not leave it sitting on the bathroom floor. 4. If I wanted to put clothes outside, I could wheel the clothes airer onto the balcony. I currently wheel the clothes airer outside if it's a nice day. 5. I think that having it all on the one level makes sense. No lugging of clean and dirty clothes up two flights of stairs all the time. All bedrooms and the main bathroom that step-son would use are on the top floor. Please give me your thoughts on this idea. Most people scream "are you SERIOUS" when I tell them, but I think I raise a good arguement Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 2Apr 23, 2011 8:17 pm Hi, I agree with you, I always use a clothes airer, never the line. Why would you want to carry dirty washing downstairs, then when it's clean carry it back up. The only other option is a laundry chute, but as you will be hanging the clothes inside, your plan is the best choice, laundry upstairs. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 3Apr 23, 2011 8:18 pm Whilst building, we rented a two storey home. I remarked to my husband during this year and a half I now knew why Americans tend to build their laundries on the second storey of double level homes!! Hate hate hated carrying up the clean washing every day!! Dirty washing was thrown over the balustrade which looked so untidy LOL. Go for it!! Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 4Apr 23, 2011 8:29 pm kyton Whilst building, we rented a two storey home. I remarked to my husband during this year and a half I now knew why Americans tend to build their laundries on the second storey of double level homes!! Hate hate hated carrying up the clean washing every day!! Dirty washing was thrown over the balustrade which looked so untidy LOL. Go for it!! If I had a double story, I would have a spare vac upstairs, cleaning products, mop, bucket, and a kettle. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 5Apr 23, 2011 9:01 pm No I don't think you're crazy. I think you've got the right idea. Our last build we lived upstairs and I hated going downstairs to do the washing. It was cold and I would let the washing pile up. If it had been upstairs it would have been more convenient. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 6Apr 23, 2011 10:58 pm kyton Whilst building, we rented a two storey home. I remarked to my husband during this year and a half I now knew why Americans tend to build their laundries on the second storey of double level homes!! Americans often have their laundries on the second floor because all the clothes get put in the dryer. It makes sense then. I still prefer to hang my clothes on the line, so it's a bottom floor laundry for me. Judie Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 7Apr 24, 2011 7:57 am Yep I agree Judie - much prefer to hang outside on the clothesline. But in OP's case if that need is covered elsewhere by airer / covered deck go for it!! Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 8Apr 24, 2011 8:49 am Thanks for all your replies. I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one who thinks it's ok I suppose I was more concerned from a resale point of view. Not that we are planning to ever sell once we build but you never know what life throws at you! Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 9Apr 24, 2011 11:27 am I saw it in a home and loved it. It is one thing I overlooked when designing ours. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 10Apr 24, 2011 11:31 am If all your bedrooms it makes sense. Think of all the sheets, towels etc. I'd stick with an upstairs laundry Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 11Apr 24, 2011 5:44 pm I was going to start exactly the same topic and saw this! We had separate utility room downstairs, but as we need to save space we had to take it somewhere else. We cant put it in the kitchen as it is an open plan with our living room and thus we wouldnt want the whole place to be noisy. Thus we are thinkinh now putting it upstairs. However, as we would have 2m veranda in front of the rooms, we are thinking of hanging the clothes out there... What would you say? By the way first reaction of friends: - upstairs!? Never heard this before. Are you sure? - upstairs!? Where are you going to hang the clothes. It wouldnt be nice for the house to have the clothes hanging at your veranda... - upstairs??? But what if there are any problems with pipes, water etc? - upstairs?!?! But is much more convinient to dry your clothes outside at garden or backyard Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 12Apr 26, 2011 10:18 am I'd actually put it on the second level near the kitchen. Most of the laundry is done during the day when you are in this area of the home. Seeing as you are thinking of resale also, if there's only bedrooms up on the top level, if people have littlies they may not want to be going up there to do laundry when they are asleep and for anyone that does use their clothesline, it would most likely eliminate them as a potential buyer. I can understand your reasoning for wanting it upstairs, but this is the part I don't understand..... HomeAngels . 2. If it's on the bottom level, it would mean having to rely on husband and step-son to take their dirty clothes down TWO flights of stairs to the laundry. I can't see that happening. It would also mean that I would have to carry clean washing up TWO flights of stairs to put it away. Seems like a lot of work 3. If it was on the top level there is more chance of husband and step-son putting their dirty laundry in the actual laundry and not leave it sitting on the bathroom floor. Here, if the clothes aren't put out to be washed, they don't get washed. I wouldn't be lugging everyone else's washing down two flights of stairs. You must be a much nicer person than me! I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 13Apr 27, 2011 2:48 pm if the laundry is put upstairs, where would the clothes be hanged to dry if you dont want to use the dryer continiously? Inside might not be so good idea as the evaporation might cause damage to the walls right? Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 14Apr 27, 2011 7:07 pm fekish if the laundry is put upstairs, where would the clothes be hanged to dry if you dont want to use the dryer continiously? Inside might not be so good idea as the evaporation might cause damage to the walls right? OP said she would dry them on airers on a deck? Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 15Apr 27, 2011 7:58 pm ok yes now i read the comments. Prefers airer inside, but can move that outside at a balcony. I was thinking doing the same thing, but i dont know if i will feel ok by hanging the clothes on the balcony and seen from anywhere! I think when i pass from some neighborhoods that i see the clothes on the balcony - i feel a bit weird... Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 16Apr 27, 2011 8:06 pm fekish ok yes now i read the comments. Prefers airer inside, but can move that outside at a balcony. I was thinking doing the same thing, but i dont know if i will feel ok by hanging the clothes on the balcony and seen from anywhere! I think when i pass from some neighborhoods that i see the clothes on the balcony - i feel a bit weird... True. I do hate seeing people's clothes outside. However the balcony is at the rear of the house so it won't be seen from the street at all. And if someone wants to stickybeak in my backyard and see my undies hanging up, that's their problem. Haha Truth be told I have the clothes inside 99% of the time so it would be rare I would hang anything outside. Unless I had heaps of washing to catch up on, in which case I use a combination of dryer and clothes airer. Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 17Apr 27, 2011 8:14 pm cool thank basically we are exactly the opposite, we hang clothes outside almost 80%. Then hang clothes inside 20%... I dont like the use of a dryer at all! But i dont know, we might find a solution for our house and in the end hang the clothes on a "secret" veranda! Of course the fact that we hang our clothes outside most of the time, might "push" us in putting the laundry room downstairs anyway, in order to hang our clothes at the garden... Re: Laundry upstairs - am I crazy!? 18Apr 27, 2011 8:21 pm I think it depends on where the linen cupboard is also, and maybe where you do your ironing. I hate listening to the dryer or washer so I have an intergrated laundry at the side of our double garage. The linen shute next to it and the two linen cupboards alongside I had 28m2 of engineered pavers laid six months back and it was difficult to find someone not taking the pi$$. Internet suggested it should be $85-100/m2 to lay them.… 3 12353 I have a home gym at home. It weights 150KG including the weight stack. I'm a big boy, around 150KG myself. I was thinking about moving it up stairs to the second… 0 6286 Agreed. I just found out today the certifier has not given the final sign off. 2 4072 |