Buying A Home
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Basement laundry???
I found a wonderful floor plan I love, but it does not have a mudroom. I was considering moving the laundry room (from right off the garage) to the basement. However the house would be 2stories. With 3 of the 4bedrooms are on the second floor. I'm just looking for opinions on this.
Re: Basement laundry???
We have had a laundry in the basement in a 2 story house and a one story. I do not find it a problem.
Heck - the stairs will help keep you fit.
Keep the loads of laundry within a reasonable size to carry to the basement.
Sorry, I have to disagree with the two others. Not only is a basement laundry inconvenient, it's a safety issue. Hauling baskets of towels down two flights of stairs is a tripping hazard. I fortunately managed to avoid falling downstairs in our homes with basement laundries, but hated hauling everything up and down. Especially with three kids.
The laundry should be as close as possible to either the bedrooms, where all the dirty sheets and clothing are generated, or the kitchen, where many of us spend a lot of time.
If you're concerned about resale, ask a realtor how it would affect resale. Upstairs laundries have been very popular at every open house I've attended.
I think this is a personal preference kind of thing. Lots of people like laundry in the basement because its out of the way from the rest of the house. Other people like it the mud room because its close to the kitchen/living areas where its easiest to keep an eye on/change over etc, and others like it on the floor the bedrooms are on for the reasons the last post mentioned.
I think it depends on what other houses in your area are doing (as far as re-sale), and what works best for you. I know we were thrilled about having our laundry upstairs by the bedrooms, and since we plan to rent the basement out, it would have been a huge inconvenience to try and relocate it had it been in the basement (now we actually have 2 laundry rooms since the suite has its own..) and thats also huge for resale...if the basement is otherwise suitable but thats where the only laundry is then its not a bad idea to move it onto an upper level, lots of people are looking for suitable basement in this economy.
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Is this for a new construction? I wouldn't build a new house with the only laundry hook ups being in the basement. New homes are expected to have first or second floor laundry.
That said, an option may be that you have the laundry hook ups in both places. You can hide the hook ups in the new mud room with false cabinet doors or something simlar. That way if you ever list the home, the new buyers also have the same option, mud room or laundry room. And, if things change in your life and you find that basement laundry isn't working out, you have the option of moving the washer and dryer back up to the first floor.
That said, a basement laundry would be a deal breaker for me. A 2nd floor laundry room was on my wishlist of wants.
None of the houses we looked at had main floor/second floor laundry. Every single one was in the basement, and all our friends and family have basement laundry. That's just common to me, I guess.
We have a two story with all our bedrooms on the second floor and basement laundry and it isn't an issue whatsoever. We have two hampers--one we keep in the closet where we throw dirty laundry and one in the laundry room. When the one upstairs is about half full, we take it to the basement to do laundry. The empty one in the basement gets brought upstairs so while we're doing laundry, we still have a place to throw dirty stuff upstairs.
Once the laundry downstairs is clean, we'll bring it up in the hamper down there and switch them. Sounds complicated, but it works for us. If we're doing a small load, like just the sheets from one bed, I'll usually carry them down without using a hamper at all. It's all about finding a system that works for you.
I like this suggestion. I would have hated basement laundry, but agree that it's a personal preference.
I've always viewed living level laundry rooms as a luxury, given that most of the houses in the area I live aren't new. Every house I've lived in has had a basement laundry room. To be honest, in some ways I prefer it. I can spread all my laundering crap out. With a baby and cloth diapering I do a LOT of laundry and need lots of space.
You may consider putting a laundry chute in somewhere? That's my dream