Laundry room in basement vs laundry closet on bedroom floor

amother

Babyblue

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 10:56 pm

We are buying a house and remodeling a bit. We can stick a laundry closet on the bedroom floor but it will just be a closet with the machines that’s it or I can have a proper laundry room in the basement. What would you do and why?

thanks

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 10:59 pm

Can you put in a laundry chute? It's not legal everywhere, but it's nice to have if you decide to put the laundry downstairs.

I know someone that has two - one on the bedroom level and one in the basement.

Frumwithallergies

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 11:01 pm

I vote for laundry closet upstairs. That's where you produce the bulk of your laundry. Smaller space vs shlepping up and down stairs.....

Mazal tov on the house!

amother

Aqua

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 11:01 pm

I had this choice and I put my a laundry closet near the bedrooms. But I do feel the lack of a laundry room. I don't have where to sort laundry; sorting takes up the hallway space and for those few hours it's hard to pass. I don't have where to iron, nor where to keep my laundry detergents.

If at all possible, and for me it will happen one day when we extend, I'd convert a bedroom into a laundry room and either split another bedroom or extend for another bedroom.

happy12

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 11:02 pm

I have both. Will throw in a quick load upstairs but really no place to hang things.
When I do laundry I generally go down stairs where there is a sink , drying racks, and ironing board.
It is definitely a shlep to bring up all the clean laundry (hey, but that's what teenage sons are for.)
For 18 years just had it upstairs, but when I did my basement , I put in a laundry room. I definitely like it more then a stackable in the closet.

themom

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 11:03 pm

I have a closet on the bedroom floor and I love it. No going downstairs at night when I’m exhausted. You can hang the wet clothes in the shower and fold the dry laundry on top of the machine.

amother

Powderblue

Wed, Apr 11 2018, 11:27 pm

I have both and I mainly use the closet upstairs. It's one of my favorite things about my house. Makes the whole job so much easier. But yes the hanging clothes are not out of sight.

Raisin

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 5:54 am

Mine is downstairs but its to crowded and cold to sort and fold and hang laundry in there so that gets done upstairs anyway.

One thing to consider is noise of the machine. Would the noise bother people if running at night? I don't hear mine since it is in our garage.

amother

Maroon

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 7:15 am

I have mine upstairs as well and it is the best thing I ever did. Schlepping everything up and down just was not working. I have a large closet with bifold doors, so there is room for 2 front loaders (not stacked) and a small amount of space on the side for a sorting hamper and hanging long items. The rest of the items get hung on doorknobs. Folding and stain spraying are done on top of the machines. Laundry gets done in less time, and the older kids are more inclined to put in loads as well. I am a light sleeper and do not hear the machines when the doors to the closet are closed.

Ema of 5

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 7:20 am

amother wrote:

I used to have a laundry room in my basement, and I hated it, because of all the up and down. Then we moved. We had an option to put the washer and dryer in a closet in the hallway, but the contractor refused to run the lines to it, so we ended up putting the machines in our bathroom. I love it. There’s no up and down with tons of laundry in hand.

thunderstorm

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 7:32 am

I keep trying to figure out a way for me to implement a laundry closet upstairs where the bedrooms are. I'm finding it really difficult going up and down lugging hampers and clean laundry.
I also find that because it's downstairs it's "out of sight out of mind" and I tend to forget about the load that needs to be transferred to the dryer etc. This delays my entire laundry schedule and I avoid doing laundry because of the difficulty involved. I'm my apartments before I had a house I always had a laundry closet and I found that to be much more convenient than having a full laundry room downstairs.

amother

Lilac

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 7:33 am

I have mine in the basement and love it. There's space to hang, dry and have laundry hampers for sorting. We made a laundry chute from the upstairs. I couldn't do laundry out of a closet. I'd have clothing hanging in every bedroom.

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 4:37 pm

I vote for a laundry closet upstairs. Schlepping laundry up and down is a huge hassle. Even if you have a chute, the laundry will not come back upstairs on its own...

LovetoLive

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 4:42 pm

do you mostly hang to dry or throw everything in the dryer?

it sounds like the ones who appreciate the spaciousness of a laundry room are the ones with lots of things to hang dry.

I'm a "throw everything but the most delicate shabbos clothes in the dryer" kind of gal, and I love having the laundry upstairs. One of my kids bedrooms has a corner allotted to laundry hampers where I sort laundry.
it works for me.

amother

Cyan

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 5:03 pm

LOve my laundry in the basement.
Out of sight. I don’t hear it in the bedrooms.
Have plenty of space to hang cloths to dry and fold it. I personally do all the laundry but I don’t carry it up or down the stairs my husband or cleaning lady does. I have plenty of space to sort. A sink to soak things. I just built a house and this is where I put it because I can’t stand laundry closets but everyone is differnt.

doodlesmom

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 5:07 pm

I have mine in a closet upstairs- too me it doesn't make sense that every sock should travel up and down two flights of stairs to be washed.
That being said when I start using my basement I will have a laundry room In the basement as well- for overflow and for the kitchen and basement laundry ( guest bedrooms etc)

Librarian

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 6:02 pm

I have my "laundry room" in my unfinished basement. Yes, I do tend to hang-dry a lot so I really like having all that space. And I love it that the dirty laundry is out of view especially during nine days, chol hamoed...I do the folding upstairs which is much more pleasant. It would concern me to have washing machine upstairs in case of flooding - my washing machine recently had a leak which was no problem in the basement but would have been a catastrophe upstairs.

FranticFrummie

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 7:24 pm

I've had different locations for laundry at different homes over the years. By far, I prefer having the laundry upstairs.

I've had two houses with downstairs laundry. It was so damp down there nothing every dried if I hung it up, things would just end up smelling moldy. And the spiders, shock

EEEEEW!!!

On the other hand, if you enjoy carrying heavy things up and down the stairs a lot, it could save you money on a gym membership. Wink

joyful mom

Thu, Apr 12 2018, 7:49 pm

I have a laundry room in the basement and it's not easy always carrying baskets with laundry up & down 2 flights. In the morning rush I'm often running up & down taking stuff from the laundry room that dried overnight.... I also found it more difficult when I was pregnant to deal with the laundry downstairs.