There's one in our laundry. It was there when we purchased the house, newly built, 6 years ago.
It's the first home I've owned that has a drain in the laundry but I'm guessing the builder put it there more for the WH (in a closet in the laundry) than possible leaks from the washer.

if your laundry is on the 2nd floor, i would demand one/put one in. if first floor with no basement, or in a basement, it would be purely a judgement call. our house is on slab and we have no drain. but the FEW houses around here with the laundry on the 2nd floor pretty much have a drain. cheaper to put the drain in than it is to replace the ceiling below! you should also waterPROOF the floor of any laundry room not on grade.

We have a pan that the washer sits in, with a drain. So far, no need . . . but that's only 3 months. (recent remodel)

Ours came with the house. It's benefitted us a couple of times when the laundry tub drain was clogged and the washer discharge overflowed the tub.
I'd rather have one and not need it than not have one and need it, especially if was close to a wood or carpeted floor.

We asked to have one installed in our new house. (We haven't moved in yet)!
We had one that the builder put in our last home, and we only had the washer overflow a couple of times, and so glad we had one.
Our present builder did not see the necessity to put one in and reluctantly installed one as we included that in our contract.
The concern I have is that he did not connect it to the sewer pipes, his explanation being that it will just drain away from the house via the 10 foot pvc pipe should flooding occur! Strange right?

can you elaborate on that pipe?

Yes,'andrelaplume2' it comes out from the house approx 10ft then turns up, u shape. When I questioned our builder about this configuration he said that was all that was needed and that he'd filled the upturned portion of pipe with water (I didn't understand that part).
Does this make sense? Are you a plumber?

emilynewhome- This should work as long as the top of the opening outside is lower elevation than the opening inside (drain). simple archimedes principle. Every sink and other J/P-trap works like this although their main goal is to keep sewer gas from backing up into the house. the water in the U will prevent air transfer in or out and prolly keep critters out. I would suggest some hardware cloth or other small mesh fencing on the outside end to further distract animals, maybe even window screen to keep out wasps, yellowjackets and the like. Also may want to add some antibacterial chemical or simply flush it every once and a while to keep it from getting stinky if that becomes a problem.

Thanks a lot for the info 'memarcus', I really appreciate it! Now all I need to do is find it under all the soil the contractors have covered it with!

I dont know anything about plumbing codes but the 3 houses that I have owned all had that drain connected to the house's waste line. Seems to me that installing a safety feature like that ... and then expecting the homeowner to do regular maintenance on it to keep it clear ... I dont think the builder did you any favors by doing it that way. It couldnt have been much harder to connect it to the same drain line that the washer drains in to.

You can virtually eliminate backups caused by lint buildup in the sewer line by using a "Lint Trap". You can find them at any big box plumbing department. Cost $1.98 for two, one can last three to six months. They zip tie onto the washer discharge hose and when blocked, you cut the tie and throw away. Very inexpensive preventative maintenance care.

Dan Martyn

Um, wow. I've never heard of a "floor drain" being put in like that. I've heard of floor drains going to a drywell, but that was usually in very old construction, and really isn't a good idea in a house.

I would insist that the builder put in a proper floor drain plumbed normally, to the building sewer.