Do you have enough room in the garage to wall off your laundry area, but still keep it located in the garage? What if you bought a stacked washer/dryer set? I understand that the garage is a very dirty place to try to clean your clothes--I grew up in a home with that set-up and it would drive me crazy too. The first thing I would suggest is to truly consider whether there is a way to improve your current garage/laundry space (wall it off, new shelving or cabinets, counter built over the washer/dryer, etc.) before considering making such major, expensive, plumbing, space-eating changes indoors.

And I will add, when the "bellows" drain hose on my 2 year old FL washer gave out, and dumped a few gallons through the ceiling to the bathroom below--I was really wishing it had been out in the garage :)

Its nice to have the laundry near the bedrooms where dirty clothes are usually removed. Is there room for a stacking system up there? Could you expand an upstairs linen closet or take some space from a bedroom that adjoins a bath where there is already some plumbing to work with?

Hi there, unfortunately there isn't room to do much in the garage. Upstairs, would be a very costly remodel that I'd rather avoid if possible. The secondary bedrooms are 10x10. The bathroom/linen closet won't even accommodate a stacked set. I could either do an addition (bump out) or borrow from the master that is oversized, but both options would be really costly. To me the space at the end of the room is essentially used as a mudroom, so just think a wall wouldn't be so terrible. Am I off here? It seems like the most affordable way to bring in it, but I'm not a designer so maybe I don't realize how bad it would look.

In your case I'd leave well enough alone. Just pretty the existing area up a bit, customize it, make it your laundry space. Add a wall art and a vibrant rug in front of the machines. Make it an attractive area a little s pace that has character and puts a smile on your face. But of course this is JMO.

Ok, good info. I am not a designer either but hopefully some pros will chime in. Some practical considerations. A drain will need to be installed (floors torn up). Flooring may need to be reinforced (to prevent rocking of washer). The laundry room noise will be right next to your family room/TV room (and it will be loud even with reinforced flooring). Also you will be giving up/losing some nice looking storage (only you know how valuable that storage actually is). And you will have to open/close two doors every time you want to go out to the garage, or come in carrying groceries.

Thanks Chocolatesnap, I didn't think about the noise factor. That's something to consider. Another option is to keep everything the same except make the existing bathroom there a mini-laundry room. So the layout would stay. Regardless, I was planning on trying to retain the storage. I was thinking the wall would be just in front. And yes, the double door would be a bit odd....didn't think about that either. Thanks for the comments!

Mamapinky-- So you wouldn't try to bring it in at all? Leave it in the garage? Can you say more? Do you think adding a wall would make my family room too small?

I completely missed that the 1/2 bath could be a part of this. Though you would still need to install a washer drain, and reinforced flooring per most building codes. (Also remove toilet, patch floor, add laundry fill plumbing--switch out sink for utility sink? etc.) Bathrooms under the stairs are tight! in most cases. Do some measuring, check required code clearances. Then the first person you may want to talk with is a plumber--as I'm guessing his estimate for moving a laundry into a bathroom, and moving a bathroom under the stairs, will be mind-boggling. My imagination on that quote alone leaves me voting for keeping the laundry where it is at.

And if mamapinky says you can get clean clothes out of a garage laundry, then believe me, you can :)

Google: laundry room in garage, for lots of fun/pretty/organized ideas

Thanks choclatesnap :) that's a good idea to start with the plumber for an estimate. If the estimate comes out just as high as bumping out the upstairs with a small addition, then I might keep doing laundry in the garage. I'll just add a shed to the backyard to clear out the garage and try to make it more pleasant in there to to do the laundry. Thanks again!!

Is your laundry actually in your garage or in a room that requires you leave the house and walk through the garage to get to a laundry room at the back of the garage? If it is the latter, walling off a 4' wide hallway the full width of the end of the garage could solve your problem.

If that means your car doesn't fit into your garage, consider adding 4' -- or even 8' -- to the front of your garage. Yes, that would mean moving the garage door.

If having the garage door moved to the new exterior wall is beyond your budget, you could always just add the extra footage and leaving the door open, using the garage as a carport for now.

You may want to add the 8' hallway at the end if you need secure storage, walling off just what you need as a hallway to get to your laundry room and using the other half of the walled off space at the end for a closet/utility room (open to your garage) so you could put yard tools, etc., in that closet/utility room.

Then move the garage door later when your budget permits.

Suezbell-- My laundry machines are side by side immediately to the left as soon as you exit from the family room into the garage (within the garage.) We rarely park in the garage because of the configuration. When parked the car really crowds the area, so doing laundry is pretty unpleasant if you actually use the garage as a garage. Extending the garage isn't something I considered, but I could if it makes sense.

I'm going outside to see if that's an option. We have a pretty short driveway and need to make sure a car can still fit in the driveway if we extended it (if we have visitors, I wouldn't want their car in the street.) We live on a postage stamp here in CA :)

Update-- We could extend the garage by 4 feet. Would that cost less than pumping out an upstair room by 4 feet to bring the laundry upstairs?

Starting with plumber is good plan. One idea might be to bring just your dryer into that area where the desk built-in is. That would put dry clean clothes inside, eliminate plumbing costs if your dryer is electric. Noise from dryer would be limited. You could put barn door at location into family room. I think it could slide to right side as you face back door. (The fam rm side of powder bath). Measure that space on right and see if you could fit dryer in that area.

Thanks Suezbell-- That seems like a great solution that I didn't think of!!

Here is concept. You would need to add wall on right side. You could add storage above dryer and some storage on new wall.

The dryer definitely could fit if we demo'ed the desk. I was thinking that a barn door could work nicely across thanks for the concept image, very helpful. So you don't think blocking that area would look bad? I just looked up the cost of extending the garage and best I can tell it would be very pricey. I really wish I would have just put the laundry in when I wanted to. Instead I left it open with the lockers. The locker storage is awesome for the kids, but I think if I just would have bit the bullet and enclosed the whole space to do as a laundry I would be much happier.

All choices you have to make. I think blocking that area off would enhance your family room. It would also give you wall for maybe a bench/drop zone.

I like a lot of the ideas people are sharing, but mostly I just want to say that I feel your pain. I've lived in California for twenty years and doing laundry in the garage is a real pain.

Why don’t you string up a white sheet across the space- clothesline and two eyebolts (?). Live with that for several days to get the visual of the space closed off. Adding the walls would be my first choice since my husband would hate the noise of laundry while we were trying to watch tv or listen to music with the washer and dryer doing their thing. I would do a little sound insulation in the two new walls and a solid door (not a cheap hollow core). I don’t think you would need a second door between your family room and the garage.

A laundry room isn't a space you would be doing any entertaining in, but a family room is a different matter. Can you lose the space without it impacting space you are accustomed to having. Will it make the room feel too closed up. This is where Remodeling's suggestion of stringing up a sheet for a few days will be helpful in giving you the feel of the lost space.

What about your kitchen...could you put a under the counter compact sized washer and dryer in there?

I love the idea of putting the sheet up and living with it!! Great idea! I will do that. Thanks so very much. I am going to do that. I think it will be an enhancement but only living with it will be the test. You guys are the best!

Having once lived in a California historic home with laundry in the detached garage I totally get the need to bring it inside. I think giving up the area by your family room for a laundry room is a great plan.

Thanks Diane, having it in the garage is a total drag :) Glad you think its a good idea!

To me that nook at the back of the family room is visually busy and adds nothing to the family room. Walling it off to be a laundry will be fairly straightforward (presuming ready access to plumbing of course). Insulate the new wall with roxul insulation to reduce noise and you should have no problems. The room can still have some storage along with the machines. Maybe you can put shallow shelving (12”) in the garage where the machines had been to replace some of the storage lost In the house.

Hallett & Co-- Thanks I agree with you. Its good to hear that the pros don't think I'd be losing anything by walling it off. Ideally, I'd like to enclose the lockers in the back. I think I'd start with the plumber and then go from there to start asking some pricing questions.

mamapinky-- I did consider the kitchen option. Since our kitchen is quite large. I've also consider putting it in the master bedroom that has lots of space. We could keep it in the garage and in the master as a secondary w/d...

I hope you do insulate well. You will be surprised at how much noise you are going to have. Even water fill noise will be more than in garage not to mention spinning, bumping and banging around and especially the drain pump. Most of those now days are loud, not to mention jeans and buckles in the dryer. They (w&d) may not seem loud in the open space garage. When you put them in a closed in small space with the sound bouncing off every wall not to mention risk of leaks plus how easy is it to vent the dryer? Lint in the house plus some heat. Just some things I wondered if you have considered.

Remember, if you just put dryer in house they don’t make nearly as much noise. You can use sound deadening sheetrock on new wall to further block noise. Without measurements i can’t tell what would fit in that area.

Thanks all. I'll get a better idea about the space/measurements and noise considerations. The leak potential is also something to factor in. Thanks for helping make my decision making far more informed! I'm not sure where we'll land with it. So much of this depends on how long we'll stay in the house. Which is a catch 22 since I don't know how long we'll stay in the house with a cramped garage, tiny upstairs bedrooms and garage laundry. Part of me wants to remodel, so that we can stay put for many years in a location I love and another part of me just think it would be much easier to buy a home in this same neighborhood with a 3 car garage which would make this a non-issue. Moneywise it is probably cheaper to remodel then to upgrade home size + move, but our plot is so small remodel options are really limited.

Tough decision for sure. Remodels while you are living in the home are really tough on everyone. Wishing you the best.

Adding a washer/dryer to the nook and moving a half bathroom is probably going to be much more expensive than you think. Get some general contractor quotes. Extending the garage is probably cheaper (but still pricey).

Our previous house had washer/dryer in the kitchen which drove me nuts. We looked into tons of ways to add on or relocate a tiny laundry room in simple material finishes with preexisting appliances. The cheapest quote was maybe $30k.

I live in an area where price per square foot is rather low. My daughter lives in California tho... If I were lucky enough to live there, I wouldn't want give over ANY living space to a washer and dryer if I didn't have to. It doesn't make financial sense to my weird little brain.

So I would add to the garage and make it a nice place to visit :)

Sarah-- Thanks I'm definitely going to ask a contractor for quotes. I started looking up extending the garage and found some thread saying this would be very expensive too. We worked with a great contract for a remodel a couple years ago and will reach out to him.

pennydesign-- So interesting the different perspectives. In CA the land value is so high, I was thinking better to use the inside space than onto our land that is already so small!! :) I have to check out the codes about how close I can go out to the street but I'm guessing I can go out by 4 feet.

Edited-- I looked at the zoning and I need to be 25ft back from the street which I think i can do, the harder part is to know what % of the lot our house takes up. We have one of the smallest lots so, I don't know if we're already at the max or not.

Can you leave them where they are but flip them around to face the house and their back to the garage? You'd cut an opening in that wall with doors and then add a wall behind them making a laundry closet. This brings them inside but doesn't move any drains/vents and you also don't lose square footage.

Totally not in CA but if it helps we relocated our laundry upstairs. We moved a wall (including the door) for our guest bedroom inward a few feet, sacrificing half of what was already a huge closet, which gave us space for a laundry closet with stackables right outside in the hallway. Running the plumbing wasn't too terribly hard as the guest bathroom was nearby. Venting was even easier as it went out the roof. The hardest part was moving the stackables up the stairs. Love having laundry on the bedroom levels.

I mention this because you said you have a big master bedroom. Depending on your upstairs configuration maybe this is an option.

We don't notice the noise much, but we also try not to do laundry at night. Our routine is to toss the laundry in the wash in the morning, put it in the dryer at dinner time, fold it and put it away before bed.

Depending on your upstairs configuration this could be about as easy/cost the same as framing out that storage wall area and putting a laundry in there. Although I do think that would work pretty well in your space. Just suggesting you explore this option if you have the space to spare in your master, and your upstairs config is conducive to something like this.

Then again I've lived with stackables "laundry closet" for over 15 years and have learned to prefer it to side-by-sides, as it forces you to put your laundry away and not have mount washmore piles. In fact, I used to have a laundry closet with side-by sides inside a powder room-- HATED that. It was the worst. Because laundry piles, in bathroom....

The more space you give up to laundry, the more likely you wind up lazy with piles. Or so it seems, if you are me...

Hi Jennifer M- we could absolutely give up room from our master. Our house was built in the 1989 where the “master retreat” was in full swing. Mind you this is at the cost of 10x10 being the 3 other bedrooms. I really do not spend any time “retreating” in there.

Layout wise, I can’t figure out how we’d carve the space out, but this might be were a designer could help us with the vision. Or would a contractor be best to start?

Mrykbee—- interesting idea! I will add this to my list of possibilities. So far, this seems like it is going to be a far bigger project than I was hoping for...

Or you could keep the laundry in the garage but make the entire environment an upgrade so it is organized, super clean, and reflects your personality. There are some awesome garages with laundry areas inside. It would be much less expensive and might satisfy the desire to move the laundry set up.

I'm going to say you need a contractor for this one. We did have the assistance of an interior designer (whole condo renovation, 2400 sf) but this one design idea actually came from a friend of ours, not the designers. She noticed we had the space in the guest bedroom if only we'd move the wall & door in and cut the guest closet in half. The designers agreed and then the GC validated it was all very feasible, extending the plumbing, venting the dryer, etc. Obviously the wall we moved wasn't load bearing either.

The other idea was just to put it in the huge closet in the guest bedroom without moving walls... but we decided it was better in the hallway, since we do sometimes have guests.

A contractor can probably also give you a quote for "either/or" options. And figure out which makes the most economical sense.

Only saying here that you shouldn't necessarily assume it'd be cheaper carving the space out of your living room, rather than carving it out somewhere upstairs.

I definitely don't think re-positioning your powder room to under the stairs is going to be cheap OR practical. Then again if there's plumbing nearby this may also be an option for a laundry closet with stackables. (Our laundry was originally under the stairs before we moved it upstairs... we put a walk-in pantry in there instead).

Forgive me if it’s already been mentioned, but, since you were considering relocating the 1/2 bath to under the stairs, couldn’t that be where you put the washer and dryer?

Edit: Oops...looks like Jennifer M beat me to it!

Jennifer & Sammy-- Yes, I definitely considered that as an option, but thought that ventilation for the dryer would be tough. I guess what I'm gathering here from everyone is that I need to a contractor to come to my house and try and tell me where in the world I can bring my laundry in & how much that would cost as opposed to doing something to upgrade my garage laundry experience. Thanks for all the comments!!

Any chance you have a floor plan of the downstairs you could post? That would be really helpful to see. I feel your pain.

I dont see putting laundry in the family room. With a compact washer and ventless dryer it can be installed under a counter, or stacked, in a very small space. Forget a vented dryer. Think about water intake and a drain.

I have a ventless dryer and it works just fine.

Mizlizzie- sorry I don’t have a real to scale floor plan. If to-scale isn’t needed I could sketch one out with some estimated distances on it. Off to work now, so I won’t be back until this evening.

Best to make a scaled drawing so you have accurate info to plan. Use graph paper for quick and easy solution. Accurate measurements are extremely important. Measure all openings too. If you don't have the time or energy or desire to do this, consider hiring someone that will do it for you and charge a fee. It is that important to have accurate info before you embark on an expensive reno.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+make+a+scaled+drawing&oq=how+to+make+a+scaled+&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.7635j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1