Second Floor Laundry - Custom Drip Pan Needs Replaced

6 years ago

We are needing to buy a new washer. We also recognize that our second story laundry area is in need of refreshing. Particularly there is a custom 30" by 70" metal pan (this came with the house) covering the alcove flooring which is just plywood. It houses both the dryer and washer. Also in the pan is a small hole (with questionable gunk inside). The hole appears to be an approximately 1 foot concrete pipe attached to the pan. The pan is deteriorating terribly with rust spots that are already eating through so it is not doing the "job" of a drip pan fully anymore.

There are so many questions I have on what to do and what is wrong/right.

We are planning on replacing a top load washer with a front load washer with a pedestal drawer this time due to the amount of trouble we had with the top loader. Is there any drawbacks to a front load washer on the second floor as I saw mixed reviews on that?

Should we just rip out this old pan and replace it with vinyl flooring and a smaller 30x30 washer only drip pan? We were told by the manufacturer drip pans are not recommended for front load washers as I was actually more concerned about the pedestal drawer and they dropped this on me? Do we "need" that concrete tube? How do we know if this is a compliance requirement? Was that drip pan creating extra stability/reinforcement we should consider? Is there any overall advice?

I'm attaching a picture for reference.

Thank you so much in advance.

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Comments (3)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
6 years ago
I have no idea why a front load would be a problem on a 2nd floor. As for the pan those are ordered to fit wht you need . The pan should have a drain to connect tothe rest of the drainage incase of floodso yes probaly that is what the concrete tube is . Since you are redoing anyway why not a get aplumber to make sure this is done right.
ci_lantro
6 years ago
Also in the pan is a small hole (with questionable gunk inside). The hole appears to be an approximately 1 foot concrete pipe attached to the pan. The pan is deteriorating terribly with rust spots that are already eating through so it is not doing the "job" of a drip pan fully anymore.

Sounds like you have a drain pan, not a drip pan.

Decide if you want to retain a floor drain (I would, esp. for a second story install), replace with a drip pan or do without altogether.
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Original Author
5 years ago
@Patricia Colwell Consulting @ci_lantro

If you ever wanted to know what happened with this project, I kind of forgot to update. I'm not sure hiring a professional was right for this job as you would have needed a plumber or handyman skilled with second floor laundry who have seen this setup before or they would have been guessing just like us

We were fortunate to carefully fix it up ourselves. We cut through the metal around the "drain" to preserve it (glad we did!) and removed the rest of the decaying pan. We worked with what was there to find an inspection panel and a drain. Unfortunately the drain was really clogged and we spent a good amount of time working on and cleaning the drain to get it working. Whoever installed it (or clogged it) previously was not confident in it as we found an old shirt tied around the pipe. We got a smaller pan from Killarney Metals that did the job we needed even if just for the washer (sturdy and smaller in front for a pull out drawer). We had to custom make (including metal shaving) our own flange and inner pipe to original pipe setup. We also re-did the walls and floor. We also caulked around the trim for extra protection.

In case anyone ever finds this later and maybe needs the outcome.