"Both architect and builder agree this upstairs laundry floor should be flush with the wood floor in the hallway."

I am curious to know why the architect's drawing shows the upstairs laundry floor recessed, then the architect states the upstairs laundry floor should be flush. I would recess it.

While you are working out that issue, work out the issue of Powder Room 2's door hitting the toilet before it is able to be opened 90 degrees.

I never liked bathrooms with two separate ways to enter it. Both doors get locked, one door gets unlocked.

So it looks like the laundry was planned to have a tiled floor with a drain in case of overflow? Is that a 6'x3'? I don't see a weight issue if plywood and lightweight concrete are used to accomplish this.

Btw, look into the GE Ultrafast washer/dryer combo... there is no need for a separate dryer with this new technology.

Our laundry room was sunken down to allow the floor to slope to the drain. It's flush at the entry to the room.

Mark, when i asked why that luandry room is 4” step down, my architect said his intention was to make it flush. he said he always drew that way and leave enough room for builder to put in a shower pan; but its always the builder to ask the home owner what is the desired final elevation of the floor. Thats how it works for every wet room and shower.

powder door is changed to swing outside.

at this point, i focus on a solution.

Paul, the room is 4’ x 6’.

i wish mine is flush at the entry.

I've seen bedrooms where you have to go through the bathroom to get to the closet, but this is the first one I've seen where you go through the bathroom to get to the bedroom.

I hope you get your floor situation resolved to your satisfaction.

" it will be two layers of tile floor with subflooring wood between. "

I see what appears to be concrete, why would he put in new tile floor then install another layer of plywood and then another layer of tile? Something is missing here in translation. Is there going to be the drain that the architect drew? Will this be treated as a wet room? Is this new construction? Is this on a slab? What is the floor / ceiling joists for the first floor ceiling? Why is this only coming up now I would want to know?

I would leave it alone. The plan clearly shows this was the deal. If there was a serious leak it wouldn't run out of the room.

The laundry room isn't large enough to be "walk in," so the elevation of the floor isn't all that important. I'd leave it as is, pull the washer and dryer forward in the room, and elevate their feet if needed to achieve a comfortable working height for both appliances. The floor drain is a nice feature. Make sure there is a pipe termination that keeps critters out.

Edit.

This small laundry room is upstairs.

There is no walking through bathroom to get to bedroom. This is a hallway laundry. there is no concrete, that's finished tile floor.

Both architect and builder agreed this room should be flush with the wood floor; it was a mistake. They blamed on each other and won't pay, so I have to pay for it in order to progress the construction. I am considering three options. 1 remove the tile, add subflooring then tile (preferred by me). 2. add subflooring on top of tile and then tile again (preferred by builder). 3. leave it as recessed, put in washer and dryer combo as Paul F. suggested or small size washer and dryer to make it a walk-in laundry (not sure if this is possible,).

The problem to leave it recessed is the room is 4 feet deep, that would leave about 15 inches between the front of washer and the front edge of the room. I am concerned that's too small for me to stand there to load and offload clothes and it's too far reach if I stand on wood floor area. If I pull washer forward to the front, then I won't be able to use the shelves on the wall and there will be about 20" gap behind.

The question is between option 1 and 2, which one is better at this stage.

Thank you all

Would install wood sleepers of a sufficient depth to bring the new floor up to the level of the existing floor.

Keeping the drain feature with a pan is a good idea. Our current house has a dropped slab in the laundry and we framed level with the floor under the washer and dryer leaving a small gap for drainage. Since the water heater is in the same recess we stopped our buildup short of it. Our solution while unconventional will stop water damage to the house in case of a pipe burst or leak.

Unfortunately my builder said no pan. He said he never installed pan in laundry room before and never had a leak and never needed one

Force the issue by finishing the laundry closet as the construction drawings show. If nobody steps up to the plate to do it correctly, shame on them. If you do not like the way it turned out, have someone else fix it.

The dryer vent already looks like you’ll need a magician so make sure it can be properly connected.

I asked to put a pan/ membrane in according to the drawing. My builder’s response is below.

“the normal way for laundry when desired is to put a drain pan above the finished floor underneath the washer and connect the drain pan to the floor drain. “

The floor is already recessed. How does he propose to accomplish that?

This is what he proposed to put in after raising the floor. He doesn’t want to put in mudset because he said that would require tearing out Sheetrock. I don’t understand mudset process well.

I'd do what the builder suggests. The current tile isn't going anywhere. The pan he suggests will work if plumbed correctly to the drain. It can't just be a hose, as eventually the trap will dry out and you'll get sewer gas in the house. You'll have to put some water in the drain occasionally.

At this point, it may be best to finish off the recess in the floor and install the pan in the recess. As long as the washer and dryer are located very close in plan to the higher floor level it should not be a problem other than the openings of a front load washer and dryer will be low.

If the builder wants to do something different from what the construction drawings show, they have to make amends.