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emilystramag

Moving Laundry to the Second Floor

last year

Hi, we are planning to relocate our laundry room to the second floor. It is currently located off the garage where we enter the house, and it quickly turns into a disaster area because it is extremely tight in there. Plus, most of the laundry we generate is upstairs, so it makes sense. We have space next to a bathroom and talked to a contractor about moving it there and adding access from the hallway with a barn door. My only concern is how it will change the other room which is being used as a playroom. I would like to add a closet to keep it a "bedroom," but not sure where it would go. Also, the room is at the end of a narrow, long hallway. I'm worried we are going to make it look more narrow. The laundry room dimensions would be 5'9 x 8'8. Any advice? Thanks!



Comments (18)

  • last year

    Don't use a barn door or pocket door. Use a regular door to block as much noise as possible from the washer and dryer.

    What is under this bedroom? The garage?

    emilystramag thanked chispa
  • last year

    How do you plan to vent/exhaust the dryer?

  • PRO
    last year

    We lived in a townhouse for a year which had all of the bedrooms on the 2nd floor and a 2nd floor laundry. We found it to be really convenient. One consideration is the effect of a leak in washing machine hoses or the machine itself on the 2nd floor. Our practice is to install a Watts Intelliflow valve which will shut off water flow if a leak is detected. https://www.watts.com/our-story/brands/intelliflow


    emilystramag thanked Charles Ross Homes
  • last year

    The garage is under the bedroom, and we are planning to vent it out to the overhang. Currently, it has over ten feet of venting going under the house which concerns me. I didn't think about the door for noise or leaks. I'm not sure if the contractor already took that into consideration. I am trying to figure out if it would work better upstairs because there are times I forget and change it when I am in the kitchen. However, there are plenty of times where I start it late or forget something because it is upstairs.

  • last year

    I've had laundry upstairs, downstairs, off the kitchen, in the basement, in the garage, off the family room . . . you name it and I've had it. The laundry room in the second floor hallway adjacent to all of the bedrooms was, by far, my favorite.


    I can't help you place your laundry room in your home, but hopefully one of these smart builder-types will show up and offer you a solution. Good luck with your project, Emily.

    emilystramag thanked einportlandor
  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year

    I wonder if it is cheaper to provide maid's quarters than relocate the laundry room??

  • last year

    I wish! lol

  • last year

    Laundry up is the best. Hauling laundry up and down stairs is way worse than hauling your butt up and down stairs.

    Put a reach in closet here and change the door swing.

  • last year

    I, too, have had laundry all over. Second floor was the worst for me personally. I have a fair amount of things that don’t go in the dryer or limited dryer time. I never hung out on the second floor so going up and down was a huge pain. Also, the W/D vibrates a fair amount despite getting the best units for that reason- the bed and wall next door vibrates and it’s annoying. Another limitation was that was required by my insurance company is the pan under the washer for leaks. I have front loaders there and I cannot use the drawers in the pedestals because of the pan. My laundry room is original to the house. One of the big fails, IMO.

  • last year

    A friend's house has her machines on the 2nd floor. The house was built as such, not a retrofit. I was there once when the washer was running, apparently directly above where I was sitting. The vibration and noise transmission through the floor/ceiling was surprisingly loud.

  • last year

    I too have had laundry both upstairs & down. When remodeling our previous home we had the laundry moved upstairs, due to the fact that I tripped & fell down the stairs while carrying a basket of laundry down. Upstairs was the BEST decision ever. Our contractor utilized part of a guest room closet & we had stackable full sized washer & dryer.. BTW, never heard any noise from the machines while downstairs.

  • last year

    Noise is definitely a concern. The room is used as a bonus area right now, and the other bedrooms do not share a wall with it. It is over the garage, so hopefully, no one will hear it rattle too much from below. The laundry is under the bathroom right now, and it shakes the room from the lower level. It drives me crazy. I was thinking the closet should be right inside the door or where the wall slopes. There's a small attic access there that could be concealed that my kids find creepy, lol. Or no closet? I don't know how it will alter the value of the house though.



  • PRO
    last year

    Are there other locations on the second floor that would potentially a better location for laundry?


    Do not take any design advice from anyone that suggests putting barn doors on a laundry room (although I just finished a beach cottage that has a pair of barn doors on the laundry room. I still object but sometimes I have to do what the client wants).

  • last year

    The barn door was my idea, and now explains why he looked confused when I suggested it. I didn't think about the noise just trying to avoid losing space with door swing.

  • PRO
    last year

    Door swings take up about as much space as it takes to pass through the doorway.

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    Before you move the laundry to the second floor, you need to figure out if thats the best place for it. What time of day do you do laundry?? How much time, do you spend on the second floor, once you are up in the morning. Etc. You might find that you just want it right where it already is, for convenience and less running up and down the stairway, to change the washer and the dryer. etc. I would hate to have to go upstairs, to change laundry loads. I dont know your age either, so maybe you dont mind running up and down the steps several times a day while doing laundry.

  • last year

    If bedrooms are upstairs, unless you have a laundry chute you're going up and down the same amount to haul clothes. Either your butt or a basket is going with you, but it's the same up and down regardless. I don't hang out upstairs either but going up to change a load every hour isn't the worst IMO. Carrying laundry OTOH.... Sucks.
    I really don't get the argument that having the laundry on the main level is less running up and down stairs.