Upstairs Washer & Dryer

meggles

We're moving into a new house next week - and it needs major 'flow' reworking. As we're thinking of moving so much, I started thinking about washer/dryer locations. There is an ideal place upstairs to put washer/dryer (very very large hall cupboard). My parent's American house has washer/dryer upstairs as well. They have a large 'pan' under the washer in case of flooding.

To my uneducated brain - upstairs washer/dryer seems obvious, as this is where most of the washing initiates from. Am I missing something here- why don't more houses have this? Flooding?

WestonDave

There is a bit of a "flow" trade off - you are right that most of the washing originates upstairs, but you probably spend more of your time downstairs. So whilst you might save time carrying stuff downstairs to the machines and then back up again, you may spend more time going upstairs to swap loads around (especially if you have separate washer and drier). With them downstairs in (or next to) the kitchen its quite easy to swap a load around in between stirring whatever you are cooking for example - a bit harder to leave something on the cooker and wander off upstairs for 5 minutes. Similarly if you have young children - is it going to be inconvenient to drag them upstairs all the time so you can supervise them whilst sorting the washing out.

In practical terms the main obstacles are providing clean inlet water (not so bad as you can run cold only supplies under the floor pretty easily) and a waste disposal which from upstairs will mean either tapping into an existing down pipe or running another drainpipe down the wall and finding a drain outside to get into. If you are lucky enough to have a relatively easy waste outlet route then other than possible flooding its certainly worth thinking about.

meggles

Thanks for your reply. Hadn't thought of 'change-over' time. Def something to think about.

From a practical point of view - venting dryer to outside. Is that relatively easily done?

phill99

I think dave brings up soem valid points.

On the continent (where electrical regs are different) its common to have the washing machine in the bathroom. This is logical as you can put your dirty washing in the machine as it is created.

If you Iron upstairs, then it is logical to keep it upstairs.

The only restrictions would be access to a water supply and a waste pipe.

The 'Pan' (or 'Bund' as its correctyl known) would be essential.

As this is MSE, you need to remember that the cost of drying clothes in a machine is high. In the summer it would be appropriate to peg them out on a line -free drying!

ormus

a lot of it is historical. kitchen floors were solid and the washing machine at the back door made sense. machines were unreliable and could flood anytime. housewives spent all day in the kitchen too.
also there was often no water upstairs or even electric!
remember clothes lines? they were outside.

as for modern homes. machines are better but not 100% reliable. you would need a pretty big pan to catch all that water.
i dont think id like a WM upstairs.
and it aint no fun tryin to carry one upstairs!

wallbash

I had the washing machine and tumble dryer up stairs in the bathroom. Built the double extension on the back of a terrace house. So bath room was the same size as the kitchen.
WM and TD in bathroom , all wiring going thru to cupboard on upstairs landing to 'get' round elec saftey regs. Bath was the other end of room.
It worked extremely well.