Laundry rooms are a necessary evil. Washing and drying clothes are not my favorite things, but I don’t foresee a time when I’ll have a person who does it for us (darn). We’ve lived in several homes and each has had a totally unique laundry situation and when it was time to design our new home, laundry was something we discussed with our home planner.
Many new construction homes have a mudroom-laundry area near the garage. This can make a lot of sense in some homes. But with a two-story home, Ryan and I wanted an upstairs laundry. The vast majority of laundry comes from bedrooms and bathrooms. So, the closer the laundry area is to these laundry-making areas, the better. (I spent the past 5 years of my life trudging up and down stairs with laundry baskets, and I can’t wait for the FREEDOM.)
The problem? There wasn’t a huge excess of space on the second floor. The upstairs is only about 600 square feet (give or take). And the eaves take up a large chunk of that space. (Meaning the walls aren’t all 8 foot or more.)
The solution our drafter came up with was a large laundry closet placed in the eaves outside the bedrooms. It’s actually a similar setup to our first house, and it worked well there.
But one thing about an upstairs bathroom is the potential for leaking. Well, maybe people don’t worry about that. But we worry about that. Because the last thing we need or want is a ceiling full of water in our dining room when we have a washer issue. (And at some point, we’ll probably have a washer issue.)
While Ryan was plumbing the house, he received some great advice to add a drain to the closet from a plumber. Because even though we have new front-loading machines, you just never know if/when a washer will die. And you just never know if it will die when there’s a full load of clothes with water inside.
All of this lead-in to share that we have a concrete floor and a drain in our laundry closet.
I know. That took a long time to get to the point. And you don’t care.
But I care. I care so much.
And it’s something I didn’t see much of when I was searching for inspiration. The only thing I could find are the fugly plastic trays to put under your washer. I’m intimately familiar with these trays and have earned the opportunity to call them fugly, because we had a tray in our first house and it was terribly unattractive.
So, concrete was a better looking option. And it’s all about being good looking, am I right?
We really only needed the concrete and drain under the washer, but I thought that would look strange to only have concrete in half of the closet. So Ryan built a frame around the whole closet and then added the concrete. The board on the front will stay there, so he’ll just trim it out when we trim all the walls.
My mother-in-law painted the closet to cover the concrete on the walls, and it’s looking great. And the peace of mind we have with an upstairs laundry is the best part.
Now, we just need some trim and doors (coming this week), and we’ll be ready to go.
We have one of these concrete tubs in our 2nd floor laundry; however, the house was built 25 years ago. We are looking to replace our washer and dryer and nothing fits in this tub size accept compact models that would be a significant downgrade (in terms of capacity) from the 20 year old washer and dryer we have now.
I’m curious if you know what it would take to extend the tub out about 7 inches to accommodate a larger size washer and dryer.
Yikes – that’s a bummer. Is there space to pour more concrete? I would imagine you could extend it, but it would depend on space and the ability to tear out the “lip,” which seems like a pretty big job.
Hey Kim, Looks good, what do you do when you want to hang laundry outside to dry? Or is that not something you do? Thanks!
I worked for a plumbing company for many years and never recommended a washer pan, but instead a floor drain. Reason being, if the washer itself leaks, it’ll get in the pan. But, if your washer hoses leak/blow off, the pan won’t help anything. Also, the pan isn’t going to hold much water/drain very fast. Good going with your floor drain!
Thanks so much for the encouragement! I’m glad we went the right direction.
I have major floor drain envy. My first home(which we’ve kept as a rental property) had a second floor laundry with no floor drain and space so tight with a stackable unit that even a fugly plastic thing wouldn’t fit. I lived in constant fear of water damage when I lived there and have even more anxiety about it now. When considering whether to keep renting or sell the property that darn laundry closet is big black mark in the sell column.
I now live in a house with basement laundry and as much as I hated the water damage anxiety, I miss that convenience!
Another useful project completed. Woohoo!!
When we moved, a second floor laundry room was a must. I didn’t care if it was tiny, I just wanted it upstairs. Well it’s tiny – I have to be careful not to hit the washer with the door (when it wiggles forward) but I love it. It is sooooo nice to have the washer/dryer where the laundry really is.
You will love it! Good call!
I care, I care! I agree the plastic trays are ugly, although I use one every year under my xmas tree to protect the wood floors, hidden by a tree skirt of course :-). Glad to see you making so much progress, when do you see yourself moving in? Or doing the kitchen cabinets?
That’s wonderful! I have the fugly plastic tray, and you never know if it’s cracked in the back. Also, my front loader wiggles a lot, and I think it would be more stable to have it on concrete instead of hardwood. Great solution!