Laundry Room Thought

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for opinions on this. We're are renovating our house. It's a suburban SFH colonial, currently 4bd/2.5ba. All bedrooms are on the upper level. However, one bedroom is small, 10x10. As part of the renovation, we are finishing the basement. A bedroom and full bath will in the basement. The basement is not a walk out. The laundry room is in the basement currently.

What if I moved the laundry to the upper level--to the small bedroom? Plumbing for the master bath is on the other side of the small bedroom.


How would you feel if you saw a 4bd/3.5 ba house for sale with 3 rooms up and 1 room down?

[Anonymous]

It's fine for a family with two kids, right? Our laundry room is on the upper floor...so super convenient! I don't know how I would do two loads of laundry a night if I had to schlep to the basement.

[Anonymous]

Would it be legal bedroom in the basement? If not, you'd have to list it as a 3 bedroom which could mean some people don't come to see it.

For me personally, I prefer laundry not on the bedroom level and would rather keep the small bedroom for an office or playroom. I know a lot of people really like having it with the bedrooms though.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is going to be a legal bedroom in the basement. Window egress with closet.

[Anonymous]

I would love it if I saw 3 bedrooms up with a laundy room and one bedroom in the basement. LOVE IT!

Go forth!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love it if I saw 3 bedrooms up with a laundy room and one bedroom in the basement. LOVE IT!

Go forth!

Thanks! The more I think about this idea the more I'm liking it. Of course I still have to run it by DH but I'm not sure why he gets any say so. It's not like he's going to have to run loads and loads of laundry up and down the stairs!

[Anonymous]

If you will be in the house for a while then do what works for you. Who knows what people will want in 15-20 years, anyway. And if the 4th bedroom is legal then why not?

Could you "hide" the washer/dryer and some shelving/cabinets behind doors and also use the room as a multipurpose room - crafts, desk etc. That way, you would still have a laundry room upstairs, but wouldn't necessarily lose complete use of the room.

[Anonymous]

Love it, I like having our guestroom in the basement. Gives us and them privacy when visiting. I normally don't like bedroom level laundry because it tends to be in closet off the hallway, which puts my piles in the hallway. Your setup sounds perfect, though.

[Anonymous]

If its a bright, nice basement room, and not a dungeony-feeling room, then it would be good. Guest room or office could be more convenient in the basement.

But a 10x10 laundry room sounds pretty big for a house your size. What else can you do with that's pace along with laundry? Extra closets or wall storage?

[Anonymous]

I liked the PPs idea of cabinets. Could make it an office that way.

[Anonymous]

Personally I don't want the noise of a washer/drier on the level with the main bedrooms. Also if you do have a flood from the washing machine MUCH more damage as it goes thru the walls and floors than if its in the basement. We upgraded our laundry room in the basement and its such a nice space with so many useful features that combined with family room and play area in the renovated basement means we are much happier have on the bottom floor. Also we hang dry a lot of clothes and can set up that up in the laundry room, even shut the door so you aren't staring at it. My friends that have the washer/dryer in their tv room say they can't use the machines when they want to watch tv, or if someone is sleeping in that room, plus they don't have a convinient location to hang dry clothes.

[Anonymous]

We have a 3 up 1 down and its great. Laundry's in the basement tho. I like when we have guests they can have the privacy of the bottom floor all to themselves while we can all be upstairs. We couldn't move the laundry upstairs and since its off away from the basement bedroom we can still use it when guests are there. Plus since we often have longer stay visitors (out of state grandparents) they love having such easy access to the laundry room so they can do their laundry while visiting. I'm not sure my first choice would be to convert a smaller bedroom to a laundry - if I were looking at the house I'd want to see something that left options open - like an office. We only have 1 set of stairs so going up and down for the laundry isn't a big deal - I also like having the laundry where I can hide it away if people are coming over to visit. If my house was 3 levels then I would like have laundry on the middle floor.

[Anonymous]

Hm. We have 3 bedrooms up and 1 in the basement, and I don't even count the basement bedroom as a bedroom. It only works for a guestroom, really - you're not going to put a kid down there. I would MUCH prefer to have a fourth bedroom upstairs than a laundry room upstairs. On top of that, dryers shake/vibrate a lot - have you thought about how that would affect your house? And there's a risk of a hose bursting and water leaking everywhere.

I don't love having our laundry in the basement, but I would much prefer a fourth bedroom up.

I'm pretty sure that on resale, you will get more for a 4 bedroom up house than a 3 bedroom up, 1 down house with upstairs laundry. If you have any doubts about this, ask a local realtor.

[Anonymous]

I know you mention that plumbing for the master bath is on the other side of the wall, but you should still get some quotes before making your decision. We moved our laundry room from one side of our basement to another and it was crazy expensive.

[Anonymous]

I'd prefer bedrooms together than apart. I'd go for 4 up. A bedroom will always be worth more than a laundry room, and I'd argue proximal bedrooms are worth more than ones on opposite parts of the home.