If you have a basement, why wouldn't you have the laundry there? Just makes sense.

Don't do it, assuming you have a 2 level house. My first house had it in basement, current house is on main floor. I will never buy a house with laundry in basement again.

My laundry is in the basement. I told the plumber I want the washer on the main level, even if it meant it had to sit in the middle of the living room. He extended a pipe up from the basement so it can go in the kitchen.

Our starter home had the laundry room in the basement, and our current home has it upstairs in the hallway where the bedrooms are. The previous owners moved it from the basement upstairs by converting one of the two linen closets.

I will never buy a house with the laundry room in the basement again.

Even when we’ve casually looked at other homes, I dislike the laundry room on the main floor since it’s usually by the kitchen and the noise presumably carries into the living space. I’ve only seen one home where the laundry room was smartly positioned closer to the mudroom and garage and there was a long hallway separating it from the kitchen, living room, etc.—but that was a massive house with 4 entry points on the first floor.

I think the op should keep the kitchen on the main floor or move it upstairs. Basements are for kids and bugs.

Anonymous wrote:Best thing we ever did is have laundry in BOTH the basement and upstairs (in the primary bedroom closet). Basement is for the constant stream of sports stuff, dog stuff etc. We enter through our basement so my kids can just drop things into the washer and when it gets full, we run it.

The upstairs is for regular clothes, towels, sheets etc. I appreciate this set up EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Nice!
We moved our laundry upstairs but if I could have done that and also kept the main floor mudroom laundry, I would have - for dog stuff, washable shoes, and the grosser outdoor clothes.

Anonymous wrote:Terrible idea. Inconvenient, and dangerous - carrying baskets of laundry up and down stairs is an accident waiting to happen.

+1000

No one wants this anymore if they can help it OP. If you have the option to move the laundry to the top floor where the bedrooms are, that is ideal.

Terrible idea. Inconvenient, and dangerous - carrying baskets of laundry up and down stairs is an accident waiting to happen.

Best thing we ever did is have laundry in BOTH the basement and upstairs (in the primary bedroom closet). Basement is for the constant stream of sports stuff, dog stuff etc. We enter through our basement so my kids can just drop things into the washer and when it gets full, we run it.

The upstairs is for regular clothes, towels, sheets etc. I appreciate this set up EVERY SINGLE DAY!

We put in an upstairs laundry room. It is awesome. I have non-food related domestic projects going on up there too so it really works to reduce clutter in the house. We took steps to mitigate any future water problems. I will never go back. Goodbye laundry baskets!

Old house with laundry in the basement and it sucks. Two flights of stairs down (and then up) lugging clothes is not fun.

I have it 2 floors down from the bedrooms and even with a laundry chute- it's a pain in the neck!! having it on the same floor as the closets/bedrooms is awesome!

Anonymous wrote:Yes it is a really bad idea to move laundry from a first or second floor to the basement - most people with older homes are doing the reverse. Agree that it is odd to not want a laundry on 2nd floor with bedrooms due to leaks. Leaks are a rare event, not a common one, and the benefit of laundry near the clothing is a huge benefit

It’s uncommon but inevitable. So if you’re retrofitting, don’t put a tray under second floor laundry and call it good enough. It’s not. It needs a drain. But if you’re building or can put in a drain, sure! Great.

It’s great to have laundry upstairs if there is enough space and it is done well, but we all have to make choices in small houses. So if someone made a big kitchen sacrifice to put laundry upstairs and now you’re making a laundry sacrifice to expand the kitchen, that might make sense and it’s just priorities.

Yes it is a really bad idea to move laundry from a first or second floor to the basement - most people with older homes are doing the reverse. Agree that it is odd to not want a laundry on 2nd floor with bedrooms due to leaks. Leaks are a rare event, not a common one, and the benefit of laundry near the clothing is a huge benefit

Anonymous wrote:We have w/d in our semi-finished basement. I hate it, but that's mostly because our basement is kinda gross. But I also feel like it's dangerous from a fall perspective to have to carry the laundry up and down the stairs.

Adding a big rug or the foam gym-style flooring from Home Depot really improved my semi-finished basement. Use small laundry baskets.