Ideally, yes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been a homeowner for 25 years and think I have never used my laundry room utility sink (except that our washer drains into it so I could not get rid of it). I never paint (and whwn my kids were little, we’d just wash paintbrushes in a bathroom or kitchen sink rather than traipse down to the laundry room). When we have muddy sneakers, we leave them on front porch and then bang off the dirt when dry. It never crossed my mind to hose them down in a sink (don’t they take a long time to dry?). No idea why we have no use for ours while others seem to use theirs a lot but my guess is that no one needs one, but many people take good advantage of having one (just not me, haha).

You never wash your sneakers?

In a washing machine? No. Good lord. It just degrades the glue and makes them fall apart faster.

Degrades the glue? Only heat would do that, and I air dry mine. Can’t imagine how stinky my teens sneaks would be if I never washed them.

I have 2 teen boys, both play lots of sports including basketball, and I never wash their sneakers. They use those odor balls or spray if they start to stink but like the PP they usually just leave on front porch if they are sweaty or muddy and when they bring them in they are fine.

We have our laundry room on the 2nd floor near the bedrooms. It is right next to the hallway bathroom. If I need hand washables or need to soak something, I can wash and soak in the hall bathroom sinks.

We have a utility sink in the basement, 2 floors down. That's where we take paint brushes, muddy things, etc. I am perfectly fine having the laundry and utility sinks in two different places and have no problem.

If I were OP, I would take out the sink, put in a mud bench coat hooks etc on that side. Then find a place in the garage or basement to put a utility sink in. Someplace out of the way. The utility sink is useful, but doesn't need to be in a high traffic area.

my laundry machines are under-counter front-loads, and i put a deep stainless sink in a cabinet, and got a steel cover for the sink so that in the normal course of things I have a ton of counter space in the laundry, and on the occasions when I need a sink it is right there. sink is primarily used for filling and emptying the mop bucket, though the other week my husband started a three-hour load of towels when I had been about to put in my 40-minute load. the sink held the wet towels for the 40 minutes my load was going, and then i re-started the towels load. i'd probably be fine without the sink, but it's nice to have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been a homeowner for 25 years and think I have never used my laundry room utility sink (except that our washer drains into it so I could not get rid of it). I never paint (and whwn my kids were little, we’d just wash paintbrushes in a bathroom or kitchen sink rather than traipse down to the laundry room). When we have muddy sneakers, we leave them on front porch and then bang off the dirt when dry. It never crossed my mind to hose them down in a sink (don’t they take a long time to dry?). No idea why we have no use for ours while others seem to use theirs a lot but my guess is that no one needs one, but many people take good advantage of having one (just not me, haha).

You never wash your sneakers?

In a washing machine? No. Good lord. It just degrades the glue and makes them fall apart faster.

Degrades the glue? Only heat would do that, and I air dry mine. Can’t imagine how stinky my teens sneaks would be if I never washed them.

NP Washing most well made Sneakers in washer is fine, especially if you gave front load with no agitator. Drying may melt any glue, but I dry on low or air dry setting.

They look good as new - esp my tween’s vans and converse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been a homeowner for 25 years and think I have never used my laundry room utility sink (except that our washer drains into it so I could not get rid of it). I never paint (and whwn my kids were little, we’d just wash paintbrushes in a bathroom or kitchen sink rather than traipse down to the laundry room). When we have muddy sneakers, we leave them on front porch and then bang off the dirt when dry. It never crossed my mind to hose them down in a sink (don’t they take a long time to dry?). No idea why we have no use for ours while others seem to use theirs a lot but my guess is that no one needs one, but many people take good advantage of having one (just not me, haha).

You never wash your sneakers?

In a washing machine? No. Good lord. It just degrades the glue and makes them fall apart faster.

Yes. I use mine all the time in my upstairs laundry room and used it even more in my last laundry room that was downstairs

Anonymous wrote:No but I love having a sink in the garage.

Your garage must be way better insulated than most. That would be a freezing risk when the temps drop into the teens or below.

We have a sink in our basement workshop that's for the truly nasty stuff like paint thinner, solvents and dog poop on shoes. That's a crappy plastic utility sink. I still use my laundry room sink a lot!

If you don't have room some washers have one built in

Anonymous wrote:I have been a homeowner for 25 years and think I have never used my laundry room utility sink (except that our washer drains into it so I could not get rid of it). I never paint (and whwn my kids were little, we’d just wash paintbrushes in a bathroom or kitchen sink rather than traipse down to the laundry room). When we have muddy sneakers, we leave them on front porch and then bang off the dirt when dry. It never crossed my mind to hose them down in a sink (don’t they take a long time to dry?). No idea why we have no use for ours while others seem to use theirs a lot but my guess is that no one needs one, but many people take good advantage of having one (just not me, haha).

You never wash your sneakers?

We put in a beautiful copper sink in my laundry and have used it twice in a year maybe. Waste of money imo.

Anonymous wrote:I would replace it with a utility sink and build your mud room around it. A utility sink is great to have. Rinsing muddy shoes, soaking dirty stuff, etc etc etc.

+1. I have a similar setup to OP where the mudroom entry from the garage is also our laundry (in general, do not love that and am planning an upstairs laundry). I love having a utility sink there, not for laundry but for washing paint brushes, watering plants, leaving wet towels we used to clean up a spill, etc.

Also, covid made me glad I had a place to immediately wash hands when I came in the door.

Having a dedicated sink to do the really dirty work is nice to have. We also wash our dog in the utility sink.