Relocating a washing machine upstairs?

[JBJ]

I'm seriously considering converting my box room upstairs into a laundry room - main reason being that I have a bad back and cannot get up and downstairs without the use of a handrail which obviously makes carrying washing up and down quite difficult, meaning my 10yo ends up dragging it up and down for me. I generally tumble dry or use an airer anyway, so not worried about not being able to get it outside to dry (issue with birds around here, and every time I line dry, it gets shit on!!).

I've thought about noise/leaks/weight of machine etc and not too concerned as my last house was "upside down" with living area upstairs and bedrooms on ground floor, so well aware of the noise element, and have been looking at the anti leak trays you can put washers in and rubber matting for noise reduction. Only putting all this as I posed the same question on a diy group on fb and got a load of abuse about it being a ridiculous idea and how the washing machine is too heavy to be upstairs (I weigh more than the machine lol and I'm fairly confident that a bath full of water with me in it is far heavier and a bigger leaking hazard than a washing machine is!).

My question is more about the plumbing aspect - machine will be directly above where it is now as box room is over the kitchen, so just literally need everything moving 8ft up. Is this likely to be a hideously expensive job? Bathroom is upstairs but opposite side of the house from the box room, so would water supply need to be fed from there? Presumably the drain would just need to be fed through the wall and linked into existing one below.

Any ideas on cost? Just roughly :)

My laundry room is upstairs and it's fab!

Sorry no idea on cost, but I just wanted to say i this is a great idea. I'd think of doing the same if we lived in a house as it keeps all the clothes upstairs, it makes perfect sense. How daft that you got such a negative response on fb - why can't some people think outside the box rather than being identikt?

If a house is converted into two flats, which many are, both flats would automatically have washing machines installed, so the first objection is silly. (Though watch the weight. I had AOL refuse to take a Bosch washer dryer up to a second floor flat without a lift, despite the fact they knew what it weighed when I ordered. They threatened to leave it in the communal hallway. The alternative supplier charged more but did a recce first and though I could have had the Bosch, I went for a lighter alternative.)

The bigger problem is plumbing. I assume if the cold water is at mains pressure there will not be a problem taking it upstairs. But more complicated if you have a cold tank.

My DBs family has this. Works perfectly.

Ours is upstairs in a bathroom, no problems so far (4 years). Have a new machine & the delivery men happily carried it up 31 steps.

When I lived in London (nanny) most of the houses had the tumble dryer and washing machine upstairs in the bathroom

Our kitchen is on the second floor and has space for a washer. We have ours downstairs in the garage and a dishwasher in that space but lots of the houses around here have second floor washers. I'm not sure about the cost but the noise is not really any different from having a dishwasher. My Dishwasher in fact is noisier than my washer!

Yeah no problem and incresingly more common.

I woudl defo get an anti leak tray and the anti vibration rubber matting,

The chat about leaks and weight is silly - we all have bathrooms upstairs with lots of water and a full bath is super heavy! As is a full wardrobe!

Good point from PP about if you have mains or tank cold water - but depending where the box room is it prob isn't a huge job to take a mains feed up.

I genuinely have no idea about mains water/cold tank! How would I check that?

I'm glad it doesn't seem like a daft idea! The fb group slaughtered me and someone was even going on about having to apply to the council for change of use permission which is just ridiculous! And about it devaluing the property, which I'm not concerned about, as if I do ever want to sell, I'll just have it all capped off and voila it's a bedroom again. Just the thought of having a laundry room upstairs makes me happy 😊

I'm going to get a plumber to come and quite; just won't have a clue whether they are over pricing or not as I have no idea what it should cost!

I'd get plumbers in for a quote. My laundry room is upstairs too - I don't know why they are ever put downstairs - makes no logical sense. I suppose I'd be a bit worried about losing a bedroom, though. I know you're not fussed about that but in case you were, perhaps you could have a laundry 'cupboard' somewhere - washing machine and dryer stacked in a cupboard and not lose a bedroom.

There's literally nowhere else I could put it other than in the box room. The rooms never been used as a bedroom, it's 8ft x 6ft and used to be my office when I worked from home. I figure so long as I don't fit in units etc (planning on building a freestanding housing/worktop to cover washer and dryer), then it'll easily be put back to a bedroom if I ever decide to sell. As far as I'm concerned barring a lottery win this is my forever home.

I think the Laundry area upstairs is a great idea! Even if you hang some loads on the line, most people can't hang every load out, because of weather and work. So instead of having to carry every single load of washing up and down the stairs, you only have to carry up and down the ones destined for the line. For virtually everyone this must be a net gain.

You'll be able to install a drying rack for all the things that can't go in the dryer.

Genius. I shall be mulling this over for my own house.

Sounds a good idea.
Just speak to a plumber - ask around for recommendations. Even if you don't use them to install it I'm sure they would happily advise you.
Perhaps you can put in a sound deadening mat under it. And I wonder if damp might be an issue in the long term if there is no window. But plumber will advise I would think.

There is a window and it's south facing so gets loads of sun which would be good for drying. I could have one of those ceiling mounted laundry rack things in front of the window :)

We've just moved ours upstairs, it's on the bathroom so can't answer about the plumbing but we've had no issues with noise or weight, and it's so blooming convenient! No more humphing everything through the entire house.