Upstairs laundry room

[achangeisasgoodas]

We have an airing cupboard on our first floor landing which is big enough to house a washing machine and tumble dryer (it's where the boiler is) and I am wondering if this is a good idea. Does anyone have an upstairs laundry room? Does it work well for you?

Currently our washing machine and tumble dryer are in the kitchen but they would not take much moving (husband can plumb them in upstairs and has already checked this is possible!)

I would also install an extractor fan vented to the outside. As it is upstairs you could even vent through the loft if you wished.

I’d love one when we renovate (currently have a nice downstairs utility that’s also a shower room) but my husband thinks it’d be too noisy if we want to put washing on at night for example whereas the current one is sort of nicely isolated away. But if we could get past that I’d definitely do it - if you can solve noise / vibration, the only disadvantage I can possibly see is you have to take wet as opposed to dry washing downstairs if hanging out - but with a downstairs utility you have to take pretty much ALL washing downstairs so an upstairs one would hugely reduce the stair-based schlepping.

If I did manage to move ours upstairs, I could then have an amazing larder when we renovate ....

I have a laundry chute from the family bathroom straight down to the laundry room. Works for me.

TBH we've not really had much of an issue with noise, and we made no effort at all to dampen it. We have a metal light fitting (upstairs) which can vibrate a little bit when it's spinning. It's normally a sign the washing machine has moved just a tiny bit and is now touching the wall and a wee shuffle fixes it. If we were staying here I'd stick a sound deadening mat under it and that would sort the issue - they're on tiles just now.

I posted about this being my dream a few years ago

@Gonegrey31 do you ever have issues with objects / toys / family pets finding themselves coming down the laundry chute?

Yes it makes so much more sense. I had one in one house and the washing machine sat in a deep tray in case of leaks.

We have one - it’s shockingly noisy (even on 4 thick rubber mats) and actually makes windows and doors rattle. We’re going to be moving it downstairs again.

(Which is a shame because it is so much more convenient up here.)

I would never do this

1. You still have to go downstairs to the washing line unless you're in a flat
2. The noise of the washing machine would drive me mad.

It sounds like an excellent idea to me.

It’s my dream . Seriously keep all the washing and drying upstairs.

Reading about the noise concerns, it probably works best in an older well built house. New builds probably have more noise problems. Saying that l would be doing everything possible to soundproof if l had the room to do it. Couldn’t you raise the washing machine on blocks to shock absorb ?

Would love an upstairs laundry room, I know where it would go btu can’t afford to create it! 2 concerns, the noise travelling and flooding.

And I agree with the other poster, when I’m house hunting one of my criteria is ‘where can I put the laundry room upstairs?’ I would sacrifice a bedroom for an upstairs laundry room and it would be easier than risking dogs eating laundry in the utility room, or the Labrador from pausing the washing machine!

Yes we have the washing machine and tumble dryer upstairs. Like a couple of pp it's in a cupboard in the bathroom. Think its wonderful.

Couple of things to keep in mind - noise supresion is a consideration at night,
if your in a semi best not to use a shared wall, find some soace nearby for ironing as well. Have quite a big landing and do whatever needs ironing there.

We have our washing machine and dryer housed under the staircase on the first floor. It was a major part of the plans when we did a loft conversion. I bought a housing unit from eBay for £40 that has a pull out drawer between the stacked machines that I'm able to sort out the tumble dried clothes on.
I can honestly say it's made me so happy not dragging clothes down the stairs and back up again! I am officially old, it's the little things

I can honestly say it's made me so happy not dragging clothes down the stairs and back up again!

I am so with you on this one! We don't have outside space to dry stuff anyway, so moving it upstairs made a huge difference:

1. we were able to get a washing machine and tumble dryer, and a bigger machine too (previously we only had an integrated washer in the kitchen and couldn't fit any more appliances!)
2. we were able to get a dishwasher!
3. no lugging laundry downstairs

I'd happily do it again tbh.

Thank you everyone for your replies! DH spent the weekend moving the machines and plumbing them in and we are thrilled. The feedback was great so thank you all for that.

We put the machines on mats and vented through an external wall and it's all working perfectly, no noise around the house and best of all no more laundry trips downstairs!