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Would you put washer/dryer against outside wall?

13 years ago

My laundry room is on a corner of the house. We planned to have the W/D on an inside wall, but the window placement is not making that ideal. My builder prefers not to place the W/D on an outside wall (we are in the midwest so it get's cold). He did speak to the plumber who said he would be okay with it with a 2x6 wall and foam insulation in that wall. What do you think - would you put it on an outside wall in a climate like ours? I can still put in on the inside wall, it just limits the upper cabinets then.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Featured Answer

jain_rupali

13 years ago

We are in the final stage of planning. Architect is putting together final construction document and we are talking to the builders. Our plan also has the dryer on the outside wall. We are in Central NJ and planning for sprayfoam insulation with 2x6 wall. I would like to know too if there are any potential problems with this.

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Comments (9)

sierraeast
13 years ago
Best if in a 2x6 wall, you want to make sure the water lines are as close to the inside of the wall with insulation behind it. Make sure there are nail guards in place at the sill plate and in any horizontal blocking to keep fasteners from penetrating when drywall is hung, baseboard installed, or any other penetration of the sill /blocking.
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Javiwa, that photo of the pan under your washer doesn’t look too bad. And you’re right it only needs to be under the washer. It is the hefty/chunky ‘pan’ in the photo that I posted, that I wouldn’t want. Mimipadv - Yes…would be happy to burn calories doing stairs, but we’re thinking in terms of wanting to use our house as we age and stairs can be difficult. We never do laundry at night, either. Dzzmiller - The old top loading machines were not all that heavy to move around, but the new front loading machines are heavier than those. Yes, a cast iron tub on the 2nd floor would be a challenge. [g] You make a good point about ‘peak’ laundry years. I’ve seen washer/dryers in closets in a hallway that hold a stackable set of machines that don’t require a whole room for a laundry. I was talking to a woman who moved her washer dryer from a closet in a hall outside her kitchen to the second floor. She made a good point, that the laundry on the first floor was right near the back door and when people would come in the house, all the laundry was always piling up around that area, either clean or dirty waiting to be processed. So that’s also a good consideration to where to have the laundry. We also line dry a lot of our clothes, so that is another consideration.
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marthaelena
13 years ago
I would.
And if you have a basement (under the laundry) you should not have any problems.
I am in the midwest.
shelly_k
13 years ago
We are in SD, and my W/D is on an exterior wall. The pipes are actually visible and inside the house, not in the wall at all. That is the only way my plumber would do it.
sue36
13 years ago
I am in Maine and mine is on an exterior wall (and corner). We have 2x6 walls and we built and additional 2x4 wall inside that. We have never had an issue with a line freezing.
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krycek1984
13 years ago
My partner's parents washer and dryer are on an outside wall and they have never had issues.

At our old house, circa pre-1900's, the washer and dryer were also on an outside wall and there was no issue there, either. The pipes were inside the house though, not in the wall.

Cleveland, Ohio here.
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polkadots
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the feedback. Never heard of having the pipes inside the house and not in the wall - I'll have to ask about that. We also considered adding another 2x4 wall, but that was instead of the 2x6 construction. Thanks for the help.
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schreibdave
13 years ago
We moved our W/D from the first floor to the 2nd floor in our last house and I had the plumber run his pipes on the interior of the wall behind the machines. If he keeps them low you will have to stretch to be able to see that they are even there. Either way, how will you rout the dryer vent? Sraight out the wall or up the wall into the attic then out? If it's the latter, I dont think you want that vent inside an exterior wall and it would be pretty ugly on the interior.
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HU-643527153
2 years ago
I've had so much trouble with the dryer vent clogging up. I was told that the builder didn't meet code and they let him by with it. There were 3 elbows and only 2 are allowed in that city. I had to have new, whatever the tubing is called, because it would get to the point that it was so clogged. I am looking for a house in Austin area now and they are putting the dryer vet straight up to the roof which seems like a fire hazard to me and will be terrible to clean. With on an outside wall you just reach in and clean it when it gets stopped up. My son's house in CA had the room on an outside wall but the washer/dryer were not. They were still able to vent out the side. Bad thing was it was on the back porch and did make quite a mess to clean but it is better than the big bucks to have the ducting cleaned or replaced.
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