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Building a Home

Do you have mechanicals in your laundry room?

13 years ago

My laundry room will also have 2 hot water tanks (1) for radiant heat and a culligan water softner.

My room is fairly large - BUT, the 2 water tanks and the water softner are easily seen when you enter the laundry room. They are actually the first thing you see. My washer, dryer, sink area is tucked back and not easily seen. Wish they would have tucked the mechanicals instead.

I want to hide all the mechanicals - they look horrific - one of the water tanks has pipes or duct stuff that goes up thru the ceiling.

The builder can build a wall and use bypass doors to hide them, but it will really make my room smaller. If I don't hide the softner the walled in area won't be as big.

Do you think seeing a softner when you go into someones laundry room is "normal" and acceptable or should I try to hide it too?

What started out as a very large laundry room is certainly filling up fast.

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Comments (8)

brickeyee
13 years ago
Having a washer and dryer in the same area as house mechanical equipment is so common I really doubt anyone gives it a second thought any more.

The area is not 'public space' in a house (you do not invite guests there) so who cares?
dakota01
Original Author
13 years ago
No it's not a public space - but, it is on the first floor right next to the powder room. I don't have a basement and my house is only 2,400 sq.ft.

I personally cannot stand the sight of these tanks and the hole in the ceiling. Even if it's just me going in there, I want a nice looking laundry room.
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suero
13 years ago
Instead of a wall and door, which will make your laundry room look smaller, you could mount vertical blinds on the ceiling. They take up much less depth than a wall and, at the same time, give the illusion that there is a window behind the blinds. The blinds also give easier access to the water heaters than you would have if you walled them in.
xracer
13 years ago
i wouldnt want it.it would look ugly to me. i would rather put it in the garage or something.
one of the reasons i would never have a house without a basement.
emmachas_gw Shaffer
13 years ago
My parents encountered a similar problem in their laundry room. Moving the mechanicals was not an option for them. Rather than lose space to walls, they had 4 salvaged shutters, each 7' tall, hinged together to form a screen. The screen did an excellent job of hiding the mechanicals. While it wasn't their first choice, it worked great.
bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
13 years ago
Oh, too bad about the mechanicals being in the laundry room. I know laundry room space isn't really public space but oftentimes, when I have overnight guests, they wind up asking if they can use my washer/dryer so I wouldn't be at all happy having all that stuff on display in my laundry room either!

You could put a nice shoji screen around the water softener to hide it but I would advise against using a shoji screen to hide the water heaters. Water heaters REQUIRE a certain clearance between them and any flamable objects - which, IMHO, makes having water heaters in the laundry room where clothes are likely to be scattered on a floor a dumb idea in the first place - don't know WHY that became the spot of choice for them in basementless homes!

If you tried to use a shoji screen to hide the water heaters, it would probably wind up getting pushed back too close to the water heaters and create a possible fire hazard.

Is there no possible way to move all that stuff out to the garage? If not, have you considered getting tankless water heaters instead of tanks? Tankless heaters are much smaller and much less ugly than tanks - but of course they do cost quite a bit more.
brickeyee
13 years ago
"...so I wouldn't be at all happy having all that stuff on display in my laundry room either! "

Every house has mechanicals. Usually tucked in a spot out of the way but still accessible for servicing.

Why would you care if they are visible?

Putting the HVAC in unconditioned space like a garage is only going to require more energy from increasing losses.

The same goes for a water heater. The colder the ambient around the unit the more heat it will lose.
You pay for it in increased energy costs (gas or electric).

Maybe you should move the tubs and toilets outside the house also.

That used to be their 'natural' location.
macv
13 years ago
You've already told us what you want so it really doesn't matter if anyone agrees with you.

It's a straight forward design problem so the first step in getting assistance is to provide an accurate scaled plan and some photos.

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