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Appliance recs for 2nd floor laundry

10 years ago

Hello everyone,

We are about to move our laundry upstairs, out of the basement, into a space between 2 bedrooms. I have read a lot of very useful posts here on this topic but have a couple of questions. We are going to be looking at front loaders.

Our house is newer construction (1987) and I'm thinking will probably not have a lot of shaking and rattling issues associated with older houses? Also, sounds like the barn/stall mats are definitely a go? Anyone, have any negative experiences to report with those? I read dampness and mold build up we're a concern with these. Anyone experienced this problem? Did you use any kind of sound deadening acoustic barriers in your upstairs laundry room/closet? Is that overkill?

Finally, in terms of appliances, Electrolux has a second floor guarantee on their web site. I have never used this brand and would appreciate feedback regarding how well the washer and dryer do their jobs. Also, whirlpool affinity appears to be highly rated for being whisper quiet. Does anyone have experience with these appliances? Are they really quiet enough to be running right next to where we sleep? I often run loads at night before going to bed so quietness is going to be critical. I also like my clothes to get really clean and really dry :-)

I have done a lot of reading and web surfing already so at this point I am really looking for first hand experiences of people who have a laundry set up in their main living space. Also, first hand pros and cons of the Electrolux and whirlpool machines would be much appreciated.

TIA for any advice and insights,
Amna

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Comments (5)

jonw9
10 years ago
I just bought the Daewoo set from Costco for my upstairs laundry. CR didn't rate it ias the quietest, but I guess we will see.

I was going to go for the Duet, but the ~$1100 savings swayed me.

I will update when they get delivered and ran.

Here is a link that might be useful: Daewoo
whirlpool_trainee
10 years ago
You might want to check out Consumer Reports. They include Vibration in their tests. I don't like these mats. Yes, they might isolate vibration coming from the washer but the unit itself shakes even more. Can't be good it.

Alex
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I replied to you yesterday, but somehow my post ended up in the wrong thread! Here it is: ------------------------------------- I recently bought a Maytag HE toploader (no agitator; made by Whirlpool), and I absolutely love it. It is ULTRA QUIET; I can hardly tell it's running. If I were going to have one in my closet, that's definitely what I'd get. There is a handwashing cycle (among other choices) and the washer uses far less water and energy than traditional TL's. It has a HUGE capacity; I wash king-size comforters with no problem.
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Well it would've worked in the situation I had just last night. I started the washer (12 year old Kenmore/whirlpool direct drive toploader) & about half an hour later needed something from the garage. When I stepped in a huge amount of water my first thought was the hose had burst. But no, the washer was overflowing like Niagara Falls. Water flowed from my laundry room into the garage, and in the opposite direction into small hallway & half bath across from the laundry room. Unfortunately there is wood flooring in that hallway & half bath. I wish the builder of my house had installed pan with a drain in my laundry room. I also wish I had a drain in my laundry room floor. I agree with Asolo on the single lever shut off valve & turn it off after using your washer EVERY TIME. Also I highly recommend never running washers, dryers, dishwashers, etc. while sleeping or away from home. Thank goodness I hadn't started my washer & then gone to bed last night. The washer would've over flowed all night and I would've had a huge amount of damage instead of the very small amount we ended up with. Also my parents had an incident 2 weeks ago where their dishwasher almost caught on fire, the control board was smoking. When it was opened for repair the board was charred black! Turns out there was a recall on their model for the control boards catching fire. If they had not been home their house could've burned down.
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I wanted to let you know what I have found with my upstairs front loader over the past several years. I had major issues with vibration too from my 3 year old Kenmore front loader (dishes would fall off my shelves on the first floor). It died 3 weeks out of the extended warranty (isn't that always the case?). I had my husband bring my older model Kenmore front loader from our rental property. It was an older model one and it was really heavy (I would guess 400 pounds). The repairman told me the older ones actually had a rim of cement in them for added weight to dampen the vibrations. Ironically, the old heavy machine doesn't vibrate at all. The extra weight more than dampens the spin cycle vibrations and we don't have any more issues. I would choose the heaviest one I can find next time I buy one. Maybe you can trying weighting it down with a few hundred pounds to see if it improves??? My washer just sits on hardwood. I only do laundry when I am home so I don't worry about a leak. Maybe the key to fixing your machines may be to add weight to it.
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I have a 2nd floor laundry and the only advise I would give is to ensure that as your build out the space, you add a drain into the floor. It may not be required by code (like it isn't in my area), but for peace of mind, I spent the extra money to do it. This way, any leaks in the washer or any break in the hoses will not lead to substantial water damage.
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erinsean
10 years ago
The only advice I can give is I have had two FL Whirlpool washers and dryers. The first was belt driven washer and sounded like a jet taking off when it was in the spin cycle. The second was a direct drive washer (which I have now) and is so quiet and does not vibrate at all. These machines are between my kitchen and family room.
hokie98
10 years ago
Just curious OP, what did you go with, and how do you like it? We moved into a house back in Aug where the laundry is upstairs (as well as all of the bedrooms). I must say, it is handy having the laundry right there, but my Bosch front loaders sometimes shake the entire house if there is a heavy load when it spins. As you mentioned, doing a load of laundry at night isn't convenient noise-wise, nor is using the delay start setting it for early in the AM before we get out of bed (which I used to do all of the time when the laundry was no where near the bedrooms). My Bosch set is 8 yrs old, and I'm starting to have a few issues. I figure I'll go ahead and start doing some research in case the inevitable happens. I too had seen Elux's 2nd floor guarantee and wondered if that was just hype, or if they really were better.
housefairy
10 years ago
Hokie I bought a set of the Samsung WF457 as a present. They are huge! They were installed on the second floor with pedestals. They haven't had any issue with the noise bothering them while it runs. The units have way too many choices(21) but the size is ideal for them. They are in love with the dryer and it's ability to remove wrinkles. This is a new build but all the bedrooms are upstairs with the utility room on the master bath wall.

I also looked at the Electrolux since this was on the second floor. I have an Electrolux oven, which I have been very happy with, so they were also in contention. The Samsung is direct drive and I believe the Electrolux is belt driven. Have no idea if it really makes a difference . I did like the speed spray and power foam idea for quicker cleaning. The biggest thing I saw with the Electrolux is not being able to find one that you could actually look at sitting on a showroom floor.

Anyway, they seem to be thrilled with their Samsungs.

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