3 of the 7 homes I've owned have had basement laundry rooms, they were all when I was much younger. After hauling laundry for a family of 6 up and down stairs for several years, I swore my next home wouldn't have a basement laundry and I'd never buy a home with a basement laundry again. I'm a lot older now and definitely mobility challenged, I wouldn't even look at a home with a basement laundry. If I was young again and the house was otherwise a good deal, I'd consider it, but not now at my stage in life.

Our current house has a basement laundry and it didn't deter us from buying. Although I'm in my early 40s, I agree with cordovamom that if I was older, it might be a problem. But there are lots of ways to change a laundry room situation or add a smaller unit in an upstairs area.

It depends on the area. Some areas predominantly have basement laundry rooms and therefor no one is at a disadvantage.

In a two store home with the bedroom on the second floor I see no difference between a basement laundry and a first floor laundry. This is my current set-up and the first floor laundry actually seems stupid to me. Since there is a chute, I can determine that the house was built with a first floor laundry (second floor bedrooms). This laundry room is off the kitchen and I wish they had utilized the area for more pantry space. The basement hook-ups are there and I have thought about moving the laundry to the basement. However this is not our "forever" house and many people see a psychological advantage to a first floor laundry, so I'll leave it.

Optimally, I would like a laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms. If that is not an option, there is no difference between a first floor or basement laundry in a two story home. When you are lugging clothes what is one more floor?

In a one floor home, the laundry would need to be on the same floor.

It didn't deter me at all. This kind of setup is very common in my area. I currently have a basement laundry room (in an unfinished basement), and it's been fine. But then again, I'm 30 and spry.

The house we want to build was actually set up with a very small laundry room on the second floor (big enough for a W/D and that's all), and we're actually having it moved to the basement. Here are my reasons:
1. I can't stand working in small laundry rooms, and since we hang a lot of stuff up to dry, it just wasn't going to be a very workable space.
2. Our existing master closet wasn't very large, so if we move the laundry, our closet can extend into that space.
3. The finished basement is going to be my husband's "man space", so he'll be down there a lot. And since he does all our laundry, it worked out well for us. Once moved, the laundry will end up being about a 10x10 room (plenty of room to work!)

Now in 30 years or so when we're old and kidless and want to downgrade, I don't know what future buyers will think about basement laundry rooms, but for us right here and now, it fits our needs.

I guess this goes to show yet another difference in regions and price range. :) I live in the NY metropolitan area and have seen close to 60 homes over the years in the $300-$600K range and had only seen a main-floor laundry ONCE. 99 percent of the time it was in the basement. These homes were of course always older as single-family new construction is not affordable for me here in NY.

My friends have new construction on Long Island and they have main-floor laundry, but that's in a $650,000 home.

Wait, I did see it one other time: when I went with my uncle to look at attached townhomes, they had main-floor laundry. They were built in the late 80s-early 90s which is considered newer.

Like the first person to reply, My first homes had the W/D in the basement, but since then I have had only main floor laundries. When I had 2 little kids, it was a real problem leaving them alone while I rushed downstairs to move things around. Now I have 60 year old knees and wouldn't consider a basement laundry.

Let's just say a basement laundry is not a 'plus' for the vast majority of buyers, regardless of age or mobility.

In all our married life I've never had a basement laundry -- always something on the first floor, from our (shared) laundry room in an apartment when we were on the first floor, too, to a townhome with a small W/D, to a ranch home to our present one-floor home. It was just as nice to have when I was a young mother as it is now, as I recuperate from a hip replacement.

A basement laundry would not keep me from buying a home, but a second floor laundry would be a big positive (in a 2 story home). I like a small laundry room - we have a small 2nd floor laundry room and it forces me to put away the clothes right away.

We moved from a ranch (no basement) to a two story house with the bedrooms and laundry on the second floor. There are six of us, and I do a LOT of laundry (kids in sports, and two bedwetters) At the last house, the washer noise would sometimes wake the kids, so I asked for extra insulation / soundproofing for the laundry room when we built our current house. It's still noisy, though, and sometimes will wake the kids if I do laundry early in the morning.

I wanted to try having the laundry room on the main floor or in the basement, but dh convinced me that I would hate it. I don't know - I would like to be able to do run the washer anytime I like. Maybe a better washer would help. But (finally!) in answer to your question, having the laundry in the basement would not deter me from considering a house.

I'm older and just bought a home with a basement laundry purely because it will be good for my legs. And I do love to spread out- I have hanging racks and huge tables for folding and tons of space. I'm right next to our family room so have a good place to hang out while things are drying, too.
Love it!

If I had to go the basement to do laundry we would be a very dirty family! the basement is the kids' domain and I go weeks without going down there. When we were looking to buy this summer I was turned off by basement laundry rooms especially in unfinished basements. I don't think it would have been a deal-breaker, but it was a definite negative.

I would try to avoid it if at all possible. I had a basement laundry in our first home. I remember how cold it was and how I would run around doing things as quickly as possible and hurry back upstairs where it was warm.

I now have a first floor laundry(2 story house). I would do that again, because I like being able to start and change loads without walking up and down the stairs.

An upstairs laundry, I'm not really sold on, because I know how often I forget about a load and put it in the dryer after the kid is in bed.

I think it has to do with where the house is for sure, what is common for the area and when they were built.

There are towns that only have a basement laundry, which I grew up with or like my last house a ranch that had the laundry in the garage. This ranch has the laundry in the mud room by the kitchen which is very convenient & I don't have to go outside in a garage & freeze.

Our new house will have laundry on the 2nd floor. I wasn't nuts about the idea due to washer noise & having to go up & down steps, but after thinking about not having to carry laundry down or back up, it's looking pretty appealing.

What I liked about the house I grew up in, we had clothes lines hung, you could hang all of the delicates if you needed to and if the kids were outside playing, could come in through the garage, right into the basement, nothing else gets soaked. It was a 2 family house over a garage / basement, guess you'd call it a raised ranch.

Downstairs laundry wouldn't deter me if it was in a ranch. If it was in a 2 story house and I could find something on the 1st floor then I'd pass the house up, going for the other.

I've lived with a second floor laundry room for 10 yrs now and will forever more want the laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms.
I grew up with a laundry in the basement and had it in two of the other houses we've lived in and hated it. Lugging clothes baskets up and downstairs was not fun for a family of five.
Second floor is much easier to deal with and I have the bonus of being able to hang my clothes from the second floor laundry line.

The house we just put an offer on today has a basement laundry room. For us, it's actually a plus. We have an 11 year old with severe autism and the noise of our first floor laundry in our current rental can literally send him into a fit that lasts for HOURS... I can't wait to be able to keep the noise and vibration (our current rental shakes when my front loader spins!) far away from my little guy. Now.. if we didn't have his issues a basement laundry might not be ideal, but in this area, it's fairly typical to have basement laundry, or worse.. garage laundry areas.

All the houses I grew up in were either bungalow/ranches with basement laundries or split-levels with the laundry on the ground floor behind the garage. The first house I bought was a 70's two story with a basement laundry inconveniently located at the farthest end of the basement, that was a pia trucking clothes down two long flights of stairs and to the far dark side LOL. Moms in her 80's now fit as a fiddle still with her basement laundry and has no problem with it, luckily it's right near the stairs and she has a very nice finished laundry room with lots of space, lots of counters and shelves. Her laundry rooms bigger than most peoples kitchens. Still in all if and when the time comes she can't manage the stairs so well but wants to stay in her house we'll probably install one of those all in one piece washer/dryer machines into the kitchen cabinetry.

Basement laundries are all I've known in the homes I've lived in and I don't mind walking up and down stairs. I'd think it weird to have a washer/dryer in the middle of the living space, mainly from a noise standpoint.

I moved from a ranch home with a basement laundry to another ranch home with a first-floor laundry - mostly to get the first floor laundry! I now wish I had held out for a real laundry room. I have a tiny one with room for only a laundry sink, Washer and dryer and hamper. You have to walk past the sink and turn just before you get to the hamper to go out the garage door. I would love room to hang the drip-dry clothes!

Our laundry room is on the main floor with the master bedroom. We have a story and a half, with two more bedrooms upstairs, and two bedrooms on the lower/basement level. The kids have to haul their laundry up and down (and do it as well), so stairs aren't an issue. (We only have one kid left at home now.)

Our previous house was a walk-out ranch, and the laundry was on the lower level. Two of the boys' rooms were there, and the laundry was in the utility room, 12-15 feet away from one of the bedrooms. DS 2 in that room liked to listen to the dryer at night - a very soothing white noise - and he had trouble getting to sleep wen we moved to our present house and the laundry was on a different level. I think kids can pretty much learn to sleep through just about anything.

Our current house has always had its laundry room on the ground floor, and I must say that after six months of NOT having to haul laundry up and down stairs, I'll never again not have a ground floor laundry room! Nor will I ever again not have an attached, heated garage!

Personal preferences vary; I've had first floor and basement laundry areas. What matters to me is plenty of space to sort laundry and line dry those items that require that care, as well a way to block off the sound.

I have also had both, and in my current 1-story ranch we have a basement laundry with a laundry chute. Even though the main floor laundry I had previously was convenient, I hated storing dirty clothes in the bedroom closets until washing them. There wasn't enough room for them in the laundry area, so they had to stay in laundry baskets until going into the washing machine. With the chute, down they go into the basement, out of the way! Very convenient.

Another drawback with an upper floor laundry is the risk of water damage if a hose breaks or becomes disconnected. I've read about very expensive water damage being more common now that washers are upstairs. If it's on the second floor, water would damage both the second and the first floors. In the basement, the damage would be more minimal since it couldn't run down anywhere.

Our first two homes had a basement laundry. I didn't deter us at all. Our present house, 2 story colonial, has an upstairs laundry room which is so convenient.

And upstairs laundry room is not a risk of major water damage if properly built. We have a tile floor with a drain. Plus a lip edge just in case there is a blown hose. One also needs to check the hoses for wear and make sure the connections are tight. Just normal home owner maintenance.

Enjoy the journey.

eal51 in western CT

A laundry NOT i a basement and without an automatic water shut off system would be a real issue that would need immediate modification.

While the stainless braided hoses are much better than the old plain rubber ones, a broken hose is going to make a huge mess of any finished area below it.

We have been actively looking for a different home, and when we see one with a basement laundry, all I can think of is where I could move it to on the main floor. If there is really no place to move it to, I mark that house off our list.

We had a basement laundry when the kids were small and I was young, but I won't again. I'm only going to get older, not younger.