What floor are the bedrooms on? Is there space near the bedrooms or in the bathrooms located near the bedrooms? Perhaps a closet that could be cleaned out? How old are you? How long are you planning to live in the house? Are you the person who would be schlepping the laundry up and down the stairs? Can you install a dumbwaiter? How does the person who is going to do the laundry feel about taking every load up and down the stairs? Are their knees and hips in good shape? If they trip and fall down the stairs will you still be on speaking terms afterwards. (The hospital bill is likely to cost a lot more than replumbing would now.) As you can tell from the line of my questioning I would sooner relocate a 24" washer dryer into a closet in the master bedroom (which is where at least some if not all of the clothes are coming from) then into the basement.

You clearly prefer the basement location, understandably so in my opinion. Besides the factors you mentioned, there'd be no concern about vibration in the basement (it might or might not be a problem on the main floor). Unless you plan to sell the house very soon, do what you want. Besides, who's to say that some buyers might not prefer a more spacious and flexible laundry area in the basement rather than a restricted space on the main floor? On this forum it's common to see complaints about laundry room space restrictions, and about stacking.

I once had a laundry setup in the basement of an old house. The neat thing was a laundry shute that let us stuff clothes in from a closet in one bedroom. It held a weeks worth of laundry except for sheets. We changed bedding on washday. Neat setup. If you have an area where you can cut a hole in the floor I have seen commercial shutes in the distant past. Less noise upstairs would be a selling point if the installation isn't a kluge.

A good pantry with a spacious laundry in the basement versus a hole-in-the-wall laundry and no pantry? Easy decision.

I'd go for the basement and add a laundry chute if code allows.

because of the configuration of the room (doors, windows), there's not enough space for a standard sized w/d with a sink, at least not in any grouping that works right

Maybe the doors and/or windows can be shifted? Maybe a smaller sink?

I would just leave out the sink, no need for it in my opinion. I have never had a sink in my laundry and don't need it. Now if you lived on a farm and had a utility room/laundry by the back door a sink would be nice.

This post was edited by EmmaR on Sun, Dec 7, 14 at 19:27

Can you have it both ways? Move your laundry room to the basement but leave the plumbing in place in case a future buyer prefers a location on the main floor. We have just moved from a house with the laundry room in a walkout basement. While I didn't love the location, I did love having a nice, big, well-organized space to do laundry. And, it wasn't an issue in the sale of the house.

It's not that big an issue to return a pantry to a laundry room if somebody down the line wishes to do so. When my ninety something mother had to give up her independence we turned our laundry room into a bedroom for her, because it was ground floor and next to a bath. I didn't give it a second thought. The plumbing and wiring are still intact under the new floor, though disconnected at the source and would take little effort to be reconnected if we ever decide to convert it back. It is also a very handy room to keep as a bedroom, should we need it ourselves if infirmities would limit either of us as we age. I know there are some modifications and changes that are not wise for resell down the road. That being said, if you can't feel free to design or modify your own house so that YOU get maximum use of it, you might as well rent. We live in the country, with sometimes unreliable electric. When we did a complete kitchen remodel, I insisted on putting a pitcher pump and sink into it, along with a modern one to run off our gravity fed spring. It's a two hundred year old house, but people thought I was NUTS! I had the last laugh when a storm knocked out the power to the whole community for nearly two weeks and nobody else could pull up water from their deep wells to cook, wash dishes or flush toilets but me. I use it nearly daily and it's invaluable for when the garden is on and I'm canning and washing hundreds of pounds of vegetables and fruit. If the next owners of this house feel differently, let them rip it out.

I have had basement laundries in two houses and disliked them, but in your case, it might be best, especially if you like lots of space to sort and fold. But do look at our discussion in another thread titled Stackable Washer Dryer down the forum. I feel like a proselytizer today, but consider at the super-compact Speed Queen ATE50. Tiny footprint. Large capacity. One piece, easily serviced, with a good warranty. Very heavy duty.

The realtors are simply relaying what they hear from their buyers. Most people don't want to trudge down to the basement to do such an essential task. Laundry rooms don't have to take much space.

Keep the laundry on the first floor and move the sink to the basement.

everyone has valid points, here's mine for consideration:

iv'e always had laundry in basement since i was a child. i love it and would have it no other way.
1. it out of the way and out of sight
2. quiet upstairs
3. your little piece of real estate w/o sharing w/ anything else,
4. you can hang laundry if u want...inside &/or outside since you have an outside exit. i don;t know about you but i hang dry my jeans, shirts, bras, jackets etc...i love hanging my clothes outside to dry. saves energy and wear and tear on your dryer.
5. you can hand wash items and hang to dry
6. room to fold
7. room in general to spread out w/o being squashed in a tiny room....claustrophobic for me, frustrating not having enough room
8. exercise is good !! its not like u r doing laundry everyday..
9. i don[t think it has a major impact on resale....would u really not buy a house b/c the W/D was in the basement??

10. room for ironing board and room to iron

HTH

I'm with HTH - I've always preferred a basement laundry room, for all the reasons mentioned, plus - if ever there were to be a leak - and this did happen to me just recently due to an improperly installed new washing machine - the chances for any serious damage are diminished to next to nothing, ESPECIALLY if you have properly installed a floor drain.

And I want a laundry tub in the laundry room, and I want my washing machine to drain into that and not into one of those tiny boxes in the wall. There are sooo many uses for a laundry tub. So many times I've wanted one and haven't had one. I'd MUCH rather be able to fill a bucket in the laundry tub, and not have to mess with getting it in and out of the bath or shower.

As another poster mentioned - if you can't have your house the way YOU want it, you might as well be stuck in a rental.

Leave the hookups where they are and use that space however you want, but go ahead and move the laundry to the basement where you obviously want it to be. If it turns out you don't like it, you can always move it back - or a future buyer can easily do the same.

As for getting laundry up and down stairs - get a trash can with giant wheels. Run a closet rod through the top (drill a couple holes with a hole saw). Hang your clothes on that and pull it up the stairs.

Too heavy? Hang fewer clothes in it. Or fold them and put them in a suitcase with wheels. There are dozens of ways to get the clothes up and down stairs that don't involve hefting a filled laundry basket around.

Laundry chutes are against fire codes nearly everywhere these days because improperly built ones can act like chimneys in a fire. Putting them in with appropriate fire walls and whatnot generally runs in to more money than people really want to spend. They are incredibly handy, however. In fact the old fashioned dumb waiters are great - if not exactly fire-safe.

I say move it downstairs and make the laundry room/area really nice looking, organized and fully furnished with storage, folding counter, hanging bar, sink etc. That way prospective buyers of the future will see a fabulous super usable laundry room as opposed to a basement laundry room.

I get so tired of the idea that everything has to be at your fingertips. We could all use more trips up and down stairs instead of trips to the couch. I've had laundry in the basement and laundry next to the bedroom. Both had their advantages, but prefer laundry to be more spacious and quiet. Which means away from the bedroom.

My question is this: is your house in a retirement community? Is it a small house that folks would retire to? Or is it a house that is good for a family with kids in the house?

If it's small and retirement friendly, then keeping it main level. If it's a kids house, then put it somewhere you can more easily manage the mess!

If you have children playing in the basement a lot and you spend time in the basement, it would be handy to do your wash in the basement while keeping an eye on your children.