We got the pedestals for our FL. Floor is not on concrete; it is on a regular wood joist floor over the garage. The FL doesn't vibrate much, except when I have a large load and the weight distribution isn't perfect on the final spin. After a minute it "planes out" when it reaches max spin speed, and vibration ceases. The washer sits next to an outside wall. The foundation is the downstairs garage wall, and laundry room floor joist sits on the foundation. The appliance store sales guy told me if I jump up and down on the floor and felt a 'trampoline' effect, we would vibration problems. Because our washer sits next to an outside wall and the foundation goes right up to the laundry room floor, it's not much of a problem. If your laundry area is over a load-bearing wall, you might not have much trouble. Newer home construction seems to have wall and floor joists farther apart (cheaper to build). I can't help but wonder if some of the FL vibration issues are because of that. Our son and his wife are renting a condo that has a FL washer/dryer and no pedestals, on the first floor, outside wall right behind them. Very similar to my situation. I'm not sure what is under the floor (joists or concrete), but one night we were over there when a very large (gallon) jug of liquid detergent was vibrated right off the top of their washer, hit the floor and leaked all over the flooring. No pedestal. It is probably impossible to predict without knowing how the home was constructed, space between floor joists, etc. Perhaps your appliance dealer is willing to take the pedestals back if the vibration is too much?

Water heaters seldom have large leaks, the large leaks come from burst washer hoses. The other bad water problems come from flooding. My point? Putting a top loading washer on a pedestal to avoid those scenarios is basically useless. You would need to use concrete and make an area large enough to stand safely on. That means several yards of concrete, which could add enough weight to one area of the basement to possibly cause settling problems. Building a wooden riser is less weight and cost, but will possibly cause more vibration noise. If there is a drain in the basement, none of that should be necessary. No drain, the possibility of high water deep enough to rise above the platform due to burst hose of flood would only take a matter of hours. If you really have a fear of water damage, spend the money on a sump pit and pump system with a battery back up.

thanks suburbanmd for taking the time to respond......I thought it would be worth asking. Despite others opinion about the "pain in the a**ko's", I have really liked mine. The worst part is the lack of repairman available to work on them. I actually got the dryer working yesterday - problem was simply the switch inside the door wasn't making contact with the pin on the door. However last night it shut off and was glowing orange inside. It starts back up but with a grinding noise and the drum is very hard to turn when the machine is off. After much research into the wee hours, it could be the rolling components such as the drum roller or bearing. I do hope it is one of these as these are still available...the belt is no longer available. Any thoughts of what it could be? Do you know if a non-asko belt could be found to match the OEM belt?

I have pedestals. I like that the W/D are higher up....it saves the back. Ha....I throw all the odd socks that have no mates in the bottom drawers and empty them out once in a while to sort through them all and reunite the pairs. I also installed cabinets directly above my washer/dyer with rollout trays so I can easily roll out the large container of detergent and conveniently add the liquid without lifting or sliding anything. Unlike erinsean, I would never be able to fold clothes on the top of machines with pedestals ....erinsean, you must be tall!