frozenelves8 - how far apart are your kids? Mine are all close in age. The oldest (son) is 7 1/2, then 4 girls - 3 of whom were born in 25 months), a 2yo, and baby #6 (unknown gender) due in the next few weeks. We are hoping to break ground in March. We fell in love with the Life Magazine 1999 Dream House and Sarah Susanka's Not-so-Big principles and have been planning this project for nearly that entire time. We have adapted the plans to meet the needs for our growing family and like to joke that we are building the bigger "not-so-big" house for our "not-so-small" family! We have planned a dorm style suite for the girls (space above the garage) that includes a big bedroom with 6 built-in bed nooks that can each be closed off with a curtain. There are two nooks side-by side built into dormers, with a large floor space in the middle. They will share a walk-in closet which will also have dressers (which just happens to be located immediately adjacent to the 2nd floor laundry, since I imagine they will be generating the largest amt of dirty clothes! The bath will have 2 toilets, 2 showers, and 2-4 sinks...we are still working out the specifics of that. As the plans stand, my son will have his own room for now with bunk beds, and share a Jack and Jill style bath with the guest room. If baby #6 is a boy, he will probably eventually go in there - once he is not nursing around the clock and moves out of the nursery (our walk-in closet). We are Catholic and both young (mid 30's) so have potential for more kids. We will have a first floor guest space (though not a dedicated room - it will be a Murphy bed in our "away" room (office, computer, library) and the potential to finish off the basement down the road for an in-law suite, or older teen bedroom. Our primary living area on the first floor (DR, LR, kitchen) is all one open space (with lowered ceilings and floor changes to delineate different areas) except for the closed off away room, and the "back hall" to the garage which will house a pantry and sizable mudroom. We designed the house to maximize the family living spaces, but included several "get away" areas, like a window seat nook on the switchback stair landing. It's nice to hear from other big families. There are a few on here. It's a very daunting task to build ANY time, I'm sure, but especially so when you are on a fixed budget, have very unique needs, and may not have champagne and caviar tastes, but want certain higher quality and not builder grade finishes. Anyways...good luck with your project. I look forward to hearing more about it.

dross, I was told that the WP machines do not use MR fluids. I was also told by a WP service man that the photo shown in the Lord publication was a WP Duet HT. The gap-damper design sounds like a simpler, and less expensive, way to make a shock that has both low and high damping. Not as good as the multi-viscosity damping with a MR fluid shock but better than using a "single damping" shock. BTW2 BTW, I think you have it backwards - high damping means that the shock is stiffer, so there is less excursion (and more vibration is transmitted to the machine body). For my 9400 it is not backwards. The vibration comes from the extreme excursions of the drum. The shocks can be seen to extend and compress a large amount at this time. If the fluid is more viscous then the excursions of the shocks would be less, not more, and the vibration that I experience would be less. The vibration that my 9400 has comes from the drum flailing around, not from the machine body moving around on the floor. I know that FLers have been used in Europe for many years. I have also used them there. But they were rather small machines, if I remember correctly, that did not spin terribly fast as compared to the 9400 and other large drum machines that we buy in the US. Is the vibration problems associated with larger drums that spin faster? Does vibration reduction technology need to advance for our large drum, high speed, FLers? Why are we now having these vibration problems?

First, are they being unfair? IMO, no. There's a big liability issue there. If you simply hooked up without permission, I would simply shut off the water to the faucets, which they may have already done. Have you checked? You need to work it out with them. Is there a lower floor/basement room accessible to you to place your w/d? That could be a compromise. You don't really need to have it in your bathroom, do you? I doubt that money is no object. If that were so, you'd simply buy the building from them. I doubt you want to do that. I'd approch them. I certainly wouldn't accuse them of being unfair or anything and I'd explain that you understand the liability issues so they see you're sincere. Be sure you've educated yourself on the issues and options. Explain the importance of the appliances to you and that you'd do whatever you can to make them comfortable. Bring info on the various flood control items you're willing to go for and they can look it over. Get some info from your insurance agent that explains the coverage and that it'll cover and explain that you'll escrow with them the premium if they want to ensure that it's paid. You'll also assure them that if there's issues of vibration you'll replace them with machines that will satisfy them, etc. That might sway them. At least you can try to find out more on why you can't have it. I think it'd be a big mistake to install without permission or be confrontational or whine about it. I don't think it'd work to your advantage. If you truly like the place and get them angry, you'll be out after your lease is up. After all, it sounds like they made a very substantial investment and I can easily understand their not wanting to take chances of damage, when you consider the amount of fires caused by dryers, the water damage, possible structural damage, etc. I know I'd be very careful if I were in their position. I guess the other option is to ask them to let you out of your lease and go elsewhere, if it means that much to you. Perhaps they would be amenable to that as a last resort.

I never heard of anyone having problems with a washer pan before, mine is a standard plastic one from HD (4 yrs old). I'll keep an eye one mine, I occasionally pour water on it to clean it, so we'll see. Those full access hinges are interesting. I went ahead and ordered a set for a diferent project, I'll let you know how they work. I did see some hinges that pivot and slide in like on an entertainment center (that work with a 78" door). I think the full-access hinges are a better solution and you can use standard doors with them. The only problem I can see is they may not work well if you don't have the space to open them fully (~15") on each side of the opening (look at the last page of the installation instructions). Another thing I included in my laundry closet was a door activated light. I usually install them on all closets, for some reason open doors bug me and this reminds everyone to close them. Here is a link that might be useful: heavy duty pivot door slide