Laundry Room- Main Floor or Upstairs?

Updated on May 19, 2014
J.G. asks from Chicago, IL
32 answers

Best place for the laundry room? Upstairs or on the main floor off the kitchen?

I've always had it in the basement, and I can see the benefits of brining it upstairs, but I'm always on the main floor, near the kitchen, so I figure either way you are walking the stairs.

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K.D.

answers from Jacksonville on

Main floor (or basement- whatever the lowest floor is). That way, if there is an issue and it causes a flood, it won't destroy things on multiple floors.

7 moms found this helpful
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T.M.

answers from Tampa on

I have my laundry room upstairs where all 3 of my bedrooms and both full bathrooms are. I love it because that is where we change and dress. I would hate to lug baskets up and down the stairs all of the time.

4 moms found this helpful

~.~.

answers from Dallas on

I prefer the laundry room on the same level and close to the bedrooms. I don't mind it near the kitchen, but I hate home layouts where you have to walk through the kitchen to get the laundry room. Who wants to drag dirty clothes through the kitchen? My last house had the garage lead into the laundry room. I liked the placement of the laundry room, but would have rearranged it a little differently where I could have added a door on the back wall to give access to the main hallway near the bedrooms. Then it would have been perfect.

3 moms found this helpful

More Answers

C.C.

answers from San Francisco on

In a two story house, I would never, ever put it on an upper floor. I feel this way because I am in construction, and have seen what happens when the washer overflows in an upstairs laundry room (hint: $50K of water damage and months of repairs, during which time the homeowners had to move into a hotel due to mold remediation).

7 moms found this helpful
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P.K.

answers from New York on

Upstairs without a doubt. Just make sure you place it in a "tray" just in case.

5 moms found this helpful
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L.Z.

answers from Seattle on

We have ours upstairs on the same level as the bedrooms and I love it. I can fold on my bed and then take it straight to the bedrooms...or call the kids in to carry to their drawers and put away.

4 moms found this helpful
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K.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

I prefer it downstairs, though not necessarily near my kitchen. Ours is in the garage, but growing up, it was down a hallway near the bathroom. I prefer that rather than being close to the kitchen. Upstairs, they tend to make more noise, especially if you have them on raised podiums. Plus, I tend to fold my laundry on the couch while watching TV, so having it downstairs is easier.

3 moms found this helpful
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M.J.

answers from Sacramento on

Main floor. The risk with the upstairs is that if there's ever a leak or the hose breaks (and they do spontaneously break ... my parents came home to a flooded house due to one breaking while they were away), two floors are affected.

3 moms found this helpful
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A.S.

answers from Dallas on

Convenient? Maybe. Crazy? Yes. One mishap with the washer, leak or otherwise, and you now not only have to fix the laundry room, you have to repair sheetrock and flooring below you.

Same thing goes for water heaters. It sure is nice to have that extra room in your garage or basement by putting water heaters in the attic, BUT as soon as you spring a leak, the damage is triple what it would have been in the garage downstairs.

3 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Our laundry room is off the hall between the garage and the kitchen (on the main floor - our house is one story except for the media room above the garage and we have no basement).
I love it there!
If people are filthy enough they can strip down in the garage and dirty clothes go right in the laundry without dragging dirt all over the house.

3 moms found this helpful
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K.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

I've had my laundry room in the basement, on the second floor near the bedrooms and now on the main level near the kitchen. By far, I prefer it near the kitchen. I'm there 90% of the time, so it's easy to go over and switch loads or fold a basket of clothes. My bedroom is also on the main level, so that makes it easy. The kids are upstairs, but they've learned that if they want their clothes washed, THEY are responsible for bringing it down to the laundry room. I haven't carried a full basket of clothes up or down a set of stairs in ages. LOVE this set up!!

3 moms found this helpful
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P.R.

answers from Cleveland on

I don't get the upstairs thing... Folded laundry just waits by the stairs until I'm making a trip up anyway. Or saved trips bringing it up would be more than offset in my mind by all the times I would have to run upstairs to switch to the dryer, put another load over etc. Plus, the risk of something happening and water ruining the floor/ceiling would worry me. Ours is downstairs far enough from the main rooms that we don't hear anything and it seems optimal to me. Upstairs is for relaxing for me. Downstairs is where "work" gets done so I'm doing laundry while I'm doing other "work". I do fold watching tv sometimes but sometimes that's downstairs, sometimes upstairs. Interesting people have such different preferences. I guess a set on both levels would really be best :) Growing up btw ours was in the basement in one house and that was a pain IMO. That's two flights from the bedrooms. But it is the safest place and if I had to economize on space at all, I'd be fine with it.

3 moms found this helpful

O.H.

answers from Phoenix on

It makes most sense to have it wherever the bedrooms are. All 5 of our bedrooms are upstairs and the laundry room is downstairs...such a pain. JMO

3 moms found this helpful

C.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I really don't understand why anyone would put a laundry room in the basement. Our last place we lived in had it in the basement and it was a nightmare doing laundry. I hated it. Right now we have it on the main level. It wasn't something I wanted that way, but it's not a deal breaker because everything else we wanted, it had. But, if it was ever possible to make it up stairs with all the bedrooms, I would.

2 moms found this helpful
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O.O.

answers from Los Angeles on

Mine's in the basement. We have a chute.
Hubs carries it up once it's done.
Beware putting a washer where there is not the proper tray system.
It's not a good idea just to throw them in wherever.
That's a lot of water to drip down 2 stories!

2 moms found this helpful

Y.M.

answers from Iowa City on

Main. Or basement. Or upstairs. I guess I'm not picky. Walking up and down stairs to do laundry has never been a big deal to me. I guess I'm still young enough to remember my college laundromat days so I don't really care where the washer is as long as I own it.

I fold the clothes in my bedroom when i watch tv so regardless of where my facilities are, I'll end up in the main floor bedroom.

2 moms found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

I would never put a laundry room or hot water heater upstairs due to the issues with potential water damage.

Before you buy a house with the laundry room upstairs, you might check with insurance because I understand rates are higher due to the likely water damage claim at some point.

We have 2 hot water heaters in the garage and laundry room is the room you enter when you come inside the house from the garage.

2 moms found this helpful
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L.B.

answers from Chicago on

What's with all the folding? I hang 90% of our clothes, and can only carry maybe 10 hangers with my short stubby fingers at a time. With an average of 25 shirts in a load, I'd be spending more time on the stairs than anywhere else. The laundry has been on the 2nd floor for 30+ years, and our house is still standing.

2 moms found this helpful

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Near the bedrooms is key for me, as that's the shortest distance for the laundry to travel (plus I do all my sorting, folding and ironing on my bed, gotta have the TV on while I do that tedious, mind numbing task, can't imagine being stuck alone and cut off from everything in the basement!)

2 moms found this helpful

V.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

You may be walking the stairs either way, but only one way will you be toting laundry baskets full of clean/dirty clothes along with you.

2 moms found this helpful
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M.F.

answers from Chicago on

Our house is one floor, so no upstairs/main floor distinction. But the laundry room is down the hall near the bedrooms. Excellent location, I just wish it was bigger! (I'm very happy to have no stairs to deal with, especially now that my knees and I are getting older...)

1 mom found this helpful
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T.T.

answers from San Antonio on

since my kids are older and do their own laundry, if I had a 2 story with all the bedrooms upstairs, I would LOVE the laundry room to be up there. no lugging loads of dirty/clean clothes* up and down the stairs.

But I'd make sure the floor is solid, if that washer goes out of balance it would probably shake the whole house

Good Point Katie D. I didn't even think of that

1 mom found this helpful
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D.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Ours is upstairs and I love it. I would not want it anywhere else.

And I do laundry right before bed, so no extra stair climbs :)

(And for the damage issue, you can buy a 'tray' with a drain hose that you connect. You put it under the washer. If the washer overflows, the water goes down the drain.)

1 mom found this helpful

L.A.

answers from Austin on

Close to the bedrooms.

Most of our laundry is clothing and bedding and towels. The dish towels are way easier to carry from downs stairs up stairs, than all of that bedroom, bath and clothing laundry down to be washed and hauled back up once they have been cleaned and dried.

I had to answer the "flooding" that was mentioned. The upstairs laundry rooms generally have a center floor drain, you see in a locker rooms. They are also usually insulated like they do with bathrooms, so you do not her the "noises" when you close the doors. .

1 mom found this helpful
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N.P.

answers from Chicago on

where ever you have the bedrooms is where the laundry room should be since 95% of your laundry is generated in the bedrooms

1 mom found this helpful
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C.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

My W/D is on the main floor and when I first saw them on the second level, I thought it was strange. Now I wish they were up there. Maybe there would be a chance the clothes would get put away.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.R.

answers from Chicago on

We have ours upstairs and I love it. Wouldn't have it anywhere else. I don't have hampers and I just sort the clothes into containers on top of the washer and dryer.

If I built a custom home I would add an exhaust fan in there too. Also, make sure it has a sink....my friend's house doesn't have one...odd.

I actually did have an overflow. I had to do a little patching downstairs but it was minor. I learned that the hoses had to be zip tied into the wall to make sure that didn't happen again. I also have a drain in the floor.

People seem to think that main floor is the way to go due to the (rare) possibility of overflows. I tend to disagree as a finished basement would need to be repaired also.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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G.T.

answers from Rochester on

Since we don't have a basement my washer and dryer are on the main floor near the kitchen. I love it! When my kids were little I was able to do a load or 2 a day and not be that far from the kids. And I have always made it a point of folding the clothes and putting them away right away. In fact, I don't even own laundry baskets so I can't just let clothes sit around waiting to be taken care of. LOL

And in almost 40 years I have never had a washer over flow. (knock on wood!)

1 mom found this helpful
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K.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Our first house was a ranch--everything on same level. In our second house I was determined to have a laundry room (not a closet in the hallway, etc.). We bought a split-level. The main floor had the bedrooms and the basement level had the laundry room (finished with living area, bedroom, bathroom, and laundry). We kept seeing houses advertised with "laundry on main" or "laundry with master", but I wanted a laundry room! WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT DRAGGING EVERYTHING BACK AND FORTH! Our house now is basically a ranch with a finished basement. We spend 75% of our time on the main level and that's where the laundry room is. We do have a laundry room, but I would have taken the w/d in the closet if it meant laundry on the main level!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.G.

answers from Chicago on

We just purchased, gutted and remodeled a house. Our previous house had it in the basement, which washorrible. I hated leaving the kids to run down..and then had to carry it up two flights of stairs. Ughhh! When doing the remodel, we were planning on having both. One main laundry room on the main level since that is where we are. Plus often I run the wash over night, and didn't want to listen to the noise. We were going to put a stackable in a closet space upstairs for sheets and the random other needs. We ended up making a larger master closet and bath so I had to let go of the upstairs laundry idea. I think if you can only have one, it is better positioned where you and the children hangout and away from the bedrooms. Good luck. :)

1 mom found this helpful
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A.L.

answers from Chicago on

Upstairs!. I start a load of laundry in the morning before I even go down the stairs. It's done (maybe not folded, but dry before kids are out the door. Less work putting clothes away as most laundry is on the upper floor.

We have a high end washer that uses little water. In 10 years only had one small issue because the soap dispenser got ugges (and that is where the wTer pushes through). You can put a drip pan under the washer if you are concerned.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

In our first house, the laundry room was in the basement and I hated it. Now my laundry room is off of the garage and kitchen. It is an improvement but I still don't like it. It seems to make so much more sense to have it upstairs so you are not lugging down baskets of dirty clothes, sheets, towels etc. On the other hand, I am forced to keep on top of the laundry because I do not want to walk into a messy laundry room every time I walk in the house from the garage.

1 mom found this helpful
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