Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
3 in the household, live in an old 1922 Craftsman house with 1 small bathroom and no room for a laundry hamper.
I'd like to install a quick and easy laundry chute and here is my initial design:
1) There is an old 10" heat vent (like pic #1 - not actual) which opens directly to the basement laundry room below.
2) I'd like to seal the 6" duct with a cap and remove the elbow vent entirely. (We don't need heat in this bathroom.)
3) I'd like to run a 3.25 by 12" duct in the wall (pic #2)
4) Instead of using the expanded open duct show below, I'd like to use the 10" vent that is already in place.
5) I will remove the old vent and place a door to seal it.
Do you have to put a laundry hamper in the bathroom? As a kid, we had the hamper at the end of the bedroom hall. As an adult, I just have a laundry basket in my closet.
I don't think your design will work. It's just too narrow. Dirty clothes go down laundry shoots in balls. You don't put jeans in flat.
Our laundry shoot is circular, almost a foot in diameter. The same as the one in my childhood home. Even then, sometimes they would get clogged and we'd have to shove a broom stick down a couple times a year. With your design, I could see the need for a broom stick on a regular basis.
If you insist on doing it AND this is on your second floor going to the basement, make sure you have a shoot opening on the first floor too. Otherwise you won't be able to reach far enough to unclog it.
I don't think your design will work. It's just too narrow. Dirty clothes go down laundry shoots in balls. You don't put jeans in flat.
Our laundry shoot is circular, almost a foot in diameter. The same as the one in my childhood home. Even then, sometimes they would get clogged and we'd have to shove a broom stick down a couple times a year. With your design, I could see the need for a broom stick on a regular basis.
If you insist on doing it AND this is on your second floor going to the basement, make sure you have a shoot opening on the first floor too. Otherwise you won't be able to reach far enough to unclog it.
Good feedback, thanks. I agree it is narrow and I do foresee a broomstick in my future .
I didn't mention that it is only about a 12" pass of duct that it would have to travel down. So not much of a bottleneck for clothes to get jammed in. I am thinking your 1ft diameter chute had a longer travel to the destination.
I am not committed to the project yet, just kicking around thoughts.
Do you have to put a laundry hamper in the bathroom? As a kid, we had the hamper at the end of the bedroom hall. As an adult, I just have a laundry basket in my closet.
The hallway doesn't have any room. Right now we have hampers in each bedroom adjacent the bath, it gets kind of stinky sometimes lol.
Good feedback, thanks. I agree it is narrow and I do foresee a broomstick in my future .
I didn't mention that it is only about a 12" pass of duct that it would have to travel down. So not much of a bottleneck for clothes to get jammed in. I am thinking your 1ft diameter chute had a longer travel to the destination.
I am not committed to the project yet, just kicking around thoughts.
Ours are only about 12'. It just goes from a couple feet up the wall on the second floor to the ceiling of the basement. It's a straight shot, nothing to bottleneck it but clothes. You'll definitely need an opening at 1st floor so you can access clogs. A broom stick won't reach the center of 12'.
Ours are only about 12'. It just goes from a couple feet up the wall on the second floor to the ceiling of the basement. It's a straight shot, nothing to bottleneck it but clothes. You'll definitely need an opening at 1st floor so you can access clogs. A broom stick won't reach the center of 12'.
12" in the OP's case though, just 1 foot in other words. I started to post last night about how narrow it was, and I still think that 3.25" duct is way narrow. The chutes I've seen are a 12" square or perhaps larger and usually do take up some floor space (typically in a closet). But then I was thinking about the described layout, which is just above the laundry room (not on a second story with laundry in basement) and then thought well if it's close enough to the floor than this chute is going to be really short and thus clogs won't be that huge of a problem.
So I guess that's true, but then the question becomes, if the chute is that short, won't it overflow? Unless there's a large enough void for the clothes to fall into after the narrow chute, it won't be that effective as a hamper replacement. If you intended to have a trap door the way some laundry chutes work, you may not have enough space to hold the dirty laundry. But depending upon the layout below perhaps they can fall directly into a waiting laundry basket or something. Basically, the chute won't be very useful if you have to go empty it more often than you would otherwise be running a load of laundry, so you have to make sure that whatever happens at the bottom is going to be space enough to hold dirty laundry until you're ready to clean it.
Laundry shoots are no longer code in our area so installing one may be an issue. The problem I see is how will you heat your bathroom? If you seal the duct, does it block heat from other rooms (or AC?)?
I agree that clothing will not go down that shoot so you may install it and just never use it. Why not just use the existing ductwork? Why install anything? Maybe hinge the vent cover so you can open it and just toss clothing down.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. I've removed the vent and tried it, it will allow jeans to pass.
