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I also have a second floor laundry and would prefer a first floor. Everyone says that being on the second floor is more convenient, etc., because that's where all the dirty laundry is but I find that I just don't do laundry as efficiently now. That's because I spend most of the day downstairs. Before my laundry was in the kitchen area and I could just run in when I remembered and switch it around. Now, it's upstairs and I just don't get up there to switch it.
However, we are fairly new to this house and perhaps I will get more used to it. We'll see!
I'm voting for the ground floor laundry as well. Not the basement, not the 2nd floor, but right off the kitchen where I can easily whip through lots of loads in between everything else I'm doing at the time in the kitchen, DR, or LR. Never found it a problem to bring clothes up or downstairs while I'm going up or down anyway. I wouldn't want the laundry in the basement if the stairway was narrow or otherwise tricky though.
I have one upstairs now and I really wish I did not buy this house for that reason. There is no room. I have front loaders and when I open the doors, there is no room to transfer the laundry. The sleeping issue is a big thing since I like starting early on the weekends and running late into the evenings although my oldest son sleeps through everything. We did have the misfortune of having the drain hose pop out of the drain the wall causing water to run down the wall and all over the floor. Luckily I was in the garage already when it happenend so not much damage was done. We are lucky they put it above the garage so it won't damage carpet or hardwood on the first floor. The only advantage I see is the fact that you don't have far to carry the dirty laundry and I fold in the master so I just walk the basket around the corner. Oh and one more negative, my kids have dirt bikes so they have to disrobe in the garage before trekking upstairs or else I would have mud from the garage up the steps and to the bathroom. Mud rooms are much better. Nothing beats my last house, I have a laundry room on the first floor and basement. That was ideal.
I will also vote for main level (basement if an older ranch). Our 4 bedrooms are on the second level, laundry on the first. We don't have a mud room, but the laundry room is immediately inside the house where we come in from the garage. It is extremely convenient to be able to do laundry during the day without having to go upstairs each time to change loads out. I could see the benefit of only having to carry laundry a few feet, but I would be running up and down the stairs all day just to change loads. I'd MUCH rather make one or two trips to bring dirty clothing down to the main level in the morning and one or two trips to the second level to put the clean clothes away in the evening than make 14 trips during the course of the entire day. Not to mention, especially during summer time, we spend a lot of time outside and can hear the washer and dryer beep from our main floor laundry - doubt we could if it were upstairs.
We built our house new, and I would only buy one that had the laundry room upstairs, which limited us greatly. I am so glad we did this. Though I am worried about a possible leak (we did have one before on the first floor of our last house), it is so much more convenient that I'll take the risk. I can do laundry anytime of day. I just shut the door in the laundry room at night, and it is far enough from all the bedrooms that you can't hear it, except for one. My son sleeps in the bedroom next to it and never moves when I am running the machines. With the amount of laundry we do in our household (which has somehow increased since we moved), an upstairs laundry room is a must.
Thanks for all the replies to my post. They've been most informative. There were issues I hadn't considered, like the early morning and late night noise bothering the family. Where I live now, the laundry is off a hallway that runs between the kitchen and the garage. It's a great location. Basement laundry rooms?? Been there, done that. Never again.
In our last house, the design had the laundry upstairs between the two kid's bedrooms. For many of the reasons stated above we had the builder rework the plans to bring the laundry downstairs (in fact all the way to the basement). In the end, DW had a nice 15x20 room for the washer/dryer/extra freezer/sewing table. The kids were able to get walk-in closets with the extra space upstairs, and I got to lug the laundry baskets up and down the two flights of stairs. In the end, we viewed this setup as a positive!
Problem is, the water hasn't come from the machine itself, but from the hose in back on the machine where it goes into the drain in the wall. It overflows that space, rushes down the wall and spreads out quickly all over the whole utility room floor. I don't think the pan under my washer would have helped catch it.
There is technology to prevent this, inlcuding the pans, cut offs and usually in newer homes where the water connects, they create gaps to cover any overage unless your connector comes lose and starts circling the air, you would be fine. Either way, convenience is usually better in 2nd floor for most people.
I hate laundry cabinets and the ones in the kitchen, so I am strickly speaking about laundry rooms.
Well loves...if it isn't for bad luck on washers, you wouldn't have any at all! I have mine on the second floor, and like Sunny, THAT was a big selling point for me. Back in the northeast, the dang laundry was in the basement...let's see, one basket down from the second floor to 2 stories down to the basement. Then you go upstairs...come down again to switch to dryer then load the second load, and then up again. Come down to take it out of the dryer, and switch from washer to dryer. Repeat about 7 times on weekends. You get the picture... as the primary laundry diva in the house, I could give a rat's a$$$ if my family can't sleep with the raucous...which BTW with the new front loaders where I can choose spin speed, noise is non-existent. I can also choose loudness of the buzzers or choose none at all. Everyone in my household could sleep through a tornado anyhow, and if anyone ever is awake due to laundry, they would not dare let me know or they might just have to do the next load won't they?
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I have mine on the second floor, and like Sunny, THAT was a big selling point for me. Back in the northeast, the dang laundry was in the basement...let's see, one basket down from the second floor to 2 stories down to the basement. Then you go upstairs...come down again to switch to dryer then load the second load, and then up again. Come down to take it out of the dryer, and switch from washer to dryer. Repeat about 7 times on weekends. You get the picture... as the primary laundry diva in the house, I could give a rat's a$$$ if my family can't sleep with the raucous...which BTW with the new front loaders where I can choose spin speed, noise is non-existent. I can also choose loudness of the buzzers or choose none at all. Everyone in my household could sleep through a tornado anyhow, and if anyone ever is awake due to laundry, they would not dare let me know or they might just have to do the next load won't they?
