Laundry in garage

[ilovemk76]

I always think of a garage as a dirty place and not somewhere to get my clothes clean. I would never want on in a garage.

 

[m&m's mom]

My fantasy is to have what a friend of mine does. She has a full washer and dryer in a small room attached to her closet which has all dressers built in. She opens one door and voila! Clothes put away.
The 2nd set of washer and dryer is upstairs between her daughters bedroom.
That would be sooo nice. My laundry room is on the exact opposite side of my closet and my DD's never want to take their own clothes up.

 

[MrsPete]

If you're going to make a 3 car garage and not need the space for 3 cars, why not take one of the bays and make it the laundry/storage area. Or even it take 1/2 of one of the bays and make it a laundry/storage area. You could actually wall it in so it is separate from the "car" part of the garage...add washer, dryer, cabinets, shelves, drying racks. Ad a little heat for the chilly winter, make a little spot for a fan for the hot summer and you're good to go.

I think your idea of actually timing how long you spend in the laundry room at any given time is a good one. My laundry is in my basement and the most time I probably spend down there at any given time is maybe 15 minutes sorting or folding or hanging things that I don't put in the dryer.

With 40+ acres and everything still hypothetical, we absolutely have the space . . . but enclosing one of the car bays would be the same as building on the office, which is going to cost more money. I'm trying to determine whether having the laundry in the garage would be a little imposition or a big deal. It'll absolutely be a lot cheaper.

I'm definitely going to start timing myself over the next week or so. I can't gauge it on just one load -- I've got to get a good average.

 

[MrsPete]

I wish I could afford to move my washer/dryer into the garage! Mine is in a hall directly across from our downstairs master bedroom and around the corner from the family room so the noise is horrendous! Since it is not a room, I also don't have room to have cabinets(I do have wire racks but would prefer cabinetry.) and I lost out on having a slop sink- which I used to soak things all the time in. I do have rolling clothes racks and hang dry most of my and dds clothes in the garage with no problem but it would be great if everything were there and I could make the laundry 'closet' a real pantry!

I have cabinets above my washer/dryer now, and they're totally useless to me: I'm short, and with the washer/dryer in the way, I can't reach even the bottom shelf. I use them to store things like seasonal dishes -- things I dont need often.

Now, I LOVE pantries. I'm building the biggest pantry you've ever seen; I'm keeping the kitchen rather small, but the pantry'll have space for all my occasionally-used appliances, cake pans (you wouldn't believe how many I have), and home-canned goods.

 

[Goofyluver]

Ours was in the garage at one of the last houses I lived in.

I hated every second of it.

First, the garage wasn't heated, so during the winter when it was cold (do you get extreme weather?), I had to wear shoes to go do the laundry otherwise my feet froze. If it was really cold, I also had to put on a coat.

Then, in the summer, you burned.

We also had wind and dirt...which meant that every time I opened the garage and it was windy, in blew dirt...straight onto my machine. I was forever cleaning that thing.

Anyways...hope this helps.

 

[Buckalew11]

I'd def. put a mop sink in there when you plumb for the washer! Behind my shop in the 2nd bay of the attached garage, I put a closet in that holds the hot water heater, a mop sink, a cabinet for all my hair supplies, and a shelving unit for gallons of shampoo and laundry detergent (etc.)

Someday I will stop doing hair (right? RIGHT?? lol) and I'll be able to use the shop for some wonderful walk in something or other---office, storage pantry, something...

 

[golfgal]

It wouldn't work here--way too cold in the winter--but I don't see an issue with it at all. You could have some vinyl flooring layed near the machines so you would have an easily cleanable surface to work with. I wouldn't mind having laundry in the garage if our garage was heated and had AC . I would at LEAST insulate your garage if you did this though. That wouldn't add much extra cost (and put in an insulated garage door).

As for having a 5 car garage, we had a 4+ car garage at our old house but you would have never known that unless you went into the garage or our back yard. It was 2 cars deep on each side so it looked like a 2 car garage from the front. Could you work something like that out in your design?

 

[tvguy]

My impression has been that more expensive homes have inside laundries, less expensive ones have laundry rooms.
In my subdivision, the smaller floor plans (1,350-1,500) have the laundry in the garage, and the larger floor plans (1,500 to 2,200) have the inside laundry.
My house has an inside laundry between the garage and the kitchen.
We converted that to a pantry when we added on to the back of the house and built a new laundry "closet" in the addition, along with a half bath, a 6 x10 walkin closet, and a 10 by 16 bedroom.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I don't have a lot of experience with it (I'm in New England, where the pipes would freeze) but my Dad's house in Florida has the laundry in the garage.

When we visit, I actually find it less trouble than hauling the baskets up and down my basement stairs.

I'd say the outdoor kitchen you want is worth it.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Personally I would hate it and I would worry about resale, but everyone is different. If it would help you save money and you didn't mind it then go for it.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would not be a fan of a laundry in the garage! Are garages air conditioned in places?? If not then no way am I doing laundry in some hot garage!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

We live in SC too and this is what we have

2 sets of washers and dryers

Many homes around here have their laundry room on the bedroom level.
No lugging baskets up and down stairs, etc.

But when we built, some of the options from the builder were a 220 Volt anywhere you wanted and the option of a slop sink the garage. So that's what we did. Got the 220 v and the water line/drain hook-up in the garage.
So now we have a 2nd set in the garage.

Which is perfect for all that gross stuff you don't want to really bring in the house. Such as camping stuff, gross shoes, garage/workshop rags/towels, pet care stuff, etc.

It's heaven having 2 sets

 

[cybrkitn]

We currently have that set up (living with FIL) and I can tell you that I can't stand it. The garage gets too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. In the winter, we have to worry about the pipes possibly freezing (the house is poured concrete and is a little over a 100 years old now)

I'm looking forward to the day we move out and not have to worry about having our "laundry room" in the garage.

 

[dyna]

I say put it where ever you want for you an yours. I would allow for a large laundry sink for washing out nasty stuff before going in washer and washing stuff I can't put in washer.

I'm another one who had washer flood my house when washer overflowed. I've also had washers leak out the bottom too so like them outside my house now. Just recently drain hose went bad on washer an I'd have had another flood mess but being washer is in shop area outside of house it no big deal.

Shop area is not insulated or heated or cooled but for the length of time I spend loading an unloading washer an dryer it no big deal. I also like having the noise outside the house. Shop area an sunroom is very clean an no bad odors windows almost always open out there.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

They have that ALLOT here in SoCal. But remember the temps are very nice all year long. SoCal homes have no basements. So quite a few of my friends have their laundry areas in their garages. Works absolutely fine. Just depends what climate you live in.

Agreed.

I live in So Cal, and our laundry has always been in the garage. It really is no issue for us. The garage is attached to the house.

 

[tar heel]

Hot in summer, cold in the winter -- no way would I put the laundry in the garage. Remember that you eventually will not be as healthy as you are right now, and going out in the cold may be a big deal. Walking down just a couple of steps even may be a problem. You may keep your garage pristine, but mine isn't clean enough -- if I dropped a towel, it would have to be washed again.

If I were building my dream house, I would have a big laundry/project room INSIDE the house.

One reason we're in the house we're in now is that the old one had the laundry in the basement, which was half a drive-in garage. It would be difficult to describe how much I hated that arrangement.

 

[Handbag Lady]

The coolest thing I ever saw in my entire HGTV-watching life was a washer and dryer designed and built into the master closets. It was a his-and-hers master closet and the washer/dryer was in the middle.

Genius.

 

[denisem]

Hot in summer, cold in the winter -- no way would I put the laundry in the garage. Remember that you eventually will not be as healthy as you are right now, and going out in the cold may be a big deal. Walking down just a couple of steps even may be a problem. You may keep your garage pristine, but mine isn't clean enough -- if I dropped a towel, it would have to be washed again.

If I were building my dream house, I would have a big laundry/project room INSIDE the house.

One reason we're in the house we're in now is that the old one had the laundry in the basement, which was half a drive-in garage. It would be difficult to describe how much I hated that arrangement.

BBM - me too!!! Closets for drip dry, to store vacuum, carpet cleaner, etc.; cupboards galore, room for sewing, permanent ironing board, island table for folding, crafts, workbench.

For those that use garage for laundry - is your garage used mainly as storage and kept closed w/cars parked outside? I realize it's not uncommon here in FL, but we use our garage for cars & regularly open it - and I know what kinda critters make their way in!

 

[TaraPA]

I'm sure this'd matter to most people, but not to me. This is our retirement house, which will be built on family land. It will never be sold. No neighborhood to "fit into" -- we'll be faaaaar from everyone else.

Then put it where you want it! When we built our house 6 years ago I wanted my laundry upstairs attached to my master bath or master bedroom. Everyone said I was nuts. The builder tried to talk me out of it because of resale value. I plan to stay here til I die, so what do I care about resale? I'd rather be comfortable for the next 10, 20, 30 +++ years than worry about resale & have an inconvenient laundry room!

I ended up putting it IN my master bedroom. There was a bath right outside the master to go with a guest bedroom, but I didn't need (or want) 6 bathrooms. So we used that space to extend the master bedroom, and the door to the laundry room is IN the master. I spend a lot of time in my master, my office & computer are in the attached sitting room, so it's PERFECT for me. All of the used bedrooms are on this same floor so no schelpping wash downstairs (had it in the basement in our last house - never again!)

I'm soooo glad I didn't listen to everyone else & did what I wanted. I absolutely love it! Do what will make YOU most comfortable & works best for your family.

 

[goodeats]

Personally I've always found it a pain. My in-laws set is in the garage, and with DD I hate leaving her unsupervised while I go out there really quick to switch the loads, so everything takes longer. Of course if your DH will be home too that may not be an issue (I'm thinking about grandchildren). Plus you have to put your shoes on to go in the garage, which is no fun. And yes, I do think of the garage as 'dirty'.

I suppose a leaking/burst hose is an issue, but I would prefer a set near the master bedroom like all the new construction homes have around here. So convenient! You might be able to fit them into your master bath/closet without much additional cost.

But it's *your" forever house, so do what you want!