Laundry in garage

[Tinkermommy]

Okay, I know what I'm going to do: I'm going to put a timer out in the laundry room, and I'm going to measure just how long it takes me to start the laundry, take a load out, etc. That'll allow me to make a realistic judgement on whether it's worth the savings to move the laundry out to the garage.

Good idea.

Sounds like your garage is not connected to the house. If so, I would also go outside every time I had to go to the laundry room. So if it's raining, windy, etc you would have to consider that as well.

My garage is constantly dirty. My husband blows it out with the leaf blower every week because it needs it. We use our garage a lot and I would not want my clothes in that area.

I think if this is your retirement home you need to think long term. What may be a minor inconvenience now could become a major pain later.

 

[MrsPete]

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.

I'm suprised it took 'til page three to come up with this. It was one of my first concerns. As I make plans for this house, I look at my grandmother and think to myself, "How could she handle this or that?" In fact, I've revamped the upstairs because of her. Why? Because right now what she really wants is for one of us to come live with her, and that's not a possibility -- partially because of her small bedrooms. So instead of having two "equal" bedrooms upstairs (which I'd want for small children) I'm shrinking one into a just-big-enough-for-queen-sized-bed and making the other more of an "upstairs master" with a tub AND a shower, a walk-in closet, etc. My thinking is that if someday I need one of my children (or grandchildren or a paid person) to come live with me, that bedroom would make it easier. I figure it's unlikely that BOTH of my daughters will want to return home after college AT THE SAME TIME and will fuss over the nicer room.

But I digress . . . my almost-100 year old grandmother would have difficulty going up even 1-2 steps with a laundry basket in her hands. She goes in and out of her own garage just fine, but she has a "handle bar" which she holds as she steps up. She's not developed an aversion to hot or cold though, so I don't see that as an aging issue.

Sounds like your garage is not connected to the house. If so, I would also go outside every time I had to go to the laundry room. So if it's raining, windy, etc you would have to consider that as well.

No, if it were detached, I wouldn't consider this option. At this moment, though, the garage doesn't exist -- except on my blueprints and in my head. I'm still making hypothetical choices and developing opinions.


In conclusion . . . THANKS for all of you for your thoughts.

If I were building a house for myself RIGHT NOW, I'd absolutely go with the garage. It's cheaper, and I don't buy into the biggest nay: The idea that a garage is dirty. I really like the idea that the NOISE would go outside. I've measured my time in the laundry room, and the hands-on time in the room is VERY SMALL. Only 17 minutes total for three loads IN the room. (Admittedly, someone who has a large room, who sorts in the room, who stays in there to iron would use more, but that's MY time.) For the money savings and the space savings, that's an acceptable amount of time to go out into the hot/cold.

However, this isn't a right-now house -- it's a plan for a retirement house, so I do have to think about being older. And the women in my family LIVE FOREVER. Really, we do. You can't get rid of us. At this point, I'm going to say that I'd PREFER to have an indoor laundry room and add on the little office . . . but I'm putting together my houseplans, and I'm picking out a couple places that we could "cut things" IF it's necessary. Making the existing laundry room into an office and moving the laundry out into the 3-car garage IS an acceptable idea, IF something has to go. I'd put the laundry in the garage before I'd cut the 3-car garage down to 2-cars. I'd put the laundry in the garage before I'd cut my walk-in pantry. But I'd sacrafice the pool or the outdoor kitchen (which can be added later) before I'd cut the laundry.

Thanks, again, for helping me with your ideas and experiences. It's helped me order my thoughts on this topic.

 

[famofsix]

do you really want to pull your car into the garage and see the stuff that needs hang drying?

If it were me, I would go with the closet idea if you can manage it. Have the laundry near the clothing. It would save time for you in putting away clothing.

We store the leaf blower, mower, and bikes in the garage along with the car that doesn't get cleaned often enough so I wouldn't want the clothes exposed to that dirt.

My parents have their laundry in FL off the garage and my mother always complains that it is too far from the bedroom. Also, if you plan to buy new appliances then you could look for ones that have noise reduction if the noise is a concern.

 

[malibuconlee]

Haven't read all the replies, but PLEASE DO NOT wall in a part of the garage for your laundry area unless you also run HVAC into that space. It will be HOT.

We hade a medium sized laundry room in El Paso. We had to partially close the damper in the winter because the room was small and it would get too hot in there with the heat running, but in the summer without it open it was miserable in there. This was in the house, can't imagine how hot it would be in the garage!

 

[golfgal]

Have you considered stackables that you can fit into a closet somewhere in the house? They are actually pretty handy to use, dryer on top, eye level, fold right on the lid of the washer and go.