Trying to decide whether or not to have a second floor laundry room? I share the pros and cons along with flood prevention tips if you move everything upstairs!
As with open shelving in the kitchen, second floor laundry rooms seem to divide people squarely into one of two camps – those who love it and those who are adamantly against it. When we added on to our house in Cincinnati, I had several people advise me to rethink my plan to move the laundry room to the second floor but in the end I decided to go ahead with it. I’m so glad I did – I loved it!
We used our upstairs laundry room for about four years until we moved and I thought it might help to share my experience, including the pros and cons and some important tips for preventing everyone’s biggest fear about a second floor laundry room – flooding! Hopefully this post will be helpful to those of you considering an upstairs laundry room as part of new construction or a home remodel. (post includes affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})
Second Floor Laundry Room: The Pros
1. No more lugging laundry up and down the stairs!
The dirty clothing, sheets, and towels that make up 95% of our laundry are generated upstairs so having a second floor laundry room eliminates the lugging of laundry baskets up and down the stairs.
2. You can eliminate the use of hampers in bedrooms/bedroom closets.
Older houses such as ours have small closets, making closet space a precious commodity. Since our laundry room is in the middle of the second floor, I keep two large hampers in the laundry room and we put our dirty clothes directly in these hampers rather than keeping hampers in our rooms. In addition to freeing up space in the bedroom closets, it eliminates the time it takes to collect the laundry from various rooms before starting the wash.
3. Doing the laundry takes less time
For both of the reasons above, doing laundry takes less time. And let’s face it, could there be a bigger pro??
Second Floor Laundry Rooms: The Cons
1. Second floor laundry rooms can make it hotter in the summer
Running the dryer during the summer months can make it hotter upstairs and increase your a/c bill. However, I found that if I’m vigilant about keeping the door from the laundry room to the hall shut, it’s not an issue.
2. Noise from the washer and dryer can wake nappers
I am blessed with having girls who are great sleepers so it’s never been an issue in our house, but if you have light sleepers and like to do laundry at nap time and nighttime, noise from the washer and dryer being a problem is something to think about.
3. Possible flood damage
A washing machine that overflows or washer hose that bursts can cause much more damage to the house when the washer is on the second floor. Fortunately, if you follow a few simple tips (see below) it will significantly minimize the likelihood that this will be an issue.
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4. Vibration of Washer
Front loading washing machines can cause significant vibration during the spin cycle and potentially result in the machine “walking”, although it’s much less of an issue with today’s front loading washer and dryers than when they first came out. For this reason, some choose to use the older style top loaders in second floor laundry rooms. If you’re getting a new washer and dryer for an upstairs laundry room, definitely check reviews about how much vibration the sets you are looking at produce and use that information in making your purchase decision. If you have issues with vibration and “walking” of your washer and dryer, anti-vibration pads such as {these} can definitely help (I’ve tried them myself and they work well!).
Flood Prevention in Second Floor Laundry Rooms
1. Have a Water Shut-off Valve That’s Easily Accessible
When your washer isn’t in use, use the water shut-off valve to turn off the water supply to the washer to eliminate the possibility of a flood due to a burst hose. Another option is to install an electronic valve shutoff kit such as Floodstop (available {here}) that has a water sensor that you place under the washing machine – when water is sensed due to a leak or flooding it automatically shuts off the water supply.
2. Use Steel Braided Washer Hoses
Steel braided washer hoses such as {these} are much less likely to burst than standard washer hoses so paying just a few dollars more for a higher quality washer hose is definitely worth it. Upgrading to steel braided hoses is actually a good idea no matter what floor your washer is located on.
3. Place Your Washing Machine in a Drain Pan
By using a drain pan, if your washing machine were to overflow, it would go down the sides of the machine into the drain pan, which is attached to a pipe that drains the water away and prevent an upstairs flood.
4.Consider Adding a Leak Detector
In a worst case scenario that a floor does occur, a leak detector can alert you to the problem before the damage becomes to great. Newer ones such as {this leak alert device} have the ability to send you an email alert so you are alerted even if you’re not home to hear it. I actually have one of these by our water heater and luckily we haven’t needed it but I’ve tested it and it works great!
Having had homes with laundry rooms on all different levels (including the basement – hated that!!), a second floor laundry room is definitely my preferred spot. I’d love to hear your experiences – if you’ve had both first and second floor laundry, which do you prefer?
Want other ideas for your laundry room? Check out these favorite posts:
Our Laundry Room Cabinets (On the Cheap!)
Anonymous says
We had a 1st floor laundry and we moved it to the second. Much better. Then we had 4 daughters. Our old large Victorian also had a large 3rd floor. 3 large bedrooms and a large storage room. We cut one of the bedrooms in half and turned it into a bathroom with walk in shower and the other part a laundry room with an extra vanity. So now we have 2 laundry areas. 2nd and 3rd floor. 4 girls. Noise not an issue with the plaster and old sturdy construction. Some of these decisions we ever made.
Denise says
Vibration pads help but so does sound proof insulation. We insulated all interior walls with fire and sound insulation(for various reasons).
Kat says
New reply to old post! Currently renovating our home which originally had the laundry room on the main floor. We had our main laundry room moved to the basement and decided to install a secondary set on the 2nd floor in the master bedroom linen closet with french doors. (Separate from his/her closet). We initially entertained a laundry chute but settled on this when we realized the chute wouldn’t be possible. Grabbed a stackable ventless lg set with low vibration technology & dual heat pump technology to avoid extra humidity
Tammy says
I see this is an old post but wanted to write in case other like me google in the future. Great article by the author Kris. & I found that others who commented about their own experiences was very helpful too. I am going to be renovating a house we just bought. I Googled if it’s better to have Laundry room upstairs.
Right now at my current home, we have a designated laundry room located to the side of my garage door entrance downstairs. It has its own little room with sink and closets build above it. my current house is a 2 story house. I’ve been lugging laundry baskets up our 17 steps (up & down is 34 steps lol) makes me so lazy to do laundry. (But good exercise though!) I don’t know if there are others like me, but after drying about 3-5 loads, I tend to leave it in the baskets in the laundry room for one week before I would drag myself to bring the 3-5 loads back upstairs to put it all away. I don’t want to carry it up after each load is because I am lazy! yes i admit. laundry is the only chore I dread doing. So from all that said, this is why I’m on this article. closing on New home and considering moving laundry upstairs. at the new house the laundry machines are located right at the entrance of garage door, But its in a small closet space that fits only the machine. It does not have its own room like how I have now where i can just shut the door when we have guest. This is just behind folded doors. I purchased brand new front loaders and in order to do laundry with the front loaders i need to leave the folded doors open. Its an eye sore to have laundry baskets and clothes stacked viewable right in the hallway. there is a little room upstairs next to master bedroom. we’ll have to check to see if a electrician can run a higher volt there in order to handle washer and dryer voltage. & next to it on the other side is a main 2nd floor bathroom so hoping the plumber is able to attach the drainage with the bathroom drainage. Thinking about doing laundry upstairs sounds so convenient! Steps away from each bedroom for me to put the clothes away faster. I’m not worry about the noise that it may make, that is not bothersome for us because we lived in LA busy city for 25 years so we’re use to the noises. I’m just worried about vibration that may cause issue to the structure of the 2nd floors(?)…will it cause anything in the future(?) & of course worries about water burst….UGH those are very important to take into consideration…but if we do decide to relocate it upstairs, we are definitely going to take the tips from this article. 1.Steel braids hose, 2. a Pan, and 3. anti vibration pads for the machines.