A Minimal Requirement
My next home will have some minimal requirements, and one of these involves the laundry facilities. It is transparently obvious that the people who design American homes have never washed their own clothes. Nobody actually responsible for this task would ever put the washing machine and dryer in the basement of the house. The very idea is insane. It may have made sense when washing machines were first invented back in the 18th century, but not now.
It shouldn't take an efficiency expert to figure out that the laundry facilities should be where the clothes are kept. And that isn't in the basement. In a multi-story house it usually isn't even on the first floor.
I've been told that the "laundry-in-the-basement" idea is because the washing unit could leak and cause structural damage, but that argument, if you will pardon the expression, doesn't hold water. Architects run water to sinks, toilets, automatic dishwashers, showers, baths and bidets on every floor of a house. It is only the washing machine (and her consort, the dryer) that gets consigned to the domestic dungeon. Can you imagine the ridicule an architect would face if he put the dishwasher in the basement? Would anyone seriously carry their dishes down a full flight of stairs, load them in a machine, and then lug the dishes back UP the stairs to put them away in the kitchen?
People do this all the time with their laundry, never questioning the absurdity.
If I'm expected to do the laundry at our next home (and, trust me, I will be) then the laundry facilities and the clothes will be housed very close to each other. I don't care if that will require some rewiring and replumbing; the place should have been wired and plumbed sensibly in the first place.
It shouldn't take an efficiency expert to figure out that the laundry facilities should be where the clothes are kept. And that isn't in the basement. In a multi-story house it usually isn't even on the first floor.
I've been told that the "laundry-in-the-basement" idea is because the washing unit could leak and cause structural damage, but that argument, if you will pardon the expression, doesn't hold water. Architects run water to sinks, toilets, automatic dishwashers, showers, baths and bidets on every floor of a house. It is only the washing machine (and her consort, the dryer) that gets consigned to the domestic dungeon. Can you imagine the ridicule an architect would face if he put the dishwasher in the basement? Would anyone seriously carry their dishes down a full flight of stairs, load them in a machine, and then lug the dishes back UP the stairs to put them away in the kitchen?
People do this all the time with their laundry, never questioning the absurdity.
If I'm expected to do the laundry at our next home (and, trust me, I will be) then the laundry facilities and the clothes will be housed very close to each other. I don't care if that will require some rewiring and replumbing; the place should have been wired and plumbed sensibly in the first place.