Upstairs Utility Room

[motorbird83]

Hi all-- as part of the renovation of the house we've just bought, we are thinking of creating an upstairs utility room by reconfiguring the upstairs space a bit. It would be very small but have a washer, dryer, folding space, a sink and space for air drying things.

Upstairs utility rooms are very popular in the US but if we sell I was wondering if it would put people off in London.

The room will have a drain like a wet room does so that if there is a leak it will run into the drainage pipes without a problem. We are reinforcing the floor so that vibrations are not transferred and insulating it so it won't be noisy (as well as using anti-vibration pads). I'm sure it will work well for us, but given its unusual here, I wouldn't want to do something that would make the place really difficult to sell later on.

[pebbles]

I would be very very jealous :)

My mother has just renovated a house and has made an upstairs utility room and it works perfectly.

It would definitely be a selling plus for me :)

[snowboarder]

I am also very jealous!! I've always thought it would be a great idea - no trudging everything downstairs then back up again when dry - perfect!

I'll defo buy your house :-)

[Polly D]

When we were house hunting a few months ago we semi fell for a property in Forest Hill which had a utility room upstairs and were rather put off by it to be honest, it felt weird. I hadn't realised it is popular in the States tho. We thought the vibrations would be annoying but it sounds like you've got that covered.

Since most laundry is gathered/collected upstairs from bedrooms & bathroom it does seem to make sense to have the washing machine upstairs, tho if you want/can hang it in the garden you'd have to bring it downstairs anyway.

There were other 'better' reasons why we didn't go for the house tho...

[oimissus]

we're looking around at the mo, and I've seen a few places with this, and it has put me off. I like to hang my washing out whenever possible and it would be a drag to have to lug wet washing (so heavier than dry) downstairs. Plus, it just feels wrong. (But I am a weirdo who hates ensuites and wooden blinds and no carpets in bedrooms, so feel free to ignore!)

[sj]

We have done this and its brilliant.

I would never go back to having washing machine/drier etc in the kitchen

As others have said, no more lugging washing down and then up, no clothes hanging around downstairs, drying can be hung up out of sight, no noise of spinning machine during dinner etc

The noise of the machine upstairs is not a problem and one of my children sleeps almost next to it through the wall!

It might seem a bit odd to some but I think once you've tried it, you'll be converted. Will definitely catch on in UK.

[Pamela78]

We bought our house in Herne Hill last year and the previous owners had done this. I wasn't sure I'd like it when we moved in and considered sorting the plumbing out downstairs, but I'm glad I didn't. I love having the washing machine/drying space etc up on the top floor. The noise isn't an issue at all, and it's great not having clothes drying all over downstairs. Am totally converted.

[motorbird83]

Thanks everyone both positive and negative! As I suspected, if you've used one, you love it but if not I imagine it could put people off. Either way, it seems like more people like it than hate it both here and on this mumsnet thread. http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/792568-Upstairs-Laundry/AllOnOnePage

I think it will work well for us so I'll just risk it hurting our ability to sell if we need to move on!

In the US, luxury homes started putting a 2nd utility room upstairs in addition to the main one downstairs a while ago. However, now most new builds have the main utility room upstairs as its now the preference for convenience sake even if you just have one. I must admit, the US isn't much of a line drying country though which probably has a lot to do with it. If you line dry, I can see its not that much more convenient. For us though our garden is too small for line drying and we'll use airers. On the few rare days that its nice out, the last thing I want to stare at in the garden are my knickers flapping in the wind :)

[motorbird83]

That's interesting. I'm from the US and haven't seen any basement utility rooms but the US is a huge country :)

Actually the downstairs configuration I've seen in older properties is the utility room off the garage which to me is perfect as it then doubles as a mud / boot room. I agree that the upstairs thing is new though-- I never saw them growing up.