Replies

1. 
   Jer | Dec 12, 2008 05:08am | #1

   Pan, a drain & foam insulation.

   Voila!!

2. 
   38669227 | Dec 12, 2008 05:12am | #2

   Burst hoses? I've heard of that happening,

1. 
   calvin | Dec 12, 2008 05:20am | #4

   You can get a sensor that stops the water flow immediately if it picks up a leak.

   When she does laundry what else does she do?  Watch TV, pay bills, cook, read, yardwork..............

   We've found a trip up/down the stairs to the laundry on the main living floor is much more convenient than having the washer close to where the clothes come off upstairs.  This with one daughter (seems tried on meant worn).  Now she's gone, much lighter load.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.

   Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

   http://www.quittintime.com/

    

1. 
   gotcha | Dec 12, 2008 08:20am | #10

   Calvin,
   Bosch makes a front load washer with 2 shut offs.
   One internal water in lower part of washer, and the hoses actually have a shutoff built in. Pressure changes, hose shuts off.The Samsung maching has an amazing balance system to assure quiet spin even if way out of balance.Pete

2. 
   MisterT | Dec 12, 2008 06:37am | #6

   SS braided hoses.
   .
   "After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
   .
   .
   .
   If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???

1. 
   MikeSmith | Dec 13, 2008 05:18am | #25

   throw out the hoses that came with the macine and get the   ss hoses

    

   1st fl..... 2d floor... whatever... the laundry belongs close to the principle bedrooms

   Mike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

   Edited 12/12/2008 9:26 pm ET by MikeSmith

3. 
   baberuth | Dec 12, 2008 05:13am | #3

   i have one of the high efficiency front loaders on the 2nd floor of my 100 year old house. when it hits the spin cycle, the windows in the room below it chatter a little. they are the original windows, but I am used to the program of an old house. it is worth is not shagging the laundry to the basement.

4. 
   LiveFreeorDie | Dec 12, 2008 06:35am | #5

   A town house that I rented last year had that set up, I loved it, it was so much more convenient than a downstairs washer and dryer. No noise problems, no leak problems.

5. 
   gfretwell | Dec 12, 2008 06:53am | #7

   I think this usually comes down to whether you plan on doing laundry while someone is sleeping. If the assumption is everyone will be awake I don't see the problem.

6. 
   Jay20 | Dec 12, 2008 07:10am | #8

   Learned a few tricks from commercial construction I applied to residential.  Some of the tricks I used in office buildings that had multiple floors and multiple inside hvac units on various floors. When the flooring was wood I installed blocking on the sides of the joists ware the upstairs wash room was to be. I then installed strips of plywood on the blocking. This was the subfloor. The top of the plywood ended up about 1-1/2" down from the top of the joist. I doubled plated the bottom of all partitions surrounding the laundry room. Not because I thought it needed it but some thick headed inspectors din't understand the concept I used pressure treated plates on the bottom of these partitions. I had the plumber install a floor drain in the middle of the laundry room. The trick is to know what the adjacent flooring was to be to the laundry room at the door.  If an underlayment was to be used I found the thickness and made a piece that I nailed down in the doorway with the edge in the middle of the door. I let all the subs come in and do their thing and had the house stocked with drywall. I figured this would flex the joist as much as they could be. I then poured concrete over the whole laundry room floor. I allowed the edges against the partitions to follow the top of the bottom plate then feathered it down to the door and this made for a taper to the floor drain in the middle of the room.  The concrete was 3" on the perimeter except ware the door was and it tapered down to about 1-1/2" at the floor drain. The concrete added weight and minimized the noise to lower floors. Had a couple of customers tell me later they had water issues from the washer and the water ran to the floor drain. Usually in a laundry room the flooring is lanolin any way so when the projects were competed no one could tell concrete was there. The tapers in the floor were hardly noticeable in these laundry rooms they were about 10 X 10.

1. 
   38669227 | Dec 12, 2008 07:25am | #9

   Wow Jay20. That's really thorough, thanks. I wish I could work with guys who think like you more often.
   The big problem as I see it is a clogged stand pipe or a burst hose, either of which could be a catastrophe over a finished space. Pans will help, and the shut down sensor sounds good too. I've recently seen an auto shut off supply hose at the hdw. store, but can't see how it works. A floor drain with perhaps a curb could protect against failure too.
   I'd like to see about vibration/sound dampening too. Thanks all for the advice.

2. 
   EricPaulson | Dec 13, 2008 01:54am | #14

   What method did you incorprate to keep the trap wet?

   That floor drain would never pass inspection here and is a potential hazard if not kept full. 

1. 
   Jay20 | Dec 13, 2008 04:32am | #18

   Had to tell the home owner to put water in it every once in a wile. There may be something better out there now.

2. 
   john7g | Dec 13, 2008 04:33am | #19

   was reading somewhere here that something like vegetable oil or something like that that didn't evaporate. 

1. 
   EricPaulson | Dec 13, 2008 04:47am | #20

   Not going to pass an inspection though.

   He needs a wet trap $$ 

1. 
   john7g | Dec 13, 2008 04:52am | #21

   doh!  missed the part re: absent wet trap

2. 
   EricPaulson | Dec 13, 2008 04:58am | #22

   There wasn't much white space in his post, I almost tossed it from the get go.

   Jees man, take a breath and hit the enter key. 

3. 
   john7g | Dec 13, 2008 05:07am | #23

   he

    

   needs

    

   a lesson

    

    

   from Jeff Buck

2. 
   CableRigger | Dec 13, 2008 05:14am | #24

   I built a plywood pedestal under my front loader - stuffed the inside with leftover EPS foam boards (seems to be pretty quiet in room under). Before mounting the deck, I went to local marine chandlery and bought a cockpit drain (not unlike a shower drain, but intended for boats) and some flexible hose. Routed the hose through joist bay out to daylight through an exterior wall with another cockpit drain - first secured the hose to joist in the shape of a "P" trap - the rest has some moderate pitch to it. The plywood pedestal sides have a 1" curb. I fiberglassed this pan (2 layers), used pigment to color the resin so it matched the trim paint in the room.

   I use non-toxic antifreeze (used for RV and boat fresh water systems) in the "P" trap- it doesn't evaporate in in five years of use I've only felt the need to top it up once.

   Edited 12/12/2008 9:14 pm ET by CableRigger

1. 
   MikeSmith | Dec 13, 2008 05:25am | #26

   victor.... i love ya man.... but these old eyes need some white space

   use your

   return

   keyMike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

2. 
   CableRigger | Dec 13, 2008 05:39am | #27

   Okay, Okay,

   message

   received

   and

   understood

3. 
   MikeSmith | Dec 13, 2008 05:42am | #28

   now who was that other guy with the   r  e  a  l    long  run-on-post  ?

    

   hey... i really like your houseMike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

4. 
   CableRigger | Dec 13, 2008 06:07am | #29

   It wasn't what we were looking for when buying a home in this area. Thought we'd  

   be getting something more typical of a small New England town. Once we saw it  we

   couldn't resist. A bit out of the ordinary - the guy who built it was a photographer and

   illustrator so through his sons (both in their 80's - born and grew up here) gave us a

   whole lot of photos and drawings - even a steel printing plate of a greeting card

   showing an aerial view of the house and property.

   Here's a photo of owner and his brother working on the foundations the manly man

   way - looks like a sledge about to strike a star drill.

   BTW - that's the CT River in the distance - too many trees to see it now.

   
3. 
   timothale | Dec 13, 2008 07:13am | #31

   We helped my step daughter with her hew house. 2 laundry rooms...one on second floor for 3 top bedrooms one in basement for bottom 2 bedrooms..she loves it... no carring stuff between floors.

7. 
   drystone | Dec 13, 2008 12:01am | #11

   I was in a house in New Zealand where they had the washing machine and the drier in an upstairs alcove.  Both were front loaders.  The washing machine sat normally on the floor but the drier was set on top of it, upside down so that they could reach the controls. 

    

8. 
   RobWes | Dec 13, 2008 01:20am | #12

   Ours is on the first floor as the design just wouldn't work on the second floor. In a room all by itself, front loader stack unit, Kenmore QE2T or something like that. Room is well fg insulated and a solid core door. You'd be hard pressed to hear it under normal home noise but I wouldn't want it backed up to the BR while trying to get to sleep.

   How about the first floor with a laundry shute?

   On any finished floor, be sure to install a drain to the basement. I didn't need a pan as we sloped the gypcrete to a drain hole under the center of the machine space into the basement. No 'P' trap needed or to worry about keeping filled with water.

1. 
   madmadscientist | Dec 13, 2008 01:25am | #13

   Not to hijack this thread but what about dryers in this situation?

   Are electric driers generally used in these situations?

   thanks,

   Daniel Neumansky

   Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA.  Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/ 

   Oakland CA 

   Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer

9. 
   Mongo | Dec 13, 2008 01:56am | #15

   I put our laundry on the second floor just outside the kids' bedrooms.

   Used what everyone else recommended...mass on the floor, a pan w drain under the washer, braided hoses on the washer, manual hot/cold shutoff valve in the wall as well as an auto shutoff with sensor in the pan.

   Electrical LG dryer. Used to have a top loading washer, we have a front loader, LG.

   Been in for years, no regrets. makes "upstairs downstairs" just a boring BBC show and not a way of life.

10. 
    ronbudgell | Dec 13, 2008 02:14am | #16

    Main floor installation - it's close to the clothesline.

    Ron

11. 
    rondon | Dec 13, 2008 02:21am | #17

    We build our house in 1980 and have our laundry room right of the master bath.  Have not had any porblems what-so-ever.  A couple of years ago we go a front loader and the noise is very niminal with the high speed spin cycle.

12. 
    Cal67 | Dec 13, 2008 06:42am | #30

    Hi,

    I have read the posts by others and like there recommendations.  I will be a bit negative about these new front loaders.  I have a Kenmore HE 2 plus sitting on a Kenmore pedestal (wife lower back problems and just nice to have it elevated.)  I still have the old fashion dryer.  Installation is in my one story home with a slab foundation.  On high spin it vibrates with a good deal of noise and initially "walked around"on the ceramic tile floor.  Since it wanted to move primarily to the left, a 2 x 2 placed next to the base plate of a well braced short interior wall caught the unit and stopped most of the walking.  It still vibrated excessively--and still does compared to the old top loader. 

    Because it was still under warranty and I had paid for delivery and set up, I called the repair man out to check for defects, failure to remove internal packing restraints, etc.  He verified that the machine was set up correctly and level.  He told me that the machine will vibrate more on the spin cycle and the pedestal will actually amplify the vibration.  Some have recommended that a pedestal not be used on a second story installation.  I essentially am irritated but living with the problem.  I asked about the self destructive nature of such vibration and that potential problem was also acknowledged.  The electronics, including some car like self diagnostics (look in back of the front bottom panel) are a lot more than we saw in the old top loaders.

    Someone mentioned that the Bosch unit ran pretty well.  This does not surprise me.  They have been in front of the pack in a lot of areas.

    I think it is against the rules to send you to someone else's forum.  So, I only suggest you check  some other forums.  There was a pretty long series of posts in another forum that dealt with people who "innocently" installed the new front loader efficiency units on the second floor (replacing the top loader in older construction) and had real problems or were concerned about the vibration it caused in the floor and walls.  Thread considered dampening approaches, floor reinforcement, etc.---topics the posts in this forum have addressed largely in the context of new construction.

    Good luck,

    Cal