Laundry in garage

[MrsPete]

Looking at the plans for the house we plan to build . . . our plan doesn't have an office, and we definitely want a small dedicated office space. We've been talking about adding a little "bumpout" breezeway area that'll connect the house to the garage, and that'll be the office.

BUT it occurs to me that if we move the laundry out to the garage, the laundry room could become the office (location is good -- still between the kitchen and the garage). Putting the laundry in the garage would certainly be cheaper than adding on the bump-out for the office.

I've never had laundry in the garage. What are the pros and cons? Space won't be an issue -- we're looking at a 3-car size so we'll have space for storage, tools, etc.

Oh, and we're in the Carolinas, so we rarely get down to freezing temperatures. Is that an issue with garage laundry?

Again, this is a house that's still in the planning stages, so I CAN do whatever I want, but a lovely laundry room isn't high on my list. If this is an acceptable place for laundry, I'm thinking it's a good way to save some money for other things I DO care about!

Thanks for your input.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Looking at the plans for the house we plan to build . . . our plan doesn't have an office, and we definitely want a small dedicated office space. We've been talking about adding a little "bumpout" breezeway area that'll connect the house to the garage, and that'll be the office.

BUT it occurs to me that if we move the laundry out to the garage, the laundry room could become the office (location is good -- still between the kitchen and the garage). Putting the laundry in the garage would certainly be cheaper than adding on the bump-out for the office.

I've never had laundry in the garage. What are the pros and cons? Space won't be an issue -- we're looking at a 3-car size so we'll have space for storage, tools, etc.

Oh, and we're in the Carolinas, so we rarely get down to freezing temperatures. Is that an issue with garage laundry?

Again, this is a house that's still in the planning stages, so I CAN do whatever I want, but a lovely laundry room isn't high on my list. If this is an acceptable place for laundry, I'm thinking it's a good way to save some money for other things I DO care about!

Thanks for your input.

How do you think this would affect your house's resale value? I don't know the area you're building in. Do houses in the area have grand laundry rooms or do a few have garage laundries?

 

[Buckalew11]

I had my laundry in my garage in my old house. As long as you vent it outside and are ready for a hot garage ( I left my garage up in the summer when I was home but my garage did not face the street), you could go for it.

Are you planning on 3 cars in the garage?

My house plan called for a 2 car garage attached. We built a detached 3 car garage for DH.
I took half of the attached garage and put my beauty shop in it. You could always take a section of that 3rd car garage area and section it off for a laundry area and put the air out there too. That's how we did my shop (but it is larger than your laundry area would need to be.

 

[marybet]

I wish I had a bigger laundry room. My last house the laudry area was the hallway between the garage & the kitchen, and I hated it. Can't even imagine having to go to the garage to wash clothes. You probably won't have a basement so will need the garage for storage, are you going to make it bigger?

As the PP said, bad for resale.

 

[momrek06]

They have that ALLOT here in SoCal. But remember the temps are very nice all year long. SoCal homes have no basements. So quite a few of my friends have their laundry areas in their garages. Works absolutely fine. Just depends what climate you live in.

 

[jodifla]

Growing up in Florida, our laundry was in the garage. I don't remember it being a big deal, even in the summer. It worked fine.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Could you wall it off so it is not IN the garage? (Eg you're taking up part of the garage footprint, but it's a more finished area accessible off of this office space/breezeway or whatever part of the house is connecting to the garage?

I just think of the garage as a dirty place, personally wouldn't want to be sorting laundry there. (I have a place near my washer to hang things I don't want to dry, etc. I wouldn't want to in the garage.)

 

[MrsPete]

How do you think this would affect your house's resale value? I don't know the area you're building in. Do houses in the area have grand laundry rooms or do a few have garage laundries?

I'm sure this'd matter to most people, but not to me. This is our retirement house, which will be built on family land. It will never be sold. No neighborhood to "fit into" -- we'll be faaaaar from everyone else.

I had my laundry in my garage in my old house. As long as you vent it outside and are ready for a hot garage ( I left my garage up in the summer when I was home but my garage did not face the street), you could go for it.

Are you planning on 3 cars in the garage?

Yes, 3-car space, so we'd have lots of room -- in my mind, that's one of the positives. I think it'd be nice to have a whole "car space" with a table for folding rather than a small, closed-up room.

My first house had a laundry "closet". Bad. No space for baskets waiting to go into the laundry. My current house has a laundry/pantry, which isn't big enough.

I wish I had a bigger laundry room. My last house the laudry area was the hallway between the garage & the kitchen, and I hated it. Can't even imagine having to go to the garage to wash clothes. You probably won't have a basement so will need the garage for storage, are you going to make it bigger?

As the PP said, bad for resale.

No basement; they're not popular here in the South -- wrong kind of soil, and it's cheaper to build "out" or "up" instead of "down". Anyway, SPACE isn't the problem. It's whether a laundry is good in a garage.


Thanks for the opinions -- I'd appreciate more!

 

[Gina]

Here, mine and most of my neighbors' laundry appliances are in the garage. I've honestly never thought about it! The noise is outside, which is good to me, and after knowing several people whose homes were flooded when their washer went wonky, I'd much rather have my cement garage and driveway flooded!! I would definitely not want the laundry stuff in the house with me.. I'm fine with it in the garage.

 

[AlaskaMOM]

We actually paid money to move the laundry from the garage in our house when we bought it 4 years ago. Within the first 2 months!
Our old house had it in the garage, I hated it out there!!!
Garages here are all heated, but still dirty and cold.

 

[mickeyboat]

My only concern would be with the plumbing. First, how much more will it cost to run plumbing to that location? Second, up here in VT we don't like to run plumbing up an exterior wall and we would never run plumbing into an unheated space because of the risk of it freezing.

Talk to your builder about it.

 

[StitchFanZ]

We also built on a property that was not in a neighborhood. One of the best decsions we made was to go from a 2 car to a 5 car garage.
Sounds crazy but if you have the land garages are relatively cheap to build compared to space inside the house and we love having that extra room. Lots of space for a workshop, extra freezers, projects, and in your case a laundry area. On rainy days, we can clear it out and have a great big area for all sorts of activities. The next best thing we did was raise the roof slightly over the garage for a storage attic overhead.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I simply wouldn't want to be out in the garage all the time, starting, checking on, drying, hauling the laundry out there, and back, etc.... I think I would hate a garage laundry. And, whether it freezes or not... The garage is most often likely to be hot in the warmer months... cold in the cooler months, damp, etc...

I LOVE the fact that my laundry is a very handy and convenient location.
Our utility area is between the bedroom side of the house and the kitchen.

PS: We never wanted to have to worry about our garage, and anything out there freezing.. we installed a single heat vent to the garage. ( down here in the south, I don't think that this is standard) I am sure that the dog likes that, as it is near his crate where he sleeps at night!

 

[Buckalew11]

I don't think of the garage as a dirty space. (???) My garage has nothing in it but my car and a shelf. It gets vacuumed out regularly and is probably one of the neatest areas (consistently) in my house. I would not have a problem hanging stuff out there to dry.

OP, just keep it clean and it'll never feel dirty, right? lol

 

[kirstenb1]

We moved ours out to the garage about 10 yrs ago to give me a large pantry in the kitchen (where the w/d had been).

I really don't like it. One the ick factor of it being in a garage. Two, we live in a nice neighborhood where everyone has large laundry rooms with tons of cabinetry etc, so I tend to feel like a redneck by comparison!!
DH did put some type of heat strip up to it, so it won't freeze in the winter. A couple of times a year, when it would get really cold, the washer would freeze up. Our garage is fully insulated, but still.

If I were building, I'd just customize my plans to add a laundry room somewhere.

 

[2disneyboys]

my laundry room is in the garage and I have no problems with it at all. our gararge is not really dirty though so I don't know about if that would be a problem or not?

 

[m&m's mom]

We actually paid money to move the laundry from the garage in our house when we bought it 4 years ago. Within the first 2 months!
Our old house had it in the garage, I hated it out there!!!
Garages here are all heated, but still dirty and cold.

In Kenai??? Yep- I bet that would stink. We have a friend who lives close to there.
In my old house we had the laundry in the garage too. I liked that it kept the heat and noise outside the house. Flooding is also an advantage.
Our new house has a laundry room and I like that too for the air conditioning instead of being in the heat of the garage during the summer.
I have to say if I was doing it as my "after retirement" home I would not want to be in the heat of the garage in the summer when I got older.

 

[MrsPete]

Here, mine and most of my neighbors' laundry appliances are in the garage. I've honestly never thought about it! The noise is outside, which is good to me, and after knowing several people whose homes were flooded when their washer went wonky, I'd much rather have my cement garage and driveway flooded!! I would definitely not want the laundry stuff in the house with me.. I'm fine with it in the garage.

Noise and flooding -- that's the kind of solid facts for which I was searching. Right now we have a Great Room (family room, kitchen table, kitchen) with a laundry room at the back of the house, and even with the door closed noise IS an issue. Also, we had a flood several years ago when our old washer died. I don't ever want to repeat that; IF we go with the garage laundry, we could plan a drain in the concrete.

My only concern would be with the plumbing. First, how much more will it cost to run plumbing to that location? Second, up here in VT we don't like to run plumbing up an exterior wall and we would never run plumbing into an unheated space because of the risk of it freezing.

Talk to your builder about it.

Yes, plumbing would have to run farther, but we're not talking about MUCH farther -- the kitchen and master bath are both "right there".

I looked over my cost-notes, and I see that IF we add on the bump-out for the office, it's going to add 12-15K to the cost of the house. Not all the money in the world, but still more than the small cost of running the plumbing a bit farther.

So, that's the cost of the outdoor kitchen that we want to accompany the pool.

We also built on a property that was not in a neighborhood. One of the best decsions we made was to go from a 2 car to a 5 car garage.

5 car garage! Wow! I love the idea of all that space, and we certainly have the land . . . but I think it'd dwarf the house.

I simply wouldn't want to be out in the garage all the time, starting, checking on, drying, hauling the laundry out there, and back, etc.... I think I would hate a garage laundry. And, whether it freezes or not... The garage is most often likely to be hot in the warmer months... cold in the cooler months, damp, etc...

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. My feeling is that I spend very little time lingering in the laundry room now, but my impression may or may not be wrong. If we're talking minutes, it's worth a bit of cold. If we're talking longer, then it won't be worth the convenience cost.

I don't think of the garage as a dirty space. (???) My garage has nothing in it but my car and a shelf. It gets vacuumed out regularly and is probably one of the neatest areas (consistently) in my house. I would not have a problem hanging stuff out there to dry.

Yeah, I don't consider garages dirty either. IF I do this, I'll keep the washer/dryer area clean; and I'll have a table or cabinet for folding clothes, which'll be wiped down on a regular basis.

 

[Disney Doll]

If you're going to make a 3 car garage and not need the space for 3 cars, why not take one of the bays and make it the laundry/storage area. Or even it take 1/2 of one of the bays and make it a laundry/storage area. You could actually wall it in so it is separate from the "car" part of the garage...add washer, dryer, cabinets, shelves, drying racks. Ad a little heat for the chilly winter, make a little spot for a fan for the hot summer and you're good to go.

I think your idea of actually timing how long you spend in the laundry room at any given time is a good one. My laundry is in my basement and the most time I probably spend down there at any given time is maybe 15 minutes sorting or folding or hanging things that I don't put in the dryer.

 

[leight]

I wish I could afford to move my washer/dryer into the garage! Mine is in a hall directly across from our downstairs master bedroom and around the corner from the family room so the noise is horrendous! Since it is not a room, I also don't have room to have cabinets(I do have wire racks but would prefer cabinetry.) and I lost out on having a slop sink- which I used to soak things all the time in. I do have rolling clothes racks and hang dry most of my and dds clothes in the garage with no problem but it would be great if everything were there and I could make the laundry 'closet' a real pantry!