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Real Estate’s Dirty Laundry

I’m sure I wasn’t the first and I know I wasn’t the last since we just discovered the issue in a house we inspected: install a dryer vent when remodeling! Seems obvious that a laundry facility, a standard washer and dryer requires:

  • A power source for both machines (appropriate electricity and possibly gas).
  • Hot and cold water in
  • Waste water out
  • A dryer vent
  • Whatever else your building code requires
  • There is no perfect world for the laundry location in most houses. If they are in the basement, you probably have more space but the odds are most of washing is being created on the upper floors. A chute is nice but it only delivers it one way. Basements are not always finished to the quality of the rest of the house.

    Some people won’t even look at a house if they are in the attached garage (I grew up with them there and it isn’t a deal breaker for me). Its probably the best place for them if there is ever a problem with the water supply or drain.

    If they are near a bedroom they may to be too loud to run at night. There is often less space available. Uprights were often considered the considered the sofa bed of laundry: got the job done but not ideal. The modern day front loading stackables have fixed that but keep in mind that the standard for all machines is 27 inches wide. Narrower exist but they are not the norm.

    If you have an electric dryer, take a picture or drawing of the socket before heading to the store. There are different layouts and it’s a lot easier if you now which one you need when looking at them in the store.

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