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lisaa007

laundry room design re: water hoses & shut-off valve location

lisa_a
10 years ago

We're about to redo our laundry room (yay!). The plan is drawn up and we're ready to meet with our GC. And then it dawns on me. What about the water bib and shut-off valves? I've already talked to our GC about moving the dryer vent up the wall (it was installed for a side by side initially) but I didn't give a thought to moving the water bib or where to put it.

The 63-1/2" wide space, bounded on one side by the back of the hall closet (L side) and on the other side by the garage wall (R side), will hold, L to R, a stacking W/D, an 11" pull-out cab, and two 33" high, 21" wide freezers, one stacked on a sturdy metal shelf above the other (it was the only way I could get 10 cu. ft. of freezer storage in 24" of space without paying bit bucks). This plan uses up every available inch (have accounted for appliance clearance requirements) that we have. We may be able to eke out an extra 1/2" from the pull-out cab but that is it.

I can't post a pic of our lay-out (it's on hubby's computer, not mine) but this photo of 2 W/D stacks with a cab between them, with all of it between two walls is pretty close to the lay-out we'll have (but with two freezers where the W/Ds are on the right).

Traditional Laundry Room by Chicago Interior Designers & Decorators 2 Design Group

Right now the water hoses and bib are where the freezers will go. The W/D are already stacked on the left side, and have been for 12 years. I don't want to move the W/D to the right because they are deeper than the freezers and that placement would interfere with the door swing (into the garage).

We might be able to put the shut off valve in the hall closet wall near the front of the units (back wall of closet is also side wall for laundry room, left of W/D) but we'll have to check whether this is doable because the wall contains a post that runs from the roof to the crawlspace. It has to stay (had a structural engineer look at it already). The post sits about 6" forward from the back wall. That likely eliminates the possibility of doing a recessed shut-off in the closet wall any where near the front of the units.

We might be able to put the shut off valve in the back wall of the hall closet. Easy enough to move coats out of the way to get to it. But that will depend on whether we have enough clearance between the closet side and the support post.

The only other option I can see is leaving the bib where it is. We'd have to pull out a freezer to get to it, less handy that pushing coats aside but doable. The downside of this is that it means that I can't push the freezers as far back as I'd like to or allowed to and I was trying to gain a few more inches of hallway between the appliance side and the counter side. (I will never again own a house with a walk-through laundry room!).

All the pretty pictures at houzz are useless on this point. I searched this forum and found great info on shut off valves but nothing specific for my situation. I need help! TIA!

Comments (8)

  • enduring
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I couldn't tell from your discription about what and where these closets are. But they sound like options.

    What about putting it in the 11" pull out, like in the back for the cabinet. You will need to get to the shut off valves and this might be an easy thing to do from this area. It might be too deep to function though.

    I have mine going in the tower next to my washer dryer area. The hoses will need to pull through the back of the counter top that will be within the cabinet. I will have my waste water go through this area too. My dryer vent is on the back wall and will be accessed by reaching through the cabinet, taking out the shelving to do vent cleaning. In the picture the hoses are hooked up. The tower cabinet will be in front of the open space. All the hoses and vent will be unseen in the back of the upper cabinet and a door on the front. This drawing is an older version of what I am doing. I now am having a lower cabinet and an upper cabinet stacked on top of each other with the lower cabinet open shelving for laundry and I can access the out lets in this area too.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for responding, enduring, and for posting the pics of what you did. I found your laundry room when I did a search but I hadn't seen the last photo you posted just now. It's helpful.

    I drew up our plan in Paint. Hopefully that helps clear things up.

    Our 11" cab will have at least a 9" opening for a pull-out Rev-A-Shelf unit. I'm not sure how easy it will be to reach in the opening and around the baskets to the back of a 24" cab. I would think it would be easier if the cab had shelves only but the cab wouldn't be as functional for us. The cab will be pulled out an inch so that it's face is even with the front of the freezer box (the door will sit proud of the cab). We'll likely have to build a 1" deep false wall for the cab to mount up against.

    I was hoping to move the water bib and hoses to behind the W/D so that I could push the freezers and pull-out cab as close to the back wall as possible but perhaps I should leave the water bib and hoses where they are (up against the corner by the garage wall) and put the shut-off valves up by the light switches by the garage door. Hadn't thought of that option until just now. I'll have to sacrifice at least an inch more of aisle space to do so, though.

    btw, we hope to also change the door to hinge on the left, not right, so that it opens facing the sink run. We'll move the light switches at the same time. Don't know why the builder put the door in to swing the way it does; the garage door lights and garage door opener are on the hinge side. Took us awhile to get used to that.

    Is your dryer vent what they call a telescoping vent? How does that work? Oh, wow, I never thought about how to access the dryer vent for vent cleaning. Good point. I was considering moving the dryer vent to the front side of the dryer but since we want a cab between W/D and freezers, would that make it harder to position the dryer up against the vent? We only have the minimum clearance of 1" on either side of the W/D.

    I wish I had 12 more inches of width and length in my laundry room! Or better yet, I wish I did not have a walk-through laundry room. And I wish it had a window! Never again!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Rev-A-Shelf pull-out baskets

  • enduring
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My vent is a rigid vent, not a telescoping one. It is 4" typical rigid duct work to the outside except for the flex aluminum stuff that is at the big box that I put in. I have never done any of this before, so I read and tried to figure it out as best I could. The box and flexible duct work I got online at an outfit called the Dryerbox. I linked it below. The box is put in upside down compared to their pictures because my vent goes into my basement and exits the side of the house. Be sure to calculate the duct run that is recommended by your dryer manufacturer. Each 90degree bend subtracts 5' of run you have available as recommended by the manufacturer. So you want to have the least amount of bends. I don't think the flex connection counts though, at least it doesn't for my dryer.

    You can get these flexable auger like brush for cleaning vents. They sell them at the website I linked below and at Lowes. I used it for my old dryer and it works. You are supposed to be able to run the brush using your drill to spin it, from your outside vent. When we cleaned ours it was beneficial to be able to get the brush right into the dryer itself, attaching a vacuum to pull out accumulated lint. There was plenty.

    Regarding the water, I think where ever you can reach it and get it turned off is the important thing. I plan on turning the water off between uses, now that I have the set in my living area. My old set is in the basement and I didn't give it a thought. This laundry project has taught me a lot about better management of my appliances. I installed Floodchek hoses on my basement set.
    http://www.floodchek.com/
    I bought 2 sets and gave one set to my plumber. He thought they looked like high pressure hoses. He liked them.

    Regarding your pull out. Could you have a top and a bottom pull out, then a shelving area with door to hide and access the vent, electric, and water?

    Here is another drawing of my setup. It shows where the vent goes inside the wall and down to the basement. There will be a door on the shelving area where I can pull out the shelves to get to the vent exiting the dryer on the side. I bought a Miele set and there is the option for side venting. There is also my water connection on the right side that isn't shown on this drawing, but is seen in my picture. I also have and outlet near the front of this cabinet for an iron.

    The bottom area will be open for a laundry basket, though I will have shelving available if I want to use them. The bottom area is where my electric outlets for the W/D are.

    The one drawer shown will be one of those pull out ironing boards. I do very little ironing but thought it could be handy. My counter between the ironing drawer and the shelving above will not be exposed, instead hidden behind the door (door not indicated on this drawing) When the door is open there will be the vent box and water hoses visible I'm afraid. But it will be all accessible.

    Current design of my setup, showing vent that is inside the wall:

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Dryerbox online store.

  • coco4444
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had a similar situation, and made a cut out in my closet. Got the idea from another poster, rtwilliams. I'll also post the link as s/he had some great ideas and pics.
    My shut off is actually under my sink (which I realize you won't have in your plan). But the access to my dryer vent is what I would do for you for both. Yes, you do have to access the extreme corner of the closet, but it works for us. My cut out is ~ 16x24 (we just went between some studs).

    Here is a link that might be useful: shut off access cut out discussion

  • coco4444
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One more thing... unless you do the dryer box than enduring suggested, you'll likely need more than 4" clearance at the back for stacked w/d. Something to keep in mind.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, enduring and Co-Co! That is great information to have. I'll talk it over with our GC and see what solution works best.

    Co-Co, I realize that my W/D set may need to stick out farther. Thankfully, that's not an issue for their current or future placement. But I am trying to steal every inch - even fractions of inches - that I can.

  • nerdyshopper
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thinking about your layout I came up with the idea that you might have the contractor cut holes in the sides of the cabinet at the level of the space between W/D. That would let you route pipes and dryer hose across from where they are now. You could put a dual shutoff valve either between the W & D or mount it on the side ot the cabinet.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oops, sorry for not stopping back sooner, nerdyshopper (love your screen name). The weather has been gorgeous so I've been spending every possible minute in my garden, which is why I've been really bad about checking GW more regularly.

    That's a good suggestion. It would mean either pulling the cabinet farther forward - possible - or eliminating the Rev-A-Shelf pull-out mechanism - totally unwilling to do that as it would make the narrow cabinet much less functional.

    We'll be meeting with our contractor soon so we'll discuss all these options and see what works best for our situation. Thank you!