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View Full Version : Where is your Washing Machine?



Jack
06-20-2010, 02:28 AM
Here is an off the wall one for you - (it must be all the pills I take! ;) )

Where in your house is your clothes washing machine assuming that you have one? Here in the UK they are almost always kept in the kitchen unless you have a large house in which case you might have a utility room. However, in other parts of Europe, they are always in the bathroom (shower room). Where are they generally found in your part of the world?

pberggren1
06-20-2010, 02:59 AM
Most houses where I live either have a seperate laundry or utility room or a closet off a hallway or room with the washer and dryer.

Jack
06-20-2010, 03:29 AM
I live on a crowded island and our houses tend to be quite small (but probably more expensive!) than those elsewhere. Also, much of the housing stock dates to a time before things like washing machines and dryers were common.

andrew
06-20-2010, 05:57 AM
Typically, here in Oz we have a separate laundry room for these essential appliances.

Jack
06-20-2010, 06:18 AM
I feel like I'm living in the third world. ;)

julia
06-20-2010, 06:27 AM
US

we have our washing machine and dryer are in our laundry room. In our previous house the wash machine was in the kitchen and the dryer in the utility room. This was very unusual.

Hammy8241
06-20-2010, 07:00 AM
Moved from the kitchen to the garage a couple of years ago - less noise.



I feel like I'm living in the third world. ;)

We might find out if you start a thread about where are toilets are!:)

JanW
06-20-2010, 07:41 AM
Laundry room - 3rd floor, next to the kids rooms. I've seen them in various places in the states -- often their own room or a closet.

Luce
06-20-2010, 09:10 AM
Wow, you got a machine up to third floor?!

Mine's in the kitchen and is brand new as my last one died last week. We now have a combined washer/dryer as we only have a one bedroom flat which has four rooms (living, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom) so the kitchen is the only choice for such a thing. Was also struggling to dry clothes indoors at this time of year when it's too warm to have the central heating on but the chance of rain is quite high. I don't risk putting washing outside to dry if I'm at work all day and the weather forecast looks iffy.

Lightwarrior
06-20-2010, 10:02 AM
Laundry room, I have lived in a house with washer and dryer in kitchen and once had washer in bathroom and dryer in kitchen (not very convienent) I love having a utility room.

Sangye
06-20-2010, 10:29 AM
Many people have a washer and dryer in their garage or basement. I live in the basement, and it's down here with me.

Kimbangu
06-20-2010, 06:49 PM
Can you be more specific? - It's one of those big white appliances, right? - With a door in the front? .......... I know there is one around here somewhere.......

Sangye
06-20-2010, 11:53 PM
LOL-- You're gonna have to wash those socks sometime, Kimbangu. :D

Col 23
06-21-2010, 01:39 AM
Kimbangu, I hope you dont take the washing home to mum..
Jack,as Andew stated in Australia we usually have a laundry. My Laundry is as big as large bedroom and I love it. However I onced lived in a unit near the city and had a dryer and washing machine in a double door cupboard with a little sink which was positioned near the kitchen. When I did my laundry it was all over the living room floor. It was all very cute but there was only me living there at the time. I also had to hang my clothes over the balastrade to dry upstairs as I didnt want to put some clothes in the dryer. At the time I also wore suits so there was also a lot of drycleaning. Never again.
cheers Col 23

Sangye
06-21-2010, 08:03 AM
Jack, I have to say that I giggle each time I see this thread. It's the ultimate Off Topic conversation. ROTFL :D

jeriorleans
06-21-2010, 11:29 AM
Mine is in a utility room off the kitchen in the middle of the house. has a dual function as a cupboard for groceries.

Jack
06-21-2010, 05:26 PM
I have no idea why the thought even came into my mind, it might be another undocumented Wegener's symptom! ;)

pberggren1
06-21-2010, 09:12 PM
That sounds like an enjoyable symptom though.

Lightwarrior
06-21-2010, 11:06 PM
I have no idea why the thought even came into my mind, it might be another undocumented Wegener's symptom! ;)

LOL Jack, just might be...we all responded as if this was totally normal so I think we could put a fascination with where other peoples washers and dryers are down as a Wegener's symptom.http://www.wegeners-granulomatosis.com/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif

LisaMarie
06-22-2010, 01:34 AM
Laundry room in the lower level of a split level home...here in the midwest we have split levels....still trying to get use to it...lol...my ideal laudry room would be bedroom level ....central location with tons of drawers and cabinet and clothes hangers with rods to put them on...that way everyone would have to go to the laundry room sometime to get clothes and maybe put dirty clothes in there before the monster loads magically appear in their rooms...olo...gotta love my kids

brocky99
06-22-2010, 02:35 AM
My washer and dryer are in the kitchen in this house, they were in the kitchen in the pub also, but in my 1st house I had a laundry room. Only lived here 12 months and dont think Glyn knows where it is, mine u dont think he knows where the kitchen is lol....
The wsahing basket seems to be my 12 year old daughters bedroom floor....

DEE
06-22-2010, 06:29 AM
talking of washing machines when i was dxt and in hospital for five weeks hubby found ours in the kitchen it only took 34 years to find !!!!!!!! :) DEE x

Jack
06-22-2010, 07:20 AM
It is odd how clothes washing is almost exclusively the female job. Even though I have shared the cooking, cleaning, ironing and other house keeping chores, I've hardly ever used the washing machine and I don't think my wife wants me to. She does not seem to trust me with it for some reason and I'm quite happy to keep it that way! ;)

Sangye
06-22-2010, 07:33 AM
She does not seem to trust me with it for some reason and I'm quite happy to keep it that way! ;)

I think it's that fear of "He's gonna wash my white stuff with a red sock" that makes many women guard the washing machine like a mother tiger. Also that a guy is more likely to wash everything as if it's jeans and not separate items that should be washed in a gentle cycle. The fear of having their wardrobe ruined is probably much higher for women than it is for men.

pberggren1
06-22-2010, 01:01 PM
I don't let anyone touch my laundry. I have been that way since I was about 12.

elephant
06-22-2010, 01:26 PM
Love the fact that were talking about our dirty laundry. My washer and dryer are in the laundry room, next to the kitchen.

andrew
06-22-2010, 04:56 PM
I think it's that fear of "He's gonna wash my white stuff with a red sock" that makes many women guard the washing machine like a mother tiger. Also that a guy is more likely to wash everything as if it's jeans and not separate items that should be washed in a gentle cycle. The fear of having their wardrobe ruined is probably much higher for women than it is for men.

Yeah LOL. I've never understood the need to separate stuff. I just throw the lot (jeans, tops, t-shirts, colours...everything) into one big load. Gets it all done quicker!

Sangye
06-22-2010, 10:56 PM
There you have it. Women: protect thy wardrobe! :D

delorisdoe
09-15-2011, 03:11 AM
LOLOLOLOLOL...Jack wins for sure. :thumbsup:

chrisTIn@
09-15-2011, 09:11 PM
Hey delorisdoe, you found the famous thread!
My washing machine and dryer are on the attic. Have to walk two flights of stairs to reach them.
Keeps me in shape! :wink1:

Sangye
09-15-2011, 11:54 PM
This was the best thread ever. http://www.smileyhut.com/laughing/rofl.gif (http://www.smileyhut.com)

NicShaf
09-16-2011, 01:05 AM
Our washing machine was down the street for years...at the Laundromat. If we could fit one somewhere in our little apartment, I totally would, even if it took the place or our kitchen table and we had to eat off it every day, if I could avoid the Laundromat it would be worth it.

Now, our landlords have a little room with a washer/dryer in the back yard. We have only been through the Spring and Summer months, it should be interseting trying to keep the clothes clean when I'm running accross the grass in the rain? But it is still better than the Laundromat!

Sangye
09-16-2011, 01:49 AM
The DC suburb I live in (population over 60,000) does not have a single laundromat. The neighboring city of about the same population has one tiny laundromat. I've never seen anything like it.

delorisdoe
09-16-2011, 02:47 AM
both my washer and dryer are in the basement laundry room...I also have an appliance graveyard going on in the room next to the laundry room. We have a washer, dryer, wood burning stove, a blender,a central vacume, an uprite vacum and some remnents of a canister vacum, a coffee maker and as of wednesday a chest freezer. I have never known anybody to lose so many appliances in 4 years. We are going to take them to the scrap metal place soon. bet we make a ton.

Stephanie78
09-16-2011, 02:58 AM
Our utility room (wash room) is in the kitchen area (in its seperate room). Our house is a split room house meaning the kids rooms are at the front of the house and the Master is at the back so it is located at a great area for all rooms.
Ours is really quiet though so we don't notice it...

I watch House Hunters International (On Cable) And I'm always amazed how other countries have theirs literally in the kitchen installed beside the sink etc.... If you have it like that do you find it convient?

Psyborg
09-16-2011, 03:01 AM
Ours is in our basement, on the other side of the wall from my computer room/office. Gets noisy when the front loader gets going on spin cycle :).

We are kind of spoiled in the US and Canada, we have more space for these things than people do in Europe or Asia generally.

delorisdoe
09-16-2011, 03:12 AM
Our utility room (wash room) is in the kitchen area (in its seperate room). Our house is a split room house meaning the kids rooms are at the front of the house and the Master is at the back so it is located at a great area for all rooms.
Ours is really quiet though so we don't notice it...

I watch House Hunters International (On Cable) And I'm always amazed how other countries have theirs literally in the kitchen installed beside the sink etc.... If you have it like that do you find it convient?

I lived in an apartment on a farm and had a washer and a dryer in my kitchen and boy did I ever find it convinient. I did laundry all of the time. I washed, dried and folded clothes constantly. Now with them in the basement they do get washed and usualy dried...but folding. I tell them all "you want it its in the basement you go get it". I cant have a messy kitchen with clothes everywhere.

Stephanie78
09-16-2011, 03:18 AM
Our home in KS had a basement, and alot of people had their wash rooms in the basements....Although they would say "We have a laundry shoot to make it easier" well HELLO who is gonna "Shoot" them back up?!? Yeah, I would've told my family...Closets are NOW in the basement! Thankfully ours was upstairs.

delorisdoe
09-16-2011, 03:36 AM
lol thats funny

gurinbasra
09-16-2011, 06:13 AM
Our washer and dryer are in the laundry room which is also called the mud room. It is located from the entrance into the house via the garage which is attached to the front of the house. Get's cold up North here, so most houses in Calgary have the garages attached to the front of the houses and the mud rooms are the first room you walk into. My previous house that had no garage, the washer was in the basement.

What a fun thread - great to give everyone an update on such an important item - for us women anyway.

norcalian
09-16-2011, 07:01 AM
Basements are pretty rare in California...I think it has something to do with the water table. They typically flood in the winter so people don't bother with them.

I would say that most people out here either have a utility room for their washer and dryer or put them in the garage. I've always had them in the garage.

pberggren1
09-16-2011, 07:38 AM
The DC suburb I live in (population over 60,000) does not have a single laundromat. The neighboring city of about the same population has one tiny laundromat. I've never seen anything like it.

Our city of about 17,000 has 2 large laundromats.

pberggren1
09-16-2011, 07:42 AM
Our home in KS had a basement, and alot of people had their wash rooms in the basements....Although they would say "We have a laundry shoot to make it easier" well HELLO who is gonna "Shoot" them back up?!? Yeah, I would've told my family...Closets are NOW in the basement! Thankfully ours was upstairs.

Our neighbor at the farm had a laundry shoot and a dumb waiter as well. They had a 4 level house.

Sangye
09-20-2012, 12:38 AM
This thread still cracks me up! :biggrin1:

pberggren1
09-20-2012, 02:31 AM
I hope we don't have to try to put you together again like Humpty Dumpty.

annekat
09-23-2012, 01:59 PM
Our home in KS had a basement, and alot of people had their wash rooms in the basements....Although they would say "We have a laundry shoot to make it easier" well HELLO who is gonna "Shoot" them back up?!? Yeah, I would've told my family...Closets are NOW in the basement! Thankfully ours was upstairs. When I was a kid in Portland, Oregon, our washer was in the basement and we didn't have a dryer. There were clotheslines down there and my mother hung everything on them. There were windows, as it was partly above ground. She also had one of those portable clotheslines outside that were on a stand and could be turned. It wasn't that we couldn't afford a dryer. My parents were cheapskates.

We also had a laundry chute on the second floor where the bedrooms were, going down to the basement. It was nice to be able to just throw dirty clothes in there and not have them pile up in one's room. I had forgotten all about that.

In those days (the 1960's), people ironed a lot more than they do now. My mother ironed in front of the TV while watching soap operas. She was a college educated woman, but that's what they did in those days. She also had a "mangle" in the basement, an electric ironing machine with a roller that you sat at and fed things through it. She had rolls of sheets and things that had been pre-sprinkled with water and kept in the refrigerator until time to "mangle" them. That was moved from a Victorian house in San Francisco, where there was also an old washer with clothes wringer attached, which they elected not to move. Too bad, would be worth something now.

It would be interesting hearing about anyone else who still uses very old or antique appliances or has memories of such. I have a 1933 GE refrigerator that still works, along with a more modern one which I sometimes wish I hadn't gotten.

BTW, my washer and dryer are a stacked set in the bathroom where the sink is supposed to be. That's because I live in an old beach cabin with very rudimentary plumbing; a W/D wasn't planned for and that was the easiest place to hook it up. I use the kitchen sink for washing hands and brushing teeth, and I clean it well before washing dishes.

drz
09-23-2012, 10:42 PM
I remember the old sprinklers generally made from a pop bottle and cork plug top that had small holes in a metal top to sprinkle out the water. It was easy to fill with water.It always seemed strange that the clothes would be hung out to dry and then brought in and dampened so they could be ironed. In the winter time they froze stiff and were hard to carry in. We have one of those clothes line poles in back yard that twirl around to make hanging easier. Most of the houses in our neighborhood have an outdoor clothes line cause the thinking is that hanging them out made them smell fresher. Some times things are taken out to the line and hung up just to air out without being washed. It seems though that the newest houses are not including a clothes line when the house is built unless it is added for a dog run. A leash can be snapped onto a clothes line to allow the dog some path for exercising.

I remember the real old refrigerators and had one I had in a room I rented for college. It was a 1929 models with the cooling unit sitting on the top on outside of unit. The very small freezer compartment was a small tray like area directly underneath the cooling unit but there was no separate door or another compartment like most refrigerators have today. I was surprised that it still worked even though back then it was less than 40 years old. Now in the era of throw away appliances it would be unheard of to get half that life out of a new appliance of any kind.

KathyB
09-24-2012, 03:05 AM
I remember my grandparents' laundry in Brooklyn, NY (they lived in a brownstone on the 2nd floor). The "dryer" was a clothesline on a pulley outside the kitchen window! It was such a treat when we were allowed to pull the laundry inside! Wash went out, wash came in! Laundry of all kinds lined up and down the backyards in the neighborhood. Those were the days!

I can see my mom ironing in front of the soap operas on TV! We also had one of those roller models! It was HOT and dangerous & we weren't allowed near it! Our family still has one of those old frigs still running -- we called one the "Beer & Pop Box!"

KB

annekat
09-24-2012, 11:07 AM
drz, my mom's sprinkle bottle was just like that, but the part with holes in it was metal; I don't remember what the plug part was like. It sounds like more people still use clotheslines in your area than they do here. If I had more leisure time I might like to do that in the warmer months for the freshness and to save electricity and keep the house cooler. As for the freezing clothes, that doesn't happen here partly because it's not as cold and partly because no one would hang their clothes out at that time of year. Unless they had no other choice.
My neighbor across the street has a dog run along a line like you describe, but he doesn't use it for hanging clothes.

Kathy, I feel bad that I haven't been using the old refrigerator, since it kept things really cold, and now that it hasn't been used for over 10 years, I'm afraid it's been ruined and may not work like it did. One way to find out! I've been using it to store cat food and some other non-perishable items. Mine also has the motor/cooling unit on top as drz described, and the little tiny freezer box with no door which did OK for making ice but could not be used to keep ice cream or frozen orange juice very well. Since I live in a small cabin, it would have been smarter to buy a small box freezer instead of a whole new big ugly refrigerator.

Lightwarrior
09-25-2012, 03:36 AM
I remember my grandma ironing for "rich folks" for extra money. I can recall the smell of starch and the hot iron. She even ironed sheets. When I stayed with her she would pull back the covers and sprinkle a perfumed talcum powder over the fresh ironed sheets. She had a lilac bush next to one window and a honeysuckle vine growing up the other. Her house was so small and ransackety but boy did I love to stay with her and my grandfather. She did only handwashing. I would get to hand her the clothes one piece at a time as she hung them on the line. I remember the way they smelled when they came in off the line. She said that was the smell of sunshine. When I got my first nursing job I bought her a washer and dryer. She put it in her "cubbyhole" room and use it as a table to repot flowers.

annekat
09-25-2012, 05:03 AM
I remember my grandma ironing for "rich folks" for extra money. I can recall the smell of starch and the hot iron. She even ironed sheets. When I stayed with her she would pull back the covers and sprinkle a perfumed talcum powder over the fresh ironed sheets. She had a lilac bush next to one window and a honeysuckle vine growing up the other. Her house was so small and ransackety but boy did I love to stay with her and my grandfather. She did only handwashing. I would get to hand her the clothes one piece at a time as she hung them on the line. I remember the way they smelled when they came in off the line. She said that was the smell of sunshine. When I got my first nursing job I bought her a washer and dryer. She put it in her "cubbyhole" room and use it as a table to repot flowers. I was just saying to someone this morning that I hate ironing and hardly ever do it. My mother ironed sheets, too, since they weren't all permanent press. In my student days I had a short-lived job ironing for a well-off couple. They even wanted their jeans ironed! It was actually the guy who was so fussy. I didn't measure up, so I was outta there... no big loss.

I like your grandma's comment about the smell of sunshine! Too bad she didn't use your generous gift of a W/D, though. It makes it so much easier for a lot of things.

Lightwarrior
09-25-2012, 06:50 AM
I was just saying to someone this morning that I hate ironing and hardly ever do it. My mother ironed sheets, too, since they weren't all permanent press. In my student days I had a short-lived job ironing for a well-off couple. They even wanted their jeans ironed! It was actually the guy who was so fussy. I didn't measure up, so I was outta there... no big loss.

I like your grandma's comment about the smell of sunshine! Too bad she didn't use your generous gift of a W/D, though. It makes it so much easier for a lot of things.

I never even attempted to buy her a dishwasher. Even after she moved in with me she did "handwashings" until her hands couldn't do it anymore. I had to put up a clothesline for her.

drz
09-25-2012, 08:29 PM
I never even attempted to buy her a dishwasher. Even after she moved in with me she did "handwashings" until her hands couldn't do it anymore. I had to put up a clothesline for her.

I know one grandma who got a dishwasher for a present. She used it to store her cookbooks and good dishes and continued to wash everything by hand.

mishb
09-25-2012, 10:23 PM
I think my husband only lives for a great washing day......lol........we like to tease him about it. For some strange reason, he loves it.
Most houses (nearly all) in Australia have separate laundry rooms in the house and all (I guess) have clothes lines (hills hoists) in the backyard.

My husband will phone me at work and make a comment like "you know it's a great washing day today" and then I would get home from work later that night to find a mountain of clothes, sheets, towels etc, all folded on the bed just waiting for me to put them away.

He hates wet days when he can't get the washing done or the lawns mowed.

Gosh I love that man.......don't know what I would do without him. :love:

And as for ironing, we only iron when it is needed and about to be worn. His mother ironed everything. Nearly every night she sprayed and iron and iron and sprayed whilst watching the television. Sheets, towels, hankies, underwear (yes even underwear)......everything.
I'm glad he hasn't gone so far as to looovee ironing as well :w00t:

annekat
09-26-2012, 01:58 AM
I know one grandma who got a dishwasher for a present. She used it to store her cookbooks and good dishes and continued to wash everything by hand. Count me among the anti-dishwasher crowd! I'm so used to washing by hand and have no room for one. However, I can certainly see the benefits....fewer dishes piling up in the sink, for one.