Convert bedroom to laundry/utility room? (washer, paint, laundry room, kitchen)
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Yes, and the water drains to a point beneath floor level...
My apologies...I occasionally forget we have people that get hung up on terminology...the house was built 5 years ago, the plumbing is fine and has passed multiple inspections.
I don't think it is fair to accuse the posters here of being "hung up on terminology." The phrase "floor drain" has a specific meaning, and it would be both conceivable and unwise to use a floor drain as the method of draining the water from your washer. Trust me--I've seen people try to get away with some janky stuff to save a few bucks of a few hours of labor. I could completely imagine someone deciding not to bother with an actual plumbed-in drain and just letting the waste water flow into the floor drain.
There is a difference between being pedantic or being helpful. I would consider someone to be "hung up on terminology," for example, if they heard someone say "look at all those cows" and felt the need to point out that they should have used the word cattle since the bovines were of mixed gender. But if the person asked for advice starting a youth riding stable stocked with cows, it would be helpful to point out that horses would be far more appropriate than cows for that endeavor.
If the bedroom is large enough, you could not only create a laundry area, you might also fabricate either a kitchen pantry, or even a small office. Having 3 bdrms plus an office might satisfy a whole lot of future buyers.
Floor drain in that situation is for a water overflow/leak so that the water doesn't flood outside the laundry room---
that is not the norm in my experience
I would suggest looking at your house's design--
personally I would not want a home with a kitchen connected to garage having that door closed and having to walk through a former bedroom and down a hall who knows how far (because we haven't seen a floor plan of overall design) to deliver groceries to the kitchen...
We have friends who bought home with garage on opposite side of home to kitchen and they have to schlep their groceries through the front hall, across the dining room, into the kitchen...
They got a good deal on price because house was on market long time and I think that garage layout was likely big factor in other people passing it by...
I understand why you want to do this--
if you are single person (maybe) w/o family could you just find large closet and maybe convert to hold a stacking w/d set up?
Do it well, and especially if the bedroom isn't too big, it should be fine. An indoor laundry area is far better than one located in a garage, IMO. If the room looks a little large for a laundry, you could add some great storage closets too.
When my mom moved from the farm after my dad passed away, the house she found had the laundry in the basement. As she was getting on in years by the time she moved, would be living alone, AND was legally blind, we decided that was not a good arrangement for her. We took the smallest of the 3 bedrooms and converted it into a laundry room. When she sold it (about 15 years ago) she sold it as a 2 bedroom home. The fact that it had a first floor laundry seemed to offset the fact that it was only a 2 bedroom and she had no issues with selling it.
Forget the "resale" issue. For one thing, the house has one BR too many for most potential buyers. Secondly, I've learned that it's best to just assume you're going to live in that house until you die. This anticipating what a potential buyer would want is strictly for flippers. I like your idea. Sounds pretty simple to do.
I love the idea of a nice indoor laundry room. I always hated having laundry in a garage. It's so counter-intuitive. Garages are dirty. And not usually insulated, so you're going out into a hot garage or a freezing garage most of the time.
I could see it as a real selling point when you go to sell. Plus, as you say, you could always list it first with the laundry room in place and if it seems like it's keeping the house from selling, you could change it back.
I think laundry first ended up in garages when washers were a newfangled piece of equipment. Houses hadn't been designed for them, and they were messy and needed a hose to fill it, etc. It became a bad habit to put them outside of the living space. Or at least that's my theory, and I'm stickin' to it.
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