Laundry room remodel (planning stage)

[ivwshane]

Currently my laundry room sits between the garage and kitchen and creates a traffic jam anytime the wife does the laundry.
Directly behind the washer and dryer is essentially unused space (part of an backwardly shaped den).

I already have an idea for the new layout and I plan on doing this remodel myself with permits. Before I start though I'd like to know how complex this job will be, specifically relocating the plumbing.

The laundry is located on the first floor with a 2'-2.5' crawl space below the floor where the plumbing is. The dryer currently vents to a tube straight up and out through the roof (there is no second floor below it yet).

How hard will it be to relocate the plumbing to the new wall? How hard would it be to relocate the drain pipe (or have the new drain pipe connect to the original waste whole)?

And lastly how feasible is it to have the dryer vent to the outside wall if the tubing will be in a wall with a standard thickness? (or to put it another way, can I route the tubing for the vent through 2x4's?)


Thanks!

[DaveS]

The water supply lines shouldn't be hard.

The drain could be more difficult for a few reasons. Drains must pitch down the whole way to the main line, and it has to be vented.

The drain vent will likely be your biggest challenge. Where do you think the existing vent is now? Is it right where the new door will be? That will be tricky to move.

Venting the dryer out the side is fine/common and is no big deal, unless you have brick siding, then it could be hard (as most of us don't have tools to drill a 4" hole through bricks).

The only gotcha here is if the dryer is gas, then there are special requirements about the exhaust location.

My advice would be to call your plumber and get him to give you the lowdown - he should be able to look in your crawl space and tell you what this entails.

Another piece of advice - as long as you are going through all this trouble, you might as well put a big laundry sink in there - it comes in so handy for cleaning up things that should NOT be cleaned in the kitchen sink.

[ivwshane]

It looks like I got lucky! The vent is by the bathroom.


Will I be able to run the dryer vent through the 2x4's or will I have to go in between them?

[Ed62]

Will I be able to run the dryer vent through the 2x4's or will I have to go in between them?

If I'm reading this right, you will not want to go into the wall in back of the dryer. You should vent directly through the outside wall. You will not have to cut into 2X4s.

Ed

[DaveS]

Usually, you would just run a flexible duct from the back of the dryer, right to a vent in the side of the house - not run inside the wall, just laying behind the dryer.

But, I suppose you could put an elbow into the wall/floor and then run the duct under the floor in the crawl space.

[pelligrini]

Venting directly to the outside wall would be best. The shorter the run and fewer bends will help.

Putting the WD on the garage wall would help with sound. If the floor joists run parallel to the garage wall plumbing for the washer might be easier using this configuration too.

[ivwshane]

The main reason for wanting to vent it to the wall behind the dryer and then to the outside is because that would require less space behind the dryer.

But if it's not a good idea or really not feasible then I'll just vent it straight to the outside wall.

Regarding the washer/dryer placement, I plan on using 5/8" dry wall on the newly created wall to minimize sound coming from the laundry room.



Are there typically any rules one how water lines are routed? Can I just go from the original spot to the new spot (underneath the floor) in a diagonal manner or should I be following the joists?

[Pappy]

The 5/8 firewall will help with sound but not a lot. Adding insulation to the new wall will do a lot more. Just make sure any wiring you want for either room is done when you build the wall. It is a PITA to fish wire in an insulated wall. DAMHIKT!

[4estgump]

Look at your dryer sides. Mine is vented out the back, but mine has knock out holes on both sides near the back of the dryer. I plan some day to vent mine out the side. If you are lucky this may help.
4est

[Ed62]

You won't be able to run the vent through the 2X4s as shown because you would basically be cutting the 2X4s in half. If you insist on running the vent through that wall, you'd probably be best by installing a header, and removing parts of the 2X4s in the area the vent pipe would run.

As for the water pipes, you will need some kind of support for them. Running them next to a floor joist would give you the needed support using straps or other hardware. You can run them the easiest way for you.

It sounds like you're unsure about how to go about doing these type of things. If so, make sure you have a good plan on what you will do before starting. You don't want to cut into something, then find out it won't work.

Ed

[ivwshane]

Don't worry I will definitly be doing some serious research before I cut into anything.

However you don't know what you don't know which is why I come here.
You guys help me to see or be aware of things I didn't even know I needed to be aware of (such as the drainage vent).

I will be buying new washers and dryers so hopefully I will have different cut out options, if so that would make things a **** of a lot easier!.



For the drain pipe slope, is there typically somewhere in the local code that specifies the angle of the slope?


And lastly, is there anything else you guys can think of that I need to take into consideration?

[Ed62]

For the drain pipe slope, is there typically somewhere in the local code that specifies the angle of the slope?

Local codes vary, so it's best to check locally. But the actual slope needed is very small. Just a guess, but maybe 1/8" slope to a foot of run.

Ed

[pelligrini]

For the drain pipe slope, is there typically somewhere in the local code that specifies the angle of the slope?

Local codes do vary, you might want verify.

This if from the 2003 IRC (International Residential Code):

P3005.3Horizontal drainage piping slope.Horizontal drain-
age piping shall be installed in uniform alignment at uniform
slopes not less than one-fourth unit vertical in 12 units horizon-
tal (2-percent slope) for 21/2-inch (64 mm) diameter and less,
and not less than one-eighth unit vertical in 12 units horizontal
(1-percent slope) for diameters of 3 inches (76 mm) or more.

[Tom Miller]

We moved into new construction, without having been involved with any design choices. It was pretty clear that the designed laundry space (similarly crammed into a small mudroom just inside the garage) wasn't gonna cut it. For any new home buyers, don't underestimate the space needed to collect and do laundry!

Some points to consider:
1. Plumbing code will tell you how far your waste line inlet can be from the vent. Not having to redo the vent line will probably save you quite a bit of trouble.

2. Sheet rock thickness probably won't make much difference in noise. Placing W&D on the garage wall will do more, IMO. Also, assuming the floor joists are better supported here, the floor vibration during spin cycle will be reduced.

3. Consider the direction the dryer door opens when determining which side of the washer to put it on (so it doesn't get in the way when moving clothes from washer to dryer).

Do you plan to use one of those supply water & waste headers? Or will you discharge to a sink?

Regards,
Tom

[ivwshane]

The only issue I see with putting the washer/dryer on the other side is that I want to put a window in and having the window closer to the right side means that it will be directly over the A/C.

I don't know, I guess I need to figure out what the code is going to require first. I really hope the vent and the vent distance doesn't give me any problems.

If you guys don't think drywall thickness will do anything for sound dampening then what about using actual sound dampening materials?