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Laundry
A laundry area really doesn't sound like much of a major project but it made
Nancy extremely happy and actually involved quite a bit of effort.
The laundry was downstairs in the old part of the cellar with very little
natural lighting and all the accompaniments of an old house's cinder block
walled basement. Even though it was dry it felt damp and just generally not
nice.
The new laundry is off our bedroom - it was actually part of the bedroom
and was partitioned off. It has a window and a door that opens on a small
porch with three steps to ground level inside the fenced yard, achieved by
relocating our existing chain link fence. A new gate was added and
a new clothesline installed just outside the fence, parallel to the house.
Notable
Swapping a door and window
The bedroom had a door opening to the West, which was the front door of the
original house in the 60's. Our final decision for the
laundry was to have it on the East side with a door to facilitate access to
a clothesline. The East side had a window so the two locations were swapped.
The window was removed, the opening enlarged and a new steel clad prehung door
was installed. The former door opening was resized and the window reused. In
retrospect this was a mistake - it should have been replaced with a new,
larger window.
At some point it is possible this goof will be rectified. A storm door was
also added which provides great ventilation in the summer, or light (and some
solar heat) in the winter months.
Partitioning off the laundry
The only complication here was providing heat to the area. The bedroom is at
the North end of the house and is the longest run off the forced hot air gas
furnace. We were afraid that if the laundry were closed up like a normal room
it would be way too cold unless a heat source were provided. We considered
supplemental electric (too expensive), extending or adding a furnace duct
(the run is already too long), adding a duct fan booster (possible fallback
if needed) or just not making the laundry a 'solid' room (our solution). This
was accomplished in three ways; first by using louvered doors; second by
leaving a six inch space open at the ceiling between the laundry and bedroom;
and third by adding a cold air return in the laundry. This combination seems
to work quite well, the warm air flows over the wall and through the louvers
while the cold air return lets it get back to the furnace.
Gas, electric and water
Really nothing major other than a lot of dog work in two of my least
favorite area - plumbing and electrical, the one often leaks and the other
can knock you for a loop.
The gas line tee to the original laundry became the source for the supply
to the new one - run with black pipe. A new, seperate 20 amp electrical
circuit was supplied for the washer and dryer with a GFCI, of course, same
as nearly all our electrical. The water lines were run new and are insulated
all the way since they go through the old unheated fruit cellar. Besides which,
the hot water comes a long way from the heater.
Porch
The porch outside the new door is only 4x8 feet, just big enough for two
plastic chairs and a small table at the side leaving a clear runway to the
steps.
It is covered over with a normal roof ridged at a right angle to the main
house roof and extending over the steps. This eliminates nearly all snow
removal unless we get a real windy storm. Being on the East side of the
house this is frequently a very comfortable place to
sit and read on a warm summer night.
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