Laundry Room - Part I: The Wall Comes Tumblin' Down

Since we moved into our old home at the end of August we have been living without the use of two modern amenities that seem much more like necessities -- a washer and dryer.  Add an infant in cloth diapers into the mix and now you are asking for a disaster.  Fortunately, we have lots of family that live in the area that have been generous to allow us to pop in and do a few loads when we need to.

The house did originally have hookups for a washer and gas dryer in the basement.  However, this basement isn't exactly the most inviting space, and we own and prefer an electric dryer.  Furthermore, we had the line for the gas dryer removed -- and the other nest of twisted gas pipe -- when our new water heater was installed.

After some research and deliberation, we decided to add a laundry room off the landing between the first and second floors.  Aside from kitchen towels and washcloths, the bulk of our laundry will be generated on the second floor anyway.  Plus we had these two little rooms located off the stairs that were inexplicably useless.

Looking down on the little rooms from the 2nd floor

We learned that these two little rooms were the remains of a second staircase that the maids used decades ago.  With the staircase long gone and no sign of maids anywhere around our house, these odd little rooms were a good fit.

The first step in creating our new laundry room was to remove the little wall between the rooms and create one larger room -- but still rather small.  Not only would this give us a usable space, but it would allow more natural light into the hallway on the second floor.

The drywall removed from the wall revealing the lathe.

Where the wall once was.

Same view as the first picture without the wall

With a bathroom on the opposite wall, we were certain that we could get the hookups and drain line we needed for the washer.  Just to be certain we cut a hole in the wall to peek at the plumbing inside.

Hole to check on the plumbing.

Confident that we could then proceed with our project we called Sinclair Plumbing and Harv's Electric to begin work on getting the hookups we would need for our soon-to-be-laundry room.