Moving washer and dryer to garage

i had my washer/dryer moved to my garage and am very glad i did. the initial (feasibility) step is to locate your main drain line. there are companies that do this (see the phone book). typically, they charge by the hour (or half hour) but it only takes them a few minutes to map your main drain line. so, in advance of them coming, try to think of other things you'd like them to map while they're there (IF you want to get you money's worth, that is; BTW, i couldn't think of anything else i wanted them to map so don't ask me).

in my case, the main drain line was easily accessible from the garage. it ran through the front yard and was about 4 feet down. the worst case is that it runs UNDER the garage or is very far from the garage. anyway, it was relatively easy to tap into my main drain.

finding a contractor - this is not your typical plumbing job - don't expect a handyman will want to tackle it. my job involved digging a trench to the main drain, cutting through the exterior wall of the garage (twice - for the drain and for the dryer vent) and notching the cement footer for the drain. they also have to cut through the roof to install a vent (stack). in addition to the drain, i had them install a laundry sink. i also switched to a gas dryer since the gas hookup for the boiler was nearby. i'd recommend getting a sink. you can have the washer drain into the sink (cheapest) or tap into the sink drain (for a few dollars more). consider if you want a permit (i got one - i'm in sunnyvale and it was fairly easy).

i also had them install a two-way clean-out when they tapped into the main drain. you might consider doing this as long as the drain is exposed. you can save a few bucks by digging your own hole down to the main drain if you like that sort of exercise.

i live in the fairbrae division in sunnyvale. you're welcome to come over and look at the job. i can also recommend my plumber.

kevin

I wanted to move my W/D to the garage from my kitchen, but decided not to. My sewer runs through my courtyard on the south side (my home "L" shaped). My plumbing runs along the north side. So a new sewer connection would have meant trenching through the entire slab of my garage and carport and my Japanese garden to get to it. An expense and mess I didn't want to deal with.

So we decided to get a new, smaller high efficient W/D for the same location, but build a counter and cabinet around it. This worked fine since we were getting new counter tops.

Kevin,

Your situation looks a lot like ours and I would like to take you up on the offer to take a look at your house and get some contacts from you. Please send me an email at [email protected] so that we can figure out a good evening after work to get together.

Brian

Hello Kevin,
This is possibly a pretty major project; the very first thing that you should do is invest a couple hundred dollars in having a sewer scope your sewer lines with a camera. Before you hire someone, you need to ask them if their services include:
1. Locating and marking the lines
2. determining the depth of the lines
3. Assessing the overall condition of the lines
I have run countless jobs where we have tied into existing sewer mains, and this is the best pro active measure that you can take to determine the scope of work prior to starting a project. Because every house has a different layout due to topgraphy, floorplan and combinations of the two; it is important to really find out where the lines are, how much demolition,
excavation, and plumbing is required, and then you can make an informed choice about your budget.

I just found this thread while searching for something else, but I want to share our good experience with moving our washer-dryer to the garage. The kitchen is aligned with the garage so all we had to do was hook up an exterior line running from the washer to the clean-out that serves the kitchen sink. After almost 30 years I am now in the process of replacing the exterior connection because some of the PVC pipes are sagging.

We freed up a lot of room by doing this and I have never regretted it.

My 2 cents. Think tho-now you have to lug all your laundry to the garage to do it-I'd think that keeping it in the bedroom wing of the house would be more convenient-it's much closer to where most of your laundry is. Most new housing has it there. But there might be other issues ya might have to deal with. I'd rather have it in the bedroom area-of course I say that living in a non Eichler 2 story house with the W/D in the garage lugging laundry via stairs all the time-I'd love to have the W/D by the bedrooms instead.