Do you REALLY need a washing machine in apt if you have kids?

I have 2 small kids and having to go down 2 or 3 times a week to do laundry is a huge inconvenience. If you want to do it only once a week, you'll end up having to drag 2 or 3 huge laundry bags down and taking every machine available for all of the tenants.

There are Malber and LG washer dryer combos that cost approx $1000 that will make your life much easier. They do not fit the king size blankets, but will wash most everything else. The drying time is significantly longer though. By having the machine at home, you can do a load every day without a problem. The plumbing gets attached to the kitchen sink and drain and should not cost too much to run. They also have sink Y attachments where no plumbing needs to be run at all.

Finally a question on streeteasy that I am incredibly well qualified to answer!! We are a family of four with a ton of laundry. I have lived with a w/d as well as used a laundry room and my vote is go with the laundry room. When I relied on my own unit I was doing laundry day and night. With the laundry room, I wack out 12 loads once a week..total time 2 1/2 hours including folding. You probably need to invest a little more in clothes so you have a solid weeks supply,but I would never go back to a life revoling around the spin cycle.

i agree that once a week is better, but you also have to consider how many machines your laundry room has. i've seen building with 3-4 machines and those were small top loaders. 12 big loads = 16 smaller ones. 4+ hrs and upset neighbors who cannot use the laundry room for 1/2 a day. with a huge building that has a huge laundry room, this would not be an issue. it sometimes is even worth it for the laundry guy to come over one day, pick up all the stuff and drop it off the next day all done :-).

Are you kidding?

I'm single and I can't stand not having my own washer and dryer in my apartment.

We're stuck with just four washers and four dryers in the basement for a 50-unit building. Laundry day is a major chore just lugging it down into the basement, let alone running into a line of people waiting to use the facilities.

I'm still waiting for approval from the board to install my own Malber-style washer/dryer unit, for which I would swap out my existing dishwasher, but approval (if it comes) would be contingent only on the washer not draining directly into the drainage pipes; I would have to rip out the existing kitchen sink and replace it with a large enough "farmhouse" style sink that would act as a drainage tub from the washer. The reason why most older buildings prohibit laundry in the apartment is because the older, narrower drainage pipes can't accommodate the load from washers. Even these small, efficient, "low water" units create a problem, because it's not a matter of the volume of water being forced into the pipes during the spin cycle, but how quickly the water is being pushed out. All washers, regardless of size or water efficiency, push the water out at a rate of at least 14 gallons per minute during their spin cycles. Older pipes can generally accommodate water loads of up to only 5 to 7 gallons per minute (the rate at which gravity naturally drains the water, say, from a full bathtub). When water is forced out any faster than that, it creates a vacuum in the building pipes, backing the waste water up into other apartment units.

I estimate that the total cost -- if my plan is approved -- would be in the $7,000-$10,000 range: the washer/dryer unit itself, new custom-sized sink with built-in drainage pipe insert, cost of changing the plumbing, new sink cabinet console unit, and new countertop. And of course, the cost of labor.

Anyway. The point is, unless you have your own washer and dryer, doing laundry in this city is a royal pain in the a$$. (Oh yes, those dollar signs weren't just a joke -- I estimate that over the past 14 years of using coin-operated laundry, week after week, I could have bought at least EIGHT full-sized washer and dryer units.)

Wow, very interesting reply from Karen. I never thought of it that way before.
We have had a w/d for years now and it was the single biggest quality of life improvement that we ever experienced :) Even before kids.

True we end up doing a load sometimes twice a day but that's because we'll throw some stuff in the dryer in the morning after the wash the prior night then our nanny will also do another load when the kids come back from school (I know this is so wasteful - I'll try to improve) but I never thought of myself being a slave to the cycle. I'm not disputing that description however. I can see your pov karen.

BTW, when I was single and lived in a large apt building with a large laundry room, there were often evenings when I could not find a dryer and the occasional evening where all the washers were in use also.

Also the whole someone emptying your stuff out of the dryer when you were more than 2 minutes late to retrieve it was more than a little irritating.

I vote for having a washer and dryer in the apartment or at least on your floor. I lived in a rental where the laundry was in the basement but for us it was a maze to get there. Always had to bring my laundry card (and not forget it), laundry detergent + heap of laundry. Sometimes there was a line of people waiting to do laundry as well. We have one in our apt now and it is a blessing. We recently had a baby so it's much less headache. We also like using those thick Restoration HW towels that take forever to dry when you add it to other clothes (and I didn't want to pay an extra $2 just to dry them separately). I also like the fact that before it used to cost us between $10-$20 a week to do laundry, and now I don't have to think about it at all.

hey matt, since you're vice president, why don't you get more washers and dryers for the building. and, are you sure its 14 gallons per minute? is that true for every single washer made on the planet? you gotta be kidding?

Columbia, in case you don't understand how corporations work, the Vice President of the board has only ONE vote. There are six other board members who are still deliberating.

And yes, I'm absolutely sure it's 14 gallons per minute. Yes, for every single washer on the planet -- since the laws of physics remain constant regardless of manufacturer or national border.

Do your homework. I've clearly done mine.

Do You Need Air To Breath?
(washing machine question...please)

14 gallons per minute is not what Malber/Haier/LG is pushing. I've used both and the "under-the-counter" washer/dryers only use a few gallons of water. When pushing the water out. It does a slow drain. This is why the wash takes an additional 20 minutes. It drains the water slowly.

Welcome to yet another reason I left Manhattan.

Last I checked, only 17 percent of condo/coops allow washer/dryers in individual units; for rentals that goes down to 5 percent:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/realestate/23cover.html?scp=2&sq=washer%20dryyer&st=cse

In NYC I lived in a 200 unit building with a large laundry room above the lobby. Better than the basement but would close at 11pm. It made laundry a pain.

I can't believe more residents aren't up in arms about this. Enough bullshit about old pipes. If the building's pipes are that old, put in new ones. Since moving to a modernized century-old building in Los Angeles, with stackable washer and ventless dryers in every unit, my life has been much more pleasant. I love doing laundry late at night in my underwear.

Actually, it doesn't drain the water slowly. It might SOUND like a slow drain (as I doubt you've actually WATCHED your washer drain water into the drain), but at least for a minute, it's pushing more water than older pipes can handle.

"I can't believe more residents aren't up in arms about this. Enough bullshit about old pipes. If the building's pipes are that old, put in new ones"

Really.

You understand that pipes are INSIDE the walls, right? It's not like running new high-speed cable into apartments -- it would involve basically gutting every single apartment simultaneously.

Rather than do kids' laundry myself, I'd sell a child and use the money to pay the housekeeper to do the laundry. No kid is worth having to do all that washing. Please, people--focus! Quality of life matters.

sticky, I must admit that when I first arrived in Manhattan from London in the early 90's, other than the fact that you can see inside the stalls in bathrooms in NYC, the biggest suprise to me was the lack of W/Ds in apartments. I hadn't used a coin op lanudry macine since the 70's so this was a huge shock.

NYCMatt, older drainpipes are wider than modern ones. Also, in apartment buildings, they're designed for multiple simultaneous users in the same line (tubs draining, toilets flushing. I've never heard of waste backing up in a pre-war building, and w/d are prevalent in those.

The reason buildings don't allow washers is partly contractual (laundry-room operators have no-compete clauses in their agreements) and partly cultural (the impulse is to say no, because that's the prevailing policy). In addition, the vibrations of w/d have the potential to annoy other tenants.

LOL kylewest You sound like my husband!

Maybe he is, and he just did a major apartment renovation on the downlow.

there's another point to consider. some people will buy the HUGE washers that can only be placed in a house's basement and put them in their one bedroom apartment on a high floor. then you will have major plumbing problems. the rules of no washer/dryer are created to prevent those situations as well the ones alanhart stated above.

"NYCMatt, older drainpipes are wider than modern ones. Also, in apartment buildings, they're designed for multiple simultaneous users in the same line (tubs draining, toilets flushing. I've never heard of waste backing up in a pre-war building, and w/d are prevalent in those.

The reason buildings don't allow washers is partly contractual (laundry-room operators have no-compete clauses in their agreements) and partly cultural (the impulse is to say no, because that's the prevailing policy). In addition, the vibrations of w/d have the potential to annoy other tenants."

alanhart, that is completely wrong. Older pipes are not wider, they are narrower. And yes, while they're designed for multiple users taking showers and flushing toilets, when they were installed pre-1945, they were not designed to also handle the load of automatic washing machines (which had yet to be invented).

And believe me ... as someone on the board of a prewar co-op (with friends all over the city who are also board members), there are no such "no-compete" clauses with coin-op companies -- and if there were, the contracts would be dissolved immediately, if only out of shameless self-interest. I don't know of a single fellow board member who wouldn't sell their own child to have their own washing machine in their apartment.

We installed a w/d in our pre-war co-op. It is an LG combo unit - do yourself a favor and don't consider any others. The reviews on Malber are terrible and we had a Haier combo unit in our last place that was always breaking down. With kids, laundry is a frequent task. The lady who "knocks out" 12 loads in 2.5 hours must be superwoman. I know when I used to use a laundry room, it was a HUGE inconvenience for the reasons several others pointed out here.

The thing about having young kids is they have to go with you EVERYWHERE! You can't leave them alone for a minute, so going to a laundry room becomes exacerbated by having bags of laundry, detergent, coins, AND a screaming kid to drag around. Not fun, trust me. The combo units do take longer, but we put in a load before bed, and it is ready to be removed, folded and put away when we get up. There is no going back to the laundry room once you have experienced this freedom.

"In some cases, a building may have a direct monetary incentive to refuse permission: the vendors who run laundry rooms will often pay higher rent in a building that prohibits individual washer-dryers. The prohibition may even be written into the contract."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/realestate/23cover.html?pagewanted=print

"In some cases, a building may have a direct monetary incentive to refuse permission: the vendors who run laundry rooms will often pay higher rent in a building that prohibits individual washer-dryers. The prohibition may even be written into the contract."

My building has no such clause in its contract.

Can someone comment on the process to get this done? I live in a rental which does have it, but in the future will want to buy something and I am considering apartments that allow w/d but don't currently have it set up. How long does it take from when you begin to fill out the application to add it, to when you can actually start doing laundry in your apt. Thanks

kands10016, too many variables:
* how quickly and easily does your building approve things?
* are you trying to do wet over dry (e.g. in a closet)?
* will you need in-wall plumbing modifications?

The best bet, if you can manage it, is to replicate the installation of another tenant in your line -- one that the Board and management were happy with. And even hire the same plumber, or the building's/super's preferred plumber.

Um, yes. Even if you have a housekeeper who does laundry, there will be random pukes and other bodily emissions that you want to IMMEDIATELY wash off bedding & clothing. If you don't have laundry facilities in your apt, it's not a big deal if your building has the right mix of demographics. In a previous apt, we had the laundry facilities all to ourselves because the bldg was full of single people and couples who sent their laundry out. It was better than having your own machine, because you had essentially 5x the capacity. It was also open 24/7.

Thanks alanhart. Basically I would use an area near an existing pipe, where modifications (if any) would be minimal. I guess my best bet if this is truly a dealbreaker for me is to find an apartment that already has this. I wasn't thinking of tampering with any walls or plumbing. I would hate to go through all the effort of finding a place only to find out that this could be a 6 month effort(headache)

:) Guilty face. Don't blame the nannies! In our previous building, I will admit to stealing the cart (one of 3) for days at time, hogging the machines (though never on weekends)...

In our old (combo) apt, we turned part of the old kitchen into washer/dryer. Perfect, IMO. Plumbing is there, venting is there (condenser-dryers suck!).

only if you want to be clean.....

I remember when my daughter didn't have a bowel movement for 1 week.... long story short... when it "happened" at nite and let's just say they don't make diapers big enough :) .... it was all hands on deck kind of morning.... my wife kept saying "thank god" for the W/D... and we had just moved from an apartment w/ washers on every floor to one in the apt.....

tmi!!!!

yes.

And ... to gross you and KW out even more - if you have shared laundry facilities w/o kids - but there are kids in the bldg, think about what they're doing with their soiled stuff :)

while we are on topic.... when my son was 2 and I was in the tub w/ both kids... I was happily washing my daughter and turned around to see the "snickers" bar incident... it still makes me tear up in laughter when i think about it :)

Absolutely nothing to do w/ W/D :)

Here's MY laundry room gross-out story.

Last week I was waiting with four loads of wet laundry for one of the tenants to empty out the three *working* dryers he was using. When he arrived -- unkempt, disheveled, and frankly smelly -- he emptied out his laundry (much of which looked like garbage), and the smell was unbearable. His clothes coming out of the dryer smelled like ASS. No wait -- BURNING ass. The smell was so bad the super poked his head out of his apartment (adjacent to the laundry room) to see what was causing the smell. The dryers he left behind smelled like burning ass.

For the next two days I had four loads of laundry "air drying" all over the apartment.

nycmatt: is there anything that you are not an incompetent expert on? i live in a prewar building and have had a washer dryer since the day we moved in. and, i, for one, don't believe that you have any friends much less ones all over the city who are board members.

On the subject of prewar apts, I've seen more than a few prewars with washer & dryer in the maid's room. Often maid's room will have a half bath, perfect for the washer, and people vent out the window for the dryer.

but what about that 14 gallons per minute? out the window with that too... right on matt's head.

I'm not a plumber - is that a huge deal? Aren't buildings designed so that more than a few families can use their showers/toilets/dishwashers at the same time? I've seen so many prewars and postwars with washer/dryer additions...

Columbia, you obviously have a problem with me personally. My response to that is just to simply "suck it".

I never got in trouble - we gave very generous tips. That buys loyalty, until the next holiday season.

nyc10022: Yes, she can.

NYCMatt: I'm sure Columbia isn't the first one to arrive at that conclusion.

nycmatt - you are wrong. our LG unit uses 12-15 gallons for the ENTIRE wash part of the cycle (which lasts about 1.5 hours). our unit does 2 wash cycles and 3 rinse cycles. we did research when we were defending our unit to our last board. please see URL below:

http://www.lgwasherdryer.com/lg-faq.htm

it has nothing to do with physics - it is a product specification.

as for the concern about anyone installing a large 60 gallon machine, the board can and should prevent this. additionally, our board required me to install a pan under the machine with a sensor that automatically shuts off flow to the unit in case of a leak.

the 2 biggest issues boards of older buildings have is stress on the pipes and the worry of flooding with damage to other units. the coin-op contracts are indeed real although less common than they used to be.

matt is never wrong about anything.

am i the only one that feels it's kind of unbelievable that after paying more than a million for a place some people are willing to put up with sharing the laundry room, just like in college?

Washboards are still allowed. Probably not clotheselines, though.

OTNYC ... could you please provide specifics of who installed your unit and how it was installed? I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle with the rest of the board here.

You can have a plumber install a unit instead of a dishwasher and the cost will be similar. The only difference is that you need to run hot and cold to the washer/dryer.

or on the other side of the dishwasher...

Most machines these days have a hot water heater, you only need cold.

I don't care about cost. I need to prove to the rest of the board that the washer/dryer not only won't leak but also won't stress the pipes any more than the existing dishwasher.

I'd like to add that low-income NYCHA housing projects, most built in the 1950s, allow washing machines to be installed and used (for a $5.75 monthly fee). I believe the original kitchen configurations had spaces for them (but not dryers...they had pullout clothesline thingies over the bathtubs).

NYCMatt - I just read your original post. Do you really want to get rid of your dishwasher? Why don't you install an FP dishdrawer which is perfect for a single person. If there is space in your kitchen, you can buy a portable washer/dryer that you can move next to sink for your laundry? How much laundry do you generate anyway? I never did more than a load/5 days for myself.

> I never got in trouble - we gave very generous tips. That buys loyalty, until the next holiday
> season.

It also buys some pranks...

I've definitely left some surprises for inconsiderate neighbors...

"it has nothing to do with physics - it is a product specification"

But nothing you said refutes the possibility (and I'm going to guess that Matt is right about it) that at a maximum velocity, the RATE of flow is 14 gallons/min at a spin cycle. He didn't say that 14 gallons has to flow out.

This is an absurd witchhunt.

NYCMatt, for what it's worth, I HAVE heard that a very common justification for not allowing w/ds in unit are the stresses it puts on older pipes, along with the risk of flooding, just like you and OTNYC say.

10022: What can I say? We lived in a bldg full of pied-a-terres, singles, young couples. No one had time to do their own laundry, let alone track down miscreants.

nyc10023 ... I've been living here for three years. The entire apartment was a gut renovation -- and I have a brand-new dishwasher I've never used.

YES ... if it means gaining a clothes washer, I'll get rid of the dishwasher I never use!!!!

I generate four loads of laundry a week, just by myself. It's not hard -- and trust me, I'm not one to lightly toss every little thing into the hamper. I don't launder jeans, sweaters, or even bath towels after just one use, like many others.

Matt: we do 4 loads/week as a family of 4! That's incredible.

Honestly, I don't know how you do it.

By "load" I'm talking a typical laundry-room top-loading washer. All four loads fit into one giant laundry bag. T-shirts, underwear, dress shirts, gym clothes, socks, daily washcloths, ONE dishtowel and dishrag, one set of full-sized bed linens.

Do you send out your men's dress shirts to the dry cleaner? I wash my own.

"I'll get rid of the dishwasher I never use!!!!"

wow, i use it daily, sometimes twice

"10022: What can I say? We lived in a bldg full of pied-a-terres, singles, young couples. No one had time to do their own laundry, let alone track down miscreants. "

Wait, let me get this straight.

because noone tracked down people who were inconsiderate *ssholes, it was ok to BE an inconsiderate *sshole?

I am a small woman, everything scales - so 5 days of underwear, gym clothes, jeans, shirts, one towel add up to one load for me. I'm lazy with linens, don't get around to it every wash cycle.

Wow, 10022 - you need your own W/D, stat! If no-one is there to hear a tree fall, does it make a noise?

We are lucky to have a washer and dryer in our apartment (the previous owner installed them) but our building also has a laundry room in the basement. Why would we need one in our apartment?

Here is a situation from last week. Our 3 year old threw up late at night over her sleep clothes and her bed. Rather than store the stinky mess in the hamper for the night or try to walk down to the basement in the middle of the night we simply threw it in our washer and started the quiet clean cycle.

Too much information I know, but to answer your original question - We probably wouldn't have needed it in the apartment if we didn't have kids, but because we do - and kids throw up, poop, get finger paint and food on the sofa cover etc - our overall laundry load is much higher and (most importantly) more ad-hoc than before. Its a huge luxury we know but now that we have it, we could not do without it.

Funny thing is, I grew up in NYC when it was "bad", and I never saw folks as inconsiderate as I do now.

Yuppie translants from Ohio and elsewhere are giving real New Yorkers a bad name... holding doors, etc.

I actually remember sometime in the ealry 80s, they did a survey of who would "do the right thing" in major cities. Giving directions, saying bless you, etc. Everyone figured NYC would lose. This survey adjusted for noise / crowds somehow... and we blew away other cities.

Those days are over. Sad how the "upscale" influx killed the class in this down.

> Wow, 10022 - you need your own W/D, stat! If no-one is there to hear a tree fall, does it make a
> noise?

If you're an inconsiderate ass in the forest, you're still an inconsiderate ass.

(and your tree will get tped)

with you parents - it's a must have if you can in any way make it happen. love the Caddyshack reference above 67. miss not having one, but dealing.

Do you NEED one? Of course not. Plenty of people make do with machines in the basement (I’ve even heard rumors of people who … gasp … do not have facilities in their own building and reportedly use something called a laundromat) Is it a convenience? Absolutely.

Like any other real estate question, it is an issue of your own situation/priorities. Do you work full time, have plenty of help, travel a lot, have kids in sports, have kids with allergies, etc? Only you know your own situation. For me – with a kid, full time job and no housekeeper/cleaning lady – we sacrificed some closet space and are absolutely thrilled with that decision.

I think Matt is in the minority that he thinks having a W/D is worth $7-10k plus the loss of your dishwasher. That said, if you are already doing a renovation, or it would be a more manageable cost, then I would definitely get one. And even better to also have machines in the basement you can use. That way for big heavy items that take an eternity to dry in the small machines you can go downstairs, or for times like returning from vacation when you have tons of laundry at once.
OTNYC has it 100% correct - you can't just leave a sleeping baby in the apt alone to run downstairs and load/switch/empty. Its a crazy production. With the units in the apt you'll find yourself doing this stuff at weird hours in the middle of the night when your feeding the baby anyway - its very convenient.

When our second child was born I became convinced that I could live in a laundry room with a driveway. Everything else - bedrooms, kitchens - seemed superfluous. Of course I was insane, but it felt real at the time.

At this very moment my angel of a mother is washing the bedding my two kids unexpectedly soiled last night. In the laundry room we created by stealing our kids' walk-in closet. Which is adjacent to my office, so we can carry on a conversation. Which is, to me, heaven. But laundry is my weakness, so I need all the help I can get. If you can get by without a w/d in your unit, by all means do so. It's not worth the money unless you're weak like me. Which, given the posts above, some of you are!

Tina
(Brooklyn broker)

10022: you really need your own WD. Let's start a "get 10022 his own laundry" fund.

Wow, you people remind me of a bunch of washerwomen.

"I've definitely left some surprises for inconsiderate neighbors..."
Of course you have nyc10022. I wouldn't expect anything less from you.

Just a friendly word in your ear: You're reverting back to type again.
You were doing so well before.

All this begs the more basic question: do you really need kids if you live in an apartment?

I also don't buy the old pipes argument. I spent a week in a Paris apt in a building that easily pre-dates any pre-war buildings here in NYC and it had an amazing single-unit washer/dryer. As someone else posted above, it was a dream to put in a load before bed and have it washed and dried by morning. I had to laugh at myself that having a washer/dryer in the apt was on the list of my top ten highlights of the trip.

KW, you're a scream - but point well made!

blog on kylewest.. that's todays' SE post of the day :)

Someone make an iphone app so we can vote on the quote of the day.... get to it MATT.

In our case, having our own w/dis a necessity. I'm simply unable to do laundry in shared machines because of the various scented products most folks use. Alas, I am too chemically sensitive. I get sick when exposed to too much scented stuff. Too, my sense of smell is annoyingly acute; recently I washed one new t-shirt (that had obviously been tried on by a person wearing alotta perfume) along with a load of other same-coloured laundry. I've *still* not got the perfume smell out of the things I'd washed with that one damned tshirt.

It sux, it is limiting but I gotta deal with is and that means having my own w/d.

At least you didn't follow the guy whose laundry smelled like ass.

if you work from home or know that you're going to have flexible time to use the building's w/d then maybe it would be okay - but there's nothing worse than being so busy that you can only do laundry on one particular night during the week or at crazy hours (and then finding them in use). also having other people take your stuff out of the machines if you're not there the SECOND the cycle is over is pretty irritating.

i don't have kids, but having a w/d in my condo has made a HUGE improvement in my quality of life (moreso than my dishwasher!) we have a stacked LG, and between having a quality machine and good HE detergent, everything gets washed on cold water, it makes very little impact on our energy bills and i do NOT miss late nights or early mornings at the laundromat.

not sure if it makes a difference to your lifestyle, but having the w/d has also made it easier to do away completely with paper towels/napkins, and when we do have a beeb we'll gladly be using cloth diapers/wipes/etc.

oh! also no accidental bleach spots from shared machines - i splurged on a reallllly nice set of sheets and they were ruined within the first month.

i don't mind going to the basement for laundry...i recently looked at an apartment and the bldg had laundry on every floor.

I did an EXTREMELY extensive renovation of the apartment where I now live. I was talking to a friend about it just before I finished about the custom mouldings, the mahogany French doors, the lighting system and his eyes were glazing over. Right up until I got to the point where I talked about the washer/dryer; all of a sudden his eyes opened up "You've got your own washer/dryer in the place?".

for the old timers (of which i am one)---definitely one of the big, big pluses in the good old days.

I have a W/D but I want to add another set of W/D so that it's 2 Washers / 2 Dryers. The extra W/D would be right next to each other. My laudry days take all day to do & this would greatly lessen the time it takes to clean. Has anyone done this?

Yes, I've done this. It's terrific. But I'm so bone-lazy that all it means is that I have more laundry sitting in the dryers.

nyc Nice, did you have any problems with adding an extra W/D in your place? Do you remember if the plumbing and extra dedicated electrical outlet was required or was it simpler than that?

I need to talk with my super about it before I go to the condo board or managing agent. Your success story is giving me hope though!

The 1st W/D was back to back with an existing bathroom - so the drainage & water supply linked to the plumbing for that bath. There was definitely extra plumbing required - there was a small inset into the wall with hot and cold water supply, and the water drained into the same inset. Extra electrical outlet (it was a Miele W/D with weird European plugs). The plumbing for the 2nd W/D was simpler - went into the old sink area of a kitchen that was removed (apt combo). The electrical for the 2nd W/D was 240V (standard for American W/D). Both units were vented units.

Your best bet is to find out where the other units have their W/Ds.

P.S. Be very nice to your super. My contractor would occasionally give him little $ gifts.

You're lucky you have vented units, I (my building) only have ventless units (Asko - Swedish company). They work fine but obviously the electrical bill is a higher since it's electrical and not gas. I have a pretty decent size "laundry room" and an extra plus is that my breaker box is on the same wall and only a few feet away. So, adding a dedicated 30 or 40 Amp line should be easy. As for the plumbing, I was thinking of just splicing/splitting the hot/cold lines and drainage lines. Of course that's my layman's term and I will need to talk with a super/plumber for the proper code allowing for this.

Ventless/vented is not related to electrical/gas usage. Most apt buildings will not allow gas-fueled dryers. In all my roamings on the UWS, I've seen only one gas dryer (in the Dorilton).

where is matt when we need him? i'm sure he'll have the latest word on ventless, gas etc.

CC: I feel a spot of pity for W/D-less Matt. He has to deal with the trauma of having shared his laundry facilities with some stinky dude.

Both Bosch & Miele make condenser/ventless dryers.

but think of his empty dishwasher. so alone, nothing to wash.

I send mine out to a place down the street...Daniel's.
He does a pretty nice job...smells fresh, no shrinking and he folds it better than me.

But my favorite post on here I have to say is the person who was annoyed when a dryer wasn't available, but then also annoyed when someone would take her stuff out of the dryer, cause she was late (albeit a couple minutes.)

Didn't Matt shut down the W/D room in his building? Or was that someone else.

LET THEM EAT CAKE

We have a lovely bank of washers and dryers in our building. Would never waste the space for a washer and dryer in unit. Love being able to get multiple loads at once.

Also, we eventually got a cleaning lady that did most of our laundry! Heaven. Also, our nanny did the kids' laundry.

Yeah. I encounter cleaning ladies and "nannies" in the laundry room. Annoying.