Most modern homes come with a purpose-built laundry room located away from bedrooms, family rooms, and any other space where moisture and noise would be bothersome.
However, you can place your machines almost in any room, anywhere provided you get your connections right (water/power connections).
So, What Are the Pros and Cons of Putting a Washer and Dryer in The Bedroom Closet?
As for pros, you get to make use of every nook and crevice of free space available and even repurpose the main laundry room. On the downside, you will be compelled to put up with noise, heat, and high humidity generated by your laundry machines. Also, be prepared to lose your privacy if you share the bedroom with another person because one of you will spend slightly more time in the room washing and keeping the laundry in order as if it were a dedicated laundry room.
Let’s take a closer look:
The Pros
Assuming that you’ve found a better place to keep your clothes now that you’ve repurposed to hold your washer and dryer, these are the benefits:
1. Convenience
Unless you have a hallway closest, chances are you have your clothes hung somewhere in your bedroom.
Dirty beddings, and probably your shoes too, are likely piled somewhere in the corner of the room as well.
A washer/dryer in the closet removes the need for carrying your laundry between rooms.
Another convenience is being able to get ready in a short time.
Think about it – having all your laundry appliances in the closet within your bedroom streamlines the process of getting ready for an outing and changing to home clothes after a long day out.
Most people change from the bathroom.
However, having a laundry room in the bedroom lets you skip a step in your preparation for the day.
2. Can Be a Money Saver If You Are Short of Space
If you feel you aren’t utilizing your closets to the maximum but you’re deprived of space elsewhere, you can bring your washer/dryer instead of setting up a dedicated laundry room.
You can put all your other rooms to better use, like converting your designated laundry room into a home office or studio.
3. The Refreshing Scent of a Fabric Softener Is Irresistible
I’ve never come across a fabric softener that isn’t pleasant to the nose.
Fabric softeners are known for their enticing light and airy scent that lasts for weeks. The fresh scent reminds me of the springtime.
Still, you will need to keep it to a minimum to avoid rendering the bedroom unlivable.
Also, it would be wise to remove the detergent scent or keep it to a minimum to prevent them from mixing and forming an odor.
The Cons
Here’s to never put your washer/dryer in your bedroom closet:
1. Noise
Dryers can be noisy sometimes.
You know your washer is faulty if it’s to squeak but sometimes these noises occur too often.
Besides the squeaking sounds, a humming dryer can be as loud a 60 decibels, which is very much like a normal room conversation.
However, the fact that it is prolonged and may run in a tandem with washer sounds, can make it hard for a person to sleep properly.
Washing machines are a little launder, producing between 74 – 77 decibels of noise during normal operations.
A person trying to sleep or relax can clearly hear a running washer, so you should reconsider placing it in the bedroom.
Other than machine sounds, you also need to factor in the disturbance created by general laundry activities: falling items, shutting closet doors, conversations, etc.
All these can make it impossible to sleep comfortably while another person is laundering.
2. Humidity Issues
A dryer takes between 30 and 45 minutes to remove all the moisture from your laundry – you need a lot of controlled hot air to achieve that and still eliminate all the water without condensation ending up in the wrong places.
The humid air produced by the dryer doesn’t disappear in thin air – it must be safely led out of the machine and eventually outside your home through a vent system.
Dedicated laundry rooms normally come with a well-thought vent system to support your dryer.
Since you are installing the dryer in the closet right in your bedroom, chances are the area was not designed to support any laundry machine.
You will need to install the vent system and everything.
If you don’t get your venting right, part of the steam will seep into the bedroom and turn it into a musty hell.
3. Heat Issues
Dryers generate great amounts of hot air in addition to the massive humidity.
The machine’s peak operating temperature can depend on the make and sometimes the model. The settings made by the user can have a say as well.
On average, a dryer can get anywhere between 125 °F (51°C) – 135°F (57°C) hot.
On another hand, a washing machine can hit 130°F (54°C) when in operation.
Letting these two machines run at such temperatures for about an hour can warm your bedroom to an uncomfortable level unless you add air conditioning.
4. High Setup Costs
Because your bedroom was not designed to support laundry appliances, you will be compelled to reconfigure it for the new purpose.
The cost of adding a vent system, electrical/water connections, and everything else you will need can take hundreds of dollars to put in place.
5. Lack of Privacy
There will be moments when someone needs just to be left alone in the bedroom to connect with themselves or even undress for fresh clothes.
You probably don’t want to change your undies in presence of someone. Maybe you want to meditate in silence.
So, it’s inadvisable to bring your washer/dryer pair to your bedroom, especially if you share the room with another person.
Furthermore, most bedrooms aren’t spacious enough to support traffic-intensive functions.
Laundering involves a lot of movements and may flip the bedroom from a comfort room to a tension room.
Since bedrooms are seldom spacious enough to accommodate a sizeable bed and support laundering activities, you are guaranteed to run out of space even with few items.
Even if you are the only user, you will still have a hard time moving in the room, cleaning your laundry, organizing your laundry baskets, and arranging everything else you own.
6. Leaks and Condensation
Your bedroom space was not designed to deal with water spills and leaks.
If you like to wash heaps of laundry, you will certainly spill water on the floor and even wet your bedding.
Clothes awaiting drying or washing can attain the moldy smell and ruin the quality of air and even cause respiratory problems.
You will want to ensure you dry your laundry immediately and prevent leaks at all costs to cut on humidity and prevent the destruction of the closet.
Conclusion
So what are the pros and cons of putting a washer and dryer in the bedroom closet?
As for the advantages, you get to make use of every available free space in your home.
You can decide to repurpose the main laundry room.
On the downside, you will be compelled to put up with noise, heat, and high humidity generated by your laundry machines.
