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building a laundry chute
Hi,
I am looking to construct a laundry chute in our closet. I was originally going to use large diameter pvc pipe but found it prohibitively expensive. I also looked into sheet metal ducting but it didn't seem stable enough and too many places for clothes to snag. So I am going to build it out of 2 x 4's and drywall. It will be about 12" square. I was going to place a side hinged door with a handle on the wall outside the closet for access. And I may or may not place a metal or plastic plate on the ceiling down in the basement attached with spring hinges to cover the hole from the chute. The hole in the ceiling will end up around 2 feet from the wall with the clothes dropping into a large basket sitting on a cart with casters I will also be building. I was wondering if I could get away with using 1 x 3's instead of the 2 x 4's. Also if anyone could take a look at my proposed plans and comment/advise that would be greatly appreciated! http://patmedia.net/marklevinson/plans/laundrychute.htm Thanks, Mark |
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In article .com,
wrote: I was wondering if I could get away with using 1 x 3's instead of the 2 x 4's. Also if anyone could take a look at my proposed plans and comment/advise that would be greatly appreciated! Check your local building code. Laundry chutes are considered something of a fire hazardand may not be allowed. -- ~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~ ------------------------------------------------------ One site: http://www.balderstone.ca The other site, with ww linkshttp://www.woodenwabbits.com |
My parents have used a laundry chute made of rectangular sheet metal
ducting for years, between two studs in the wall (therefore only 3 or 4 inches deep), and it's worked fine. No problem with clothes snagging. If you'd rather use wood, I don't know why 1x3's wouldn't work - it shouldn't take a lot of abuse, right? Also, if I understand your plans correctly, it looks like the frame extends all the way to the floor of the basement? My parent's chute just extends a few feet through the basement ceiling, and the clothes obviously fall straight down from there; no need for a longer chute. Good luck, Andy |
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I'll add a second note of caution. Adding a laundry chute between floors
will allow a fire in your basement to spread almost immediately to all levels of your house. If you had a fire in your dryer from lint backup, you could burn down the entire house pretty quickly. I don't know much about building codes, but I know that there are pretty strict rules about opening a 'chase' between floors. If you do move forward with the laundry chute, I'd recommend putting relatively air tight, fire resistant 'doors' at both the top and the bottom of the chute. The bottom door could be spring loaded, or preferably you could open it manually. You could let the dirty clothes pile up inside the chute instead of on the basement floor. "Dave Balderstone" wrote in message tone.ca... In article .com, wrote: I was wondering if I could get away with using 1 x 3's instead of the 2 x 4's. Also if anyone could take a look at my proposed plans and comment/advise that would be greatly appreciated! Check your local building code. Laundry chutes are considered something of a fire hazardand may not be allowed. -- ~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~ ------------------------------------------------------ One site: http://www.balderstone.ca The other site, with ww linkshttp://www.woodenwabbits.com |
wrote in message oups.com... Hi, I am looking to construct a laundry chute in our closet. I was originally going to use large diameter pvc pipe but found it prohibitively expensive. I also looked into sheet metal ducting but it didn't seem stable enough and too many places for clothes to snag. So I am going to build it out of 2 x 4's and drywall. It will be about 12" square. I was going to place a side hinged door with a handle on the wall outside the closet for access. And I may or may not place a metal or plastic plate on the ceiling down in the basement attached with spring hinges to cover the hole from the chute. The hole in the ceiling will end up around 2 feet from the wall with the clothes dropping into a large basket sitting on a cart with casters I will also be building. I was wondering if I could get away with using 1 x 3's instead of the 2 x 4's. Also if anyone could take a look at my proposed plans and comment/advise that would be greatly appreciated! I've got a two story laundry shoot that sounds like it's very similar to what you're considering except mine dumps into a cabinet I built in the basement laundry room - makes for a clean scene. You can go as light duty as you want for a laundry shoot - it's very non-structural. Mine uses 2x2's for framing and 1/4" plywood inside. You could build it with nothing more than one-by framing if you have scrap around that you can cut up into "studs", since there is really no force exerted on a laundry shoot. No sense overbuilding a simple project like this. -- -Mike- |
"Dave Balderstone" wrote in message tone.ca... In article .com, wrote: I was wondering if I could get away with using 1 x 3's instead of the 2 x 4's. Also if anyone could take a look at my proposed plans and comment/advise that would be greatly appreciated! Check your local building code. Laundry chutes are considered something of a fire hazardand may not be allowed. Holy cow - where do you live? This is a new one on me, but there are enough parts of the country with wierd codes, that nothing surprises me anymore. -- -Mike- |
"Chuck" wrote in message m... I'll add a second note of caution. Adding a laundry chute between floors will allow a fire in your basement to spread almost immediately to all levels of your house. If you had a fire in your dryer from lint backup, you could burn down the entire house pretty quickly. So does you stairway. Better seal it off immediately. I don't know much about building codes, but I know that there are pretty strict rules about opening a 'chase' between floors. Not in residential building. If you do move forward with the laundry chute, I'd recommend putting relatively air tight, fire resistant 'doors' at both the top and the bottom of the chute. The bottom door could be spring loaded, or preferably you could open it manually. You could let the dirty clothes pile up inside the chute instead of on the basement floor. Oh come on. Is there nothing that doesn't bring the alarmists out in this group? Not to be offensive Chuck, (and I apologize if my tone sounds offensive), but this type of suggestion just defies normal everyday life. Look hard enough and you can find boogy men lurking under any bed in America... -- -Mike- |
On 17-Jun-2005, "Mike Marlow" wrote: Check your local building code. Laundry chutes are considered something of a fire hazardand may not be allowed. Holy cow - where do you live? This is a new one on me, but there are enough parts of the country with wierd codes, that nothing surprises me anymore. It sounds plausible, but I've seen new construction with laundry chutes, so it is not universal. However, all the ones I've seen have been metal and it's also possible that metal is required to allow for burn-time requirements to make it legal. I doubt it is a restiction, but it's worth looking into. Mike |
Mike,
I don't know much about building codes, but I know that there are pretty strict rules about opening a 'chase' between floors. Not in residential building. My brother-in-law built a new house a few years back and they required him to install fire doors at the top and bottom of his laundry chute. They also made him install a fire sprinkler system in his house, and improve the road coming in so firetrucks could get in. They took fire safety very seriously there (Cowlitz County, Washington). Unfortunately, just as they completed their house we had extremely heavy rains and their new house (and dozens of others) was destroyed in a landslide... We built our own house last year (Clark County, Washington) and my inspector was also quite serious about fire safety. We didn't have a laundry chute (single story home) or have to install a sprinkler system, but they were very attentive to fire blocking and sealing off all passages where fire could travel. Anthony |
Thanks Mike and everyone for your replies and suggestions. I feel
pretty confident that the spring loaded steel plate on the bottom I was planning will keep that fire at bay. ;) |
is cardboard, no?
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In a 4000+ ft2 custom home the basic laundry chute was constructed with melamine. Seemed like a good choice based upon wear and non-snag issues. And, yes I have heard about the fire issue/code. Bart |
On 17 Jun 2005 14:50:50 -0700, the opaque
spake: In a 4000+ ft2 custom home the basic laundry chute was constructed with melamine. Seemed like a good choice based upon wear and non-snag issues. And, yes I have heard about the fire issue/code. I'd prolly use a couple sections of 12-18" sewer pipe. ------------------------------------------- Crapsman tools are their own punishment http://diversify.com Comprehensive Website Design ================================================== ==== |
"HerHusband" wrote in message ... Mike, I don't know much about building codes, but I know that there are pretty strict rules about opening a 'chase' between floors. Not in residential building. My brother-in-law built a new house a few years back and they required him to install fire doors at the top and bottom of his laundry chute. They also made him install a fire sprinkler system in his house, and improve the road coming in so firetrucks could get in. They took fire safety very seriously there (Cowlitz County, Washington). Unfortunately, just as they completed their house we had extremely heavy rains and their new house (and dozens of others) was destroyed in a landslide... We built our own house last year (Clark County, Washington) and my inspector was also quite serious about fire safety. We didn't have a laundry chute (single story home) or have to install a sprinkler system, but they were very attentive to fire blocking and sealing off all passages where fire could travel. Anthony I'm glad I put a disclaimer in one of my other posts Anthony, which allowed me the escape necessary for this type of exception. That's an aggressive building code, and (thankfully...) not what is common across the country. That's taking safety to a rediculous level, though I can see the sense in improving a driveway so that fire trucks can get up it - assuming it's too long to drag hose. That should have fallen in the category of common sense. -- -Mike- |
"Kiwanda" wrote in message . .. "Mike Marlow" wrote in news:df6df$42b2c475 : "Dave Balderstone" wrote in .. In article 1118939826.265165.123960 @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, Check your local building code. Laundry chutes are considered something of a fire hazardand may not be allowed. Holy cow - where do you live? This is a new one on me, but there are enough parts of the country with wierd codes, that nothing surprises me anymore. Here in our part of Minnesota you pretty much can't build laundry chutes anymore...a local inspector might let you if there were fire doors on each floor, but I've heard of cases where even designs like that were stopped. Check the local codes/practice before you start. When I read about codes like this, it just makes me all the more glad to live in New York where we aren't bound by a lot of the codes that don't really serve a huge purpose. Of course we pay for that "freedom" in the amount of taxes we pay. There's always a tradeoff... -- -Mike- |
Mike,
That's taking safety to a rediculous level I was thankful we didn't have to install a sprinkler system, but otherwise the requirements were very easy to implement. Most of it used scraps for blocking and whatnot anyway, so there was virtually no cost involved. In the overall house building process, the few requirements for fire safety were simple, and it's nice to know it's done properly. Complying with seismic and ventilation requirements was a bigger hassle than the fire safety issues, though in retrospect, even those were fairly simple to implement. And again, I'm glad it's built that way now... Anthony |
On 16 Jun 2005 09:37:06 -0700, wrote:
Hi, I am looking to construct a laundry chute in our closet. http://patmedia.net/marklevinson/plans/laundrychute.htm I imagine that would work really well. Mine is in the bathroom, and is simply a door hinged at the bottom that is mounted directly to the wall. The clothes drop down the 6" gap between the drywall on either side of the wall, and the chute is lined with hardboard. The sucker isn't even straight (there is a 2" lip at the bottom where it enters the basement because of a floor joist) and it works fine- what you've got drawn up is a Cadillac by comparison. |
I'd recommend building it from MDF and lining it with galvanized
metal, making sure all seams are smooth. The edges can be soldered. Or, you can line the tube with vinyl flooring. Drywall won't hold up to wet towels. |
May have missed other replys so........
Use a SonaTube thats large enough for your needs.I put one in my house 20+years ago. No problems with moisture as every thing just ends up in the basement..... ohhohh/// laundry room. :) "Phisherman" wrote in message ... I'd recommend building it from MDF and lining it with galvanized metal, making sure all seams are smooth. The edges can be soldered. Or, you can line the tube with vinyl flooring. Drywall won't hold up to wet towels. |
"JRYezierski" writes:
May have missed other replys so........ Use a SonaTube thats large enough for your needs.I put one in my house 20+years ago. No problems with moisture as every thing just ends up in the basement..... ohhohh/// laundry room. :) here's an "unanswer". don't install a chute, install a drain. That way you put the washer/dryer near the stream of clothes... where it belongs. If we ever convert our back bedroom (2nd floor) to a dressing room, that's the plan... the "all things clothes" room. ;) fwiw, our clothes chute growing up was wood.... perhaps plywood. -- be safe. flip Ich habe keine Ahnung was das bedeutet, oder vielleicht doch? Remove origin of the word spam from address to reply (leave "+") |
On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:58:01 -0400, the opaque "JRYezierski"
spake: May have missed other replys so........ Use a SonaTube thats large enough for your needs.I put one in my house 20+years ago. No problems with moisture as every thing just ends up in the basement..... ohhohh/// laundry room. :) Yeah, SonoTubes are only SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS EACH. -------------------------------------------- -- I'm in touch with my Inner Curmudgeon. -- http://diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development ================================================== ========== |
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