Conference 7.286::home_work

    Laundry chutes solve part of the problem in that they help get the
    laundry to the washer area.  Someone still has to carry the clean
    clothes back upstairs.
    
    If the idea of a chute thrilled your wife *and* you have room to
    place it, try moving the laundry area to the second floor.  Most
    of the dirty stuff originates there and most of it gets put back
    there too.
    

    I believe laundry chutes have to be lined with metal (use standard
    heating duct) since they constitute a "chimney" and are great
    fire-spreaders. Also, wood will snag clothes very easily.
    

    
    Laundry chutes where I come from (Syracuse NY) are illegal. They are said
    to be a fire hazard. If a fire starts on the first floor or basement
    the laundry chute will hep spread the fire to the other floors.
    I could check with the town to see if it's legal

    re .1
    
    The only problem with having the washer on the second floor is when
    it overflows!  Makes a mell of a hess unless you build some sort
    of moat for it to fill.
    
    I put a laundry chute in the bottom of an upstairs closet to the
    top of a downstairs closet.  The washer and dryer are where the
    downstairs tub used to be.  If the washer lets go, I only have to
    worry about my table saw now.

    A floor drain and a type of plastic pan were installed on the floor
    under the washer should this happen.  The plastic pan is all busted
    up now (after 2 years) due to the washer motion and I'm going to
    nail 2x4's to the floor and caulk to (1) direct any spills to the
    drain, and (2) keep the washer from walking around.
    
    Pete

	You could try building a "dumb waiter" based around a garage door
opener.  I am going to put one in the house we are planning to have built.

Daryl

    while you're building chutes, how about this - 
    
    at my parents house, we built a chute under the kitchen sink
    to the basement to handle trash.  no more small wastebasket
    under the sink, it emptied into a full size barrel downstairs.
    
    after checking fire codes (which i never thought of before) i
    plan on putting one of these in my new home.
    
    brian

Didn't the garbage chute get all dirty and smelly?  I would think that it would 
get coated with a thin coating of slime that would then sit there and rot, and 
be a real pain to clean.  But I guess this wasn't a problem, since you're 
putting in another.  How did this work?

Paul

    no problems with the garbage, since we never sent anything down
    it that we wouldn't want sitting under our sink anyhow.  food
    scraps went into the disposal, most of what the chute saw was
    small paper and boxes.  still, it saved lots of emptying small
    kitchen garbage bags (which fill up very fast, i'm finding out).
    
    the house was a split entry, as is my new one, and the large barrel
    in the downstairs was under the kitchen, so the chute was only around
    5' long, and 8" in diameter (i think), with one small bend in it.
    
    
    this note is for laundry chutes, i only put in my recommendation
    as something i found convenient in the chute department.  any
    further stuff on other types of chutes might go in a generic chute 
    note, unless the laundry people want to turn this into one!
                 
    brian

    I don't mind making this note a generic chute note. I have received
    a lot of valuable input from it. BTW, I will be calling the town
    building inspector tonight to check on do's and don't's of chute
    building. His answers will probably be related to the Charlton,
    Mass. building code, but I will post my findings here anyway.
    
    I talked to my wife about the option of installing the washer and
    dryer in the second floor (assuming we could make the room and all
    the installations for it). She didn't like the idea because it would
    probably make a lot of noise. I tend to agree with her. They are
    better in the cellar on a concrete floor. At least she will be almost
    assured that all the dirty laundry will be in one place instead of in 
    two or three locations around the house.
    
    Thanks for all the input.
    
    Sal Guerra

    I talked to the town building inspector last night. There is nothing
    in the building code regarding laundry chutes. The only thing he
    recommended was to have a door in the cellar end to keep any cold
    air drafts from coming into the house. I was planning to do that
    anyway.

    I just called the Worcester Fire Prevention Office (part of the
    Fire Dept.) and was told there is nothing on the Fire Code regarding
    chutes. I still intend to follow the suggestion of .2 and use heating
    ducts. These will be surrounded by sheetrock going through the first
    floor which should further reduce the risk of spreading a fire. Anyway,
    if there is ever a fire in my cellar big enough to go up the chute it
    will spread not because of the chute but because the floor joists
    are exposed. Our heat is electric, so I don't have to worry about
    a boiler fire, either.

    It is most definitely illegal (in the 1985 Mass Bldg Code, at least)
    to leave an opening between an inter-stud bay and the floor above
    and below it.  I've even seen inspectors get nervous about overly
    large holes for pipes/wires.  I don't see how an unlined laundry
    chute is any different.

    I think I know what the problem is. If what .17 calls an inter-stud
    bay is a hole inside the wall, that's not what this is. The chute
    will be outside of the wall. It is going from under the vanity in
    the second floor, through the linen closet on the first floor and
    into the cellar. Additionally, it will be made of heating ducts
    which in itself constitues a lining. Is it possible I talked to
    a building inspector and a Fire Dept. officer who don't know enough
    about their respective lines of business? That could be a problem,
    too.

    It may be obvious, but when you assemble the chute, be sure to have the
    duct joints pointing away from the top opening (i.e. start at the
    bottom (basement end) and insert pipe on top).  If you want a "snag
    free" liner, solder the joints together. Don't use rivets or screws. 
    
    Solder galvanized steel he says? Is he nuts?  Well, yes I am, but not
    about this.  After completely sealing many yards of duct work for my
    (and others) pipe organ with solder (they have to be completely air
    tight you see), I can attest to the fact that is is do-able.  You need
    tinner's fluid (muriatic acid [mild hydrochloric acid]), 50/50 solder,
    a good hot iron, a small fan to blow the fumes away or a (respirator)
    and lots of patience. 
    
    -Bob
    
    P.S. One also has to point duct joints away from a blower to reduce
    whistling as the air passes over the joint.  Just thought you'd like to
    know that the next time you assemble a pipe organ! :-) 

    
    This probably sounds odd but are these chutes kid-proof ?  They
    sound too narrow to get a child into trouble but then children
    get stuck in some pretty narrow places.

That depends on what you mean by kid-proof :-)

I used to use the laundry chute at my parents house to sneak out when I was
supposed to be doing homework in my room; go in the bathroom, down the laundry
chute, and out the back door!

Ah, fond memories...

Jim. :-)

    I remember my friends 2 year old brother taking a ride down the
    laundry chute they had. It was a good thing they had a cloth bag
    hanging from the ceiling in the basement to catch the laundry, that's
    where they found him.
    
    As far as soldering the duct joints I wouldn't bother. I've also
    install soldered pipe organ ducting and this is too much labor for
    this application. There are different type of duct joints that can
    be used to make sure that there are no places to catch the clothes
    on. Instead of using both S slips and Drive cleats to connect the
    ducts you could have the duct ends prepared for drive cleats all
    around. This would be a simple installation that you could do yourself.
    An optional method would be to have the ducts fabricated with box
    joints at the ends. These take a bit more to assemble since they
    require a large special-purpose crimping tool to complete the assembly.
    
    I wish I could draw some fancy pictures to illustrate this. If you
    go to a sheet metal shop to have the chute fabricated for you they
    can help you out.
    
    Nick

    re: second floor laundry
    
    My dad had one of these in his last house.  A family with three
    pre-schoolers generates a lot of laundry, mostly upstairs.  It had
    all the proper drains.  The room was next to the bathroom and it
    had a door.  With the door closed, you barely heard a thing.
    
    You might also choose your washer and dryer for their quietness
    rating.  
    
    It seemed to make a lot of sense to me!
    
    Elaine