The parts you cannot see once it is finished
Cabinets are the easy bit and the bit everyone quotes. These three decide whether the room actually works in two years.
The vent run
A dryer duct has a budget of roughly thirty-five equivalent feet, and every ninety-degree elbow spends about five of it. Go over and the dryer runs long, the lint sits in the duct and the clothes come out damp. We measure the real route — not the straight-line distance — before quoting a relocation.
The water
Braided steel supply hoses, a pan plumbed to an actual drain, and an automatic shutoff valve that closes when it senses water. On a second floor this is the difference between a mop and an insurance claim, and it costs a fraction of what people assume.
The recessed outlet box
A recessed box lets the machines sit flat against the wall instead of standing four to six inches proud of it. In a room this size that is the difference between a door that closes and a door that does not.
One room, all of its trades
A laundry room is plumbing, venting, electrical and cabinetry in about forty square feet. We do all of it rather than coordinating four companies around one doorway.
We only do the room everybody else does last
Ellerby has remodelled laundry rooms in Utah County since 2013. It is a small, awkward, heavily serviced room that most remodelers treat as a bolt-on at the end of a bigger job — which is exactly why it so often ends up with a vent run that does not work and cabinets you cannot reach past an open dryer door.
We do not do kitchens and we do not do bathrooms. Doing one room over and over is how you learn that the tall cabinet should go on the hinge side, that a counter over front-loaders needs to clear the door swing, and that the family who folds standing up needs a different room from the family who carries baskets to the couch.
- ✓Laundry rooms only — no kitchens, no bathrooms
- ✓Plumbing, venting, electrical and cabinetry in-house
- ✓UT DOPL Contractor #11284672-5501
- ✓Provo, Orem, Lehi, American Fork and across Utah County
Four questions before we draw anything
Where does the vent go out?
Not how far in a straight line — what the duct actually has to do to get outside. Elbows, joist bays and rim-board penetrations all spend the budget, and the answer sometimes changes which wall the machines go on.
Who folds, and standing or sitting?
A folding counter at the wrong height is a shelf. This one question changes the counter depth, the height and whether the machines end up side by side or stacked.
What comes out on a hanger?
Households that hang a lot need a rod and clearance far more than another cupboard. Households that basket everything need the opposite. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a new laundry room still feels cramped.
Gas or electric, now and later?
A gas dryer needs a line and different venting; electric needs a 240-volt circuit. If you are moving the room it is worth deciding once rather than paying to run both.
Thirty-five feet, minus five for every elbow
Dryer ducting has a length limit, and it is measured in equivalent feet rather than actual ones. The usual budget is about thirty-five feet — and every ninety-degree bend in the run counts for roughly five of them, with a forty-five costing less.
That maths is why moving laundry from the basement to the second floor is sometimes easy and sometimes not. Straight out through the rim board is nothing. Up two storeys, across three joist bays and out through a soffit can spend the whole budget before the duct leaves the house.
When the run is too long you get a dryer that takes two cycles, lint accumulating where it cannot be reached, and a warranty the manufacturer is entitled to decline. So we work the route out on the first visit, and occasionally the honest answer is that the room can go where you want it but the vent needs to leave through the roof instead of the wall.
- ✓Real route measured, not the straight-line distance
- ✓Rigid metal duct and no screws protruding into the run
- ✓We will tell you when the route, not the room, is the problem
Rooms around Utah County
Measure, plan, build
Visit and vent check
We look at the room, work out the real duct route from where you want the machines, and check the drain and the electrical supply.
Layout and fixed quote
A drawing with the counter heights, the storage and the machine positions, plus the vent route drawn on it rather than assumed.
Services first
Plumbing, venting, the recessed outlet box and any electrical, all before a single cabinet goes in. This is the order that keeps machines flat to the wall.
Fit and run it
Cabinetry, counter and machines installed, then we run a full cycle with you — wash and dry — and check the vent hood is opening properly from outside.
A supply hose upstairs is a ceiling, not a puddle
Washing machine supply hoses are under mains pressure every hour of every day, whether or not the machine is running. When one fails on a ground floor you get a wet floor and a bad afternoon. When one fails on a second floor you get water through the ceiling below, and it is one of the most common large water claims there is.
The protection is cheap and it is three things: braided steel hoses instead of rubber, a pan under the machine plumbed to an actual drain rather than just sitting there, and an automatic shutoff valve that closes the supply when it senses water on the floor.
We fit all three as standard on every upstairs laundry we build, and we will retrofit them to an existing room on any floor. It is usually a half day. The customers who have needed it are noticeably keen that other people hear about it.
- ✓Braided steel hoses, a plumbed pan and an auto-shutoff valve
- ✓Standard on every upstairs job, retrofit on any floor
- ✓Usually half a day of work
Thinking of moving the laundry upstairs?
The vent route is what decides whether that is simple or expensive, and it takes about fifteen minutes to work out. Worth knowing before you plan the rest of the room.
What families say
We wanted the laundry moved up next to the bedrooms. Ellerby were the only ones who worked out the vent run first — it was going to be too long with the elbows, so they changed the route through the roof instead of the side wall. The other quote would have left us with a dryer that took two cycles to dry a load.
Six of us, so the machines run constantly. They put in a pan plumbed to a drain and an automatic shutoff valve. Two months later a supply hose let go while we were at church and the valve closed. That would have come through the kitchen ceiling.
I asked for more storage and they asked how we actually do laundry — who folds, where the baskets live, what comes out of the dryer on hangers. The room is the same size and it holds twice as much. Nobody had asked me any of that before.
Laundry rooms, answered
How much does a laundry room remodel cost in Provo?
Refreshing an existing room — cabinetry, a counter, lighting and a recessed outlet box — commonly runs in the low-to-mid thousands. Relocating the room to another floor runs higher, and the spread is almost entirely about the vent route and the drain: a straightforward run out through a rim board is inexpensive, while a long run with several elbows or a new drain line is not. We quote after we have worked the route out.
Can I move the laundry upstairs?
Usually yes, and it is the single most requested change we get, because that is where the clothes are. The two things that decide the cost are how the dryer will vent to outside and where the drain can tie in. We work both out on the first visit and tell you plainly which of the two, if either, is going to be the expensive part.
Why does my dryer take two cycles?
Nine times out of ten the duct run is too long, too kinked or partially blocked. Ducting has a budget of roughly thirty-five equivalent feet and each ninety-degree elbow spends about five, so a run that looks short can be well over. Flexible foil duct, screws protruding into the run and a hood that no longer opens all make it worse. Rerouting in rigid metal is usually a half-day job.
Do I really need a pan under the washer?
On a ground floor it is a sensible precaution. On a second floor we would not build without one, and the pan only helps if it is plumbed to a drain rather than sitting there as a tray. Add braided steel hoses and an automatic shutoff valve and you have covered the failure that causes most large laundry water claims, for a small fraction of what the damage costs.
Stacked or side by side?
Side by side gives you a counter across the top, which is the best folding surface in the house. Stacking gives you back roughly half the floor and lets you put a tall cupboard or a hanging rail beside the machines. Front-loaders can do either; a top-loader cannot be stacked and cannot take a counter. We ask how you fold before recommending one.
Can you put a laundry room in a closet?
Often, yes — stacked machines fit a surprising number of hall and bedroom closets. The constraints are the same as anywhere else: getting a duct outside, getting a drain to it, and having enough depth once the recessed outlet box is in. Depth is the one that catches people out, which is exactly what the recessed box is for.
How long will the room be out of use?
A refresh is usually three to five days. A full remodel is a week to ten days, and a relocation to another floor is two to three weeks including the plumbing and vent work. We give you the dates the machines will actually be disconnected, because in a house this size that is the part that matters.
Do you do kitchens or bathrooms too?
No. Laundry rooms and mudroom-laundry combinations are all we do. It means we are not the right call for a whole-house remodel, and it also means we have made every mistake this particular room has to offer already, on somebody else's house rather than yours.
Tell us about the room
Where the laundry is now, where you would like it, and how many of you there are. If you are thinking of moving it, mention the floor — the vent run is usually what decides the answer.
- Visit us820 N State Street, Provo, UT 84604
- Call us(801) 555-0129
- Email ushello@ellerbylaundry.com