apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We had a laundry chute in the house I grew up in. In my house now the washer and dryer are on the second floor with the bedrooms. While the movers were pissed to have to take them up the stairs, it's a huge convenience for me.

I grew up in a 1950's suburban home and we had a laundry chute in the bathroom down to the basement which was only somewhat convenient. It wasn't directly to the laundry area and it would often get plugged up if you put too much down it all at once.

We bought the house we are in with the hopes to install a laundry shoot. When we then found out that we are able to (and direct to the laundry room) building code won't allow it where we are.
Oh well, 2 flights of stairs is always good excersize, right?

I had one growing up (our house was nearing a hundred) that went from the top floor hallway to the kitchen and then to the basement. Very handy! And very fun for kids to play with, ha.

No, but my bosses apartment building has a garbage chute...

I think that now-adays because of the risk to small children (crawling/falling into the chute) that installing laundry chutes is not up to code. I'm not 100% sure of that though.

Ours was from the second, hidden on the other side of the attic door. The first step to the attic opened on hinges and revealed a chute directly to the basement, right in front of the washer and dryer. It was sealed and we lived there a couple years till my dad opened it up and added the hinges. Although a hidden room may have been cooler, it was still pretty neat as a kid.

The reason why a laundry chute violates most building/health codes today is because it's a fire hazard.

I would wait til one of my brothers was doing laundry in the basement, then I' shove a pile of my clothes down the main floor chute. Nothing like being bombarded :)

I designed one into our house. Purposely placed the master closet directly above the first-floor laundry room so that it would be a straight shot. Our code only required that it have a lid. It's basically a box that surrounds a hole in the floor. Simple and cheap.

The 5- and 8-year old boys I baby-sit for every week *love* to use their 2nd floor chute to practice their baseball pitching (as in balling up their clothes, and sometimes the other pretends to be the catcher and "assists" the play).

Multiple pieces of clothing and pitches that are balls result in it becoming an activity in and of itself often, so it requires patience on the part of the adult. Very adorable, and great for two very energetic boys--and great for mom and dad too!

I grew up with a laundry chute in our midwestern ranch house. There was a small metal door in master bath and the chute dropped to the laundry area in the basement below.

A childhood friend who lived in a two-story house, had a laundry chute from the first and second floors to the basement laundry area. I remember his mom saying that if the chute became clogged, the doors were just big enough to insert a broomstick handle to dislodge the clog.

Does anyone have an ash chute in their fireplace for disposal of ash in the basement? It prevents the spillage of ash and dust in the living areas of the house by allowing one to bag it in the basement.

I went on a house tour last year and saw a home in which the owners had converted one of their many unused fireplaces into a laundry chute. Genius.

Does anyone have an ash chute in their fireplace for disposal of ash in the basement? It prevents the spillage of ash and dust in the living areas of the house by allowing one to bag it in the basement.

I have an ash chute in my midcentury home. It's very convenient. No laundry chute, though!

I remember having so much fun with the laundry chute when we had babysitters over. The chute opened on the ground floor of the house at eye-level (the washer and dryer were in a mudroom at the back of the house), so we'd take turns spooking the babysitters by hanging upside down (other person holding the calves of the suspended), and knocking on the interior of the laundry chute door. When they opened the door, there was a upside down head just inches from their own faces. Lotsa screaming. Unbeatable joy for us. What little monsters we were.

Laundry chutes are great, but the ash chute is a wonderful idea! We are going to rebuild the chimney for our basement and living room fireplaces and will definitely incorporate it!

The ash chute from our 1968 family home goes from the back of the fireplace to the outside. It is very convenient.
And now that Mom does not build fires anymore, it is a great place for the gas to be piped in for the gas insert. We won't have to do any drilling or punching holes before next winter.

We had a laundry chute in our house in Michigan, but eventually my Dad closed it off because it tended to snag things and bacame more of a hassle than a benefit.

My new house has a laundry room near the bedrooms. MUCH easier!

We've got a laundry chute from the bathroom directly to the laundry underneath. We used a disused kitchen cabinet as the receiving box, which looked good and was really quick to install!

We sometimes use the chute as a speaking tube to talk directly to the person in teh basement. We have a lock on teh chute lid so our daughter can't climb down. But before our daughter came 1 of our cats was in teh cabinet & jumped up the chute into teh bathroom! A couple times he didn't make it...

My inspiration was my cousin's place where he has his chute from the bathroom on the 2nd all the way down to the basement laundry.

Our very old three-decker house has what appear to have been laundry or ash chutes all through the house, but they have long ago been boarded up and painted over. Which is QUITE a bummer because carting things down the four floors down to the basement laundry room is a PITA. We also have a dumbwaiter that would be quite useful for said transporting of laundry, except we're not allowed to use it. Another bummer.

I love my chute! My dad installed it by drilling a giant hole in our linen closet floor and inserting an commercial-ish garbage can with a swingy-type lid.

We recently moved into a 2-story home with a basement, where the laundry room is. Bedrooms are upstairs, and for some reason, there was a laundry chute in the kitchen under the sink. It actually opened into the washer. In the remodel we took it out, not really seeing the need. Thought now with a 6-month-old who enjoys the occasional"poop-through", a chute on the main floor would be useful.

Our 1913 home has a laundry chute in the 2nd floor bath, and an opening into a kitchen cabinet, to throw down kitchen towels. When we remodeled the tiny kitchen, we couldn't bear to part with the kitchen laundry chute, when the area with the chute was destined to become a powder room, so we hung a mirror on a hinge over the opening. Not exactly the best placement for a mirror, but very handy for the kitchen laundry!

Ahh, chutes and dumb-waiters, the stuff mystery is made of!

I want to add a small chute in my kitchen for dirty towels. I love the idea of putting it in the sink cabinet, which in my house sits directly over the basement laundry area. It's great to see one in action.

Our 1921 house has an ash chute, but we were warned that cleaning it yourself is a very messy job.

that's really cool!