Our laundry room was not the most attractive room in the world. Originally the same dark paneling as the rest of the basement it was my first successful painting project within a month or so of moving into the house. I primed and painted the walls and cabinets white to help brighten up the space.
Behind the laundry tub was a tile wall. There was a hole behind the sink that exposed the block foundation, and that simply looked ugly. The double laundry tub was a waste because I typically only used one side. The other side was a magnet for clutter (such as paint brushes, drywall knives and anything else left to dry after being washed in the tub). Despite being a large room, there was not even a space to fold the laundry.
Covering broken tile
The first step was to cover the broken tile wall. I fastened construction-grade plywood directly over the existing tile wall using Tap-cons long enough to anchor into the block. I then adhered a sheet of Barker tile board to the plywood with the adhesive recommended by the tile board manufacturer. Tile boards are available in sheets measuring 5 feet by five feet. As luck would have it, that was slightly larger than what I needed. A row of the old tile is still visible above the new board, but it actually didn’t look too bad.
Plumbing changes
I replaced the double tub with a single tub. That allowed me to move the washing machine over. I hired a professional plumber to reroute the plumbing and install a new faucet. The taps for the washing machine are now conveniently located together, closer to the machine.
By moving the washing machine over, I now had enough room to store an extra table and chairs. The table is not only out of the way until we need it elsewhere in the house, it also provides a large surface for folding clothes.
The existing floor was peel and stick tile which cleaned up well enough that it did not have to be replaced.
Doing the laundry is always a tedious chore, but having the additional space in a brightly lit room makes it a little less painful.
The Basement Renovation
- Basement Floor Plan
- Hiding Stuff
- The Window Workaround
- Installing the Doors
- The Stairway Transition
- Finishing Under the Stairs
- The Laundry Room
- The Pantry
- A Diary of the “Home Stretch”
- The Finished Basement