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stabilizing floor in laundry room

6K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  MinConst 
#1 ·
I am remodeling my kitchen and adding a laundry room at one end. Previously my front loader washer would "shake" the floor so badly during the spin cycle that the bottles in the refrigirator would clink together. I would like to shore up the floor under the washer - does anyone have any tips on how to do this?
 
#3 · (Edited)
I'm no expert, but have you checked to see if the machine is level? I used to have this problem in our previous house where the laundry was in the basement. The previous owners built a floating floor thing with sheets of plywood laying over furring strips (I think that's what they're called) due to past water problems (i.e. flooding when it rained). The floor had a slight slope to it so it would lead to a drain in the floor. Sometimes I'd go downstairs and the laundry machine would move/shimmy/shake 3' (that's 3 FEET) along the floor, away from the wall, towards the drain. I think I had the front posts underneath the washer almost unscrewed the whole way to jack the front up while lowering the back posts.... you do know that underneath the washer you can adjust the feet to level the machince? So I'd check to see if it's level first.

Also, does it do it all the time, or when you put large loads in like bath towels, etc? I might be wrong, but sometimes I think a washer, like a tire on your car, can get out of balance if you overload it. If you throw in a bunch of towels or 20 pairs of jeans (exaggerating) and they all seem to shift to one spot in the wash tub, I suppose it could cause it to become really unbalanced and gyrate. Does it happen with smaller loads?

I'll let the experts chime in on doing actual work on the floor.....I haven't a clue.

EDIT: Oops. I just noticed you mentioned you have a front loader. This could make my suggestions irrelevant....maybe not. I guess you could still check for level on the machine.
 
#4 ·
This has been discussed in great detail many times in many forums. I don't know if has been here or not.
Washers and Driers are built to run on concrete floors. Retrofitting a washer to a main level floor will cause some shaking. If memory serves me well a top loader is better in this case as it doesn't spin as fast. As far as "shoring up" the floor. You might try adding a 4x4 across the joists in the basement and a post to the floor under the 4x4. This bridge will help a bit but not 100%.
 
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