Planning to extend first floor (over existing utility room) there will be a space which I see as ideal for Washing Machine, drying area etc. If we go with concrete floors does anyone see any drawback (flood risks etc.) for having them upstairs?
If you are worried about the prospects of a leak, you could have a tray built-in in which to place the washer, and drain this to the sink waste. You could also build the entire utility as a wet room, where there's a drain in the floor.
Leo
We were thinking of doing the exact same thing in our new house as I couldn't understand why we would want to take off my clothes upstairs, drag them downstairs to wash/dry (how many times a year do you use your washing line?) and then drag them back up again?
However, I was discussing this with my cousin the other day (she lives in teh US where most Laundry rooms are upstairs) and she said that the argument against it being upstairs is that you spend most of your day downstairs so you would have to pop upstairs to sort laundry & put a wash/dry on/off - it actually makes sense. i have small kids so I certainly wouldn't like the idea of popping up and down to check washes etc. Having thought about it I'm going to put my wm and dryer in my very big Utility room - not bragging just being practical
We're nearly finished a new build and have put in a laundry room upstairs. We did get someone to do a nixer for us and put in a wetroom to guard against leaks. Also plan on having loads of shelving for towels, bedlinen, duvets etc and space for some drying horses. I think it will be great to be able to close the door on the laundry - we've 4 kids and loads of washing including team jerseys etc so laundry is a big deal and I'm fed up of tripping over baskets of laundry. Have even put a TV point in there for those very occasional days I do a lot of ironing!
we considered this and ended up putting it downstairs for the reason given below - we're downstairs all day with kids so can throw in a load while doing other stuff, if it was upstairs we woudln't get as much laundry donw - however, we did plumb an upstairs closet for a washer and even had one there for a while but took it out as never used - it may be handy in the future tho when kids are older and can be instructed to wash their own clothes