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I was mainly going through some nuances for individual apartment owners that make it extremely difficult/expensive in many situations.
Landlords for renters can, but there are similar building code and cost issues. Also, many NY apartments are just too damn small.
The ideal setup in my view is having shared units in the basements. Maximum efficiency by sharing a capital expense and having a machine used to full capacity sharing it among multiple homes.
Surely your "ideal" setup isn't living in the basement, but having laundry facilities in the basement. ;)
If you're looking for maximum efficiency with shared capital expenses.....is laundry really the best metric? The answer depends if you're asking as a member of the supervisory board, or as a tenant, and how contracts have been structured.
? Not Really actually ; you get to subsidize the use of people who use the facilities more than you. The only argument is room and one really has to wonder how big of an issue that is with a machine that washes and dries.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
shared units charge per use. its another reason landlords don't allow building modifications for driers, laundry services are just another way building owners pad their pockets
Oh right, we have a shared washer but it doesn't charge.
I've never seen one that didnt charge. Every apartment I lived in used units that charged per use. My friend lived in a neighborhood of duplexes, as in the entire neighborhood was owned by the same company. Even though the dwellings were homes in every other sense of the word washers and driers were not installed/allowed. They did provide a community location though, next door to where all the mail for the neighborhood was dropped. She hated having to hunt down quarters for those stupid machines. She'd do laundry at my place, on the other side of the city, while watching netflix to avoid using the machines that charged.
My current place doesn't need quarters - they are chip-enabled cards that are recharged by CC. But the downside is that it costs me $3 for each wash and another $3 for each dry. :mad: Communal laundry machines are awful for all sorts of reasons - they break down all the time when people overload/misuse them, they are often unavailable, are wildly inconvenient, etc. My old place had in-unit wash/dry and that is one of my biggest daily annoyances that we no longer have that luxury. Once I have $1-1.5 million I might be able to enjoy that luxury again. Ah, someday.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
Of course you can stop them. There is a HOA or a building association, guaranteed, and you'll operate that thing for precisely as long as it takes the lawsuits to start flying. Tehnical capability has nothing to do with it. And frankly, if you're buying an apartment in that range, you're not going to be trying to use any of the workarounds in the first place. As one of the others said, you probably don't do your own laundry in the first place at that point. And as Flixy half-referenced, there also won't be all that much room for it in the first place.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
What kind of a savage wilderness do you live in anyway? :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggin
Tragedy of the commons. For what it's worth my communal machines (in my building) are fine, with the occasional idiot who misuses them. I get some comfort from the idea that this big, expensive and technically complex machine is being used a lot more. Efficiency gives me endorphins.
A washer is good for a number of cycles. It doesn't really matter if it goes through it's life cycle over a great number or years or just a couple of years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
That's not true or at least a over simplification Machines also age if you don't use them.
I still have my own machine though. On the other hand, I share my car. Which is a much bigger more expensive 'machine'.
rubbers and plastics crack and split with age. washers and driers are full of them. Hello drier belt!
You're kidding, right? Why would you need a million bucks to do your own laundry, in your own home? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggin
I need a million bucks for the home. The laundry itself is rather less expensive.
As mentioned, I think parts wear over time as well. Especially belt-driven things like washing machines (though I admit I don't know if modern machines have gotten rid of belts to improve long-term reliability).Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
You know that's crazy logic, right? You don't need to have a million dollar home in order to do your own laundry.Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggin