Cohousing-L Mailing List: Common House laundry and guest rooms

[Terri Hupfer (gordita]

Dear Oak Creek Commons,

We have two washers and two dryers for our common laundry. Use is similar to 
what you describe (32 households, about half use it). We bought large, energy 
efficient home models. They have worked very well for three years, only one 
service call and one handle to be fixed. People are charged on an honor basis, 
you write down when you use them, and every 3-6 months a volunteer adds up the 
amounts and bills people, returning the money to the community. I think they're 
charging 25 cents per wash or dry, but it might be 50 cents. We also use them 
to wash Common House laundry.

We got front loaders, the largest residential models, they are Sears Kenmore 
models. We discarded the idea of coin-op as no one wanted to have to bring 
coins to the laundry room, and leasing didn't seem to be financially sound when 
we evaluated it. The schedule is first come, first serve. CH laundry gets down 
usually after meals, or is left in the laundry room for someone to add the load 
when theirs finishes.


Now, on to guest rooms. We have two small ones. We have a fairly elaborate sign 
up calendar, which includes 20 days a year for each household. After those 20 
days you can negotiate days from your neighbors, or your guests can use the 
room at the last minute (called 'flopping') but not till 5 PM that day if no 
one else has reserved it. We do not charge for the rooms. We have discussed 
this and discarded the idea several times. This could change in the future. No 
guest can stay longer than 21 days, except in case of a last minute 'flopper'. 
The calendar is posted at the beginning of the year. We also guidelines about 
prime holiday time, but I forget the details right now. If you want a room and 
it's already signed up for, you put your name down for wait list. Often the 
room may become available as plans change, or sometimes people are going out of 
town and offer their home to you. Residents are responsible for the linens 
used, and the rooms  are cleaned on a regular basis as pa
 rt of
 common house cleaning.

They are heavily used during the summer and holiday periods, more lightly the 
rest of the year.

Terri Hupfer

Pleasant Hill Cohousing- East Bay, California