Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Laundry Survey

[Robert (robert]

1) How many common machines do you have, how many households do you
have in your community?

0 machines, 22 households


2) Does it seem like too many or too few washing machines?

Occasionally we muse about having a washer/dryer to handle the linens from the 
common meals.  If one of our personal machines breaks down, we use a nearby 
neighbors'.


3) If you had to choose between adding a laundry room and only having a single 
entrance to your kitchen area and smaller pantry versus no laundry room and a 
walk through kitchen area (basically an island/counter where you can have 
people going in one side and going out the other) and a larger pantry, which 
would you choose and why?

We had a washer/dryer in the original design of the Common House.  However, as 
all the houses were completed before the Common House started construction, we 
took out the washer/dryer and made the kids room larger.  I believe we are 
still happy with that decision.


4) Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 the following aspects of a common laundry:
   a) Helps the environment (shared resource)                                   
  3
   b) Encourages community                                                      
  2
   c) saves space in your units because you don't need to purchase machines     
  1: the design will still allow a
                                                                                
     washer/dryer
   d) Helps the lower income members who would not afford machines in their 
unit  3


Finally, help me brainstorm any other aspects of importance I can use to survey 
our membership so we can create a decision matrix.

If all your units are in one building (i.e. Eastern Village), then one could 
make a case for common washer/dryer.  If your development has detached homes, I 
would lean against common laundry facility.  (Today, it is cold outside and I 
am very glad that I can do my laundry inside my house.)

-Robert Heinich
 Eno Commons
 Durham, NC