Cohousing-L Mailing List: Common House Laundry Survey

[mikearnott (mikearnott]

1) How many common machines do you have, how many households 
 do you  have in your community? one set on each floor 5 washers, 5
dryers 32 households

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

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 a have a little closet on each floor with a washer and dryer in it. No
laundry room. It seems to work. N one has to travel to a separate
building to do laundry, or lug baskets up and down stairs. We have an
iron and ironing board set up in our arts and crafts room.

We have no pantry and don't really need one since folks buy what they
need for each meal and use it up or only charge for what they use. We
have staples on our shelves over the stove. Pots and pans are hung
overhead on a rack, some under the ovens on shelves. Dishes fit in a
closet retrofitted for dishes out side the immediate kitchen. Our kitchen
could have been better designed, it is quite open and not
ergonimetrically healthy. Sink too low, dishwasher requires bending and
lifting trays of dishes, etc. 

 4) Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 the following aspects of a 
> common laundry:
> 
>         a) Helps the environment (shared resource)  - 5 being highest
>         b) Encourages community - ours does not 
>         c) saves space in your units because you don't need to 
purchase  machines - 5 
>         d) Helps the lower income members who would not afford 
machines in their unit - 5  we have a user                 fee per wash
and that covers repairs, replacement costs in case we have to buy a new
one.

Mary White
Cornerstone Village Cohousing
Cambridge