I am considering building a trash/laundry chute. What do I need to consider?

You need enough space behind the wall (I assume that’s where you’re going to put it) to allow the laundry to drop freely. Optimally, it should drop near the washer downstairs. If you have kids, it needs to be small enough that they can’t stuff each other in it. Or the cat. Ok, if you can’t stuff in a cat, it’s too small, unless your cat is a puma, but kids are a big consideration. It’s really fascinating to use a laundry chute. My grandmother had one when I was a kid, but I swear it wasn’t me shoving the cat in!

@Trillian: I was going to box out an area. Do you know what material to make the chute out of (sheet metal, pvc, etc?). Do you know the optimal diameter (I’m not worried about cats) or should it be rectangular? Should I have view-ports? Do I need to do something to prevent sound travel? Will it need regular cleaning and if so how is this accomplished? Do things get stuck often?

As I remember what my Grandmother had, I would estimate that it was about 12” wide and 10” deep. It was a shiny metal, really thin, and I would guess that it was re-enforced on the outside but of course we never saw that.
Sound travel is going to happen, but as far as I know it was never an issue. There were no view ports, just the door, hinged on the top that kind of fell shut by itself. The clothes falling through are pretty much all that was needed, but I can see my grandmother being creative and wrapping a towel around a broom handle if someone put something through that has a substance on it.
The only way something would get stuck was if one tried to wad and shove too much at once. you can just push it through. Again, a broom handle worked wonders.
We used to play by standing one at the top and one at the bottom, hollering and dropping stuff, or trying to toss things up.

I’d steer clear of this as written. It seems like you’re going for a dual use thing, and speaking just for myself, I don’t want trash piling up on my dirty laundry… or to have my my dirty laundry thrown out with the trash.

So, now that we have that out of the way…

You need to consider how the thing will be misused. Think active kids. Kids who realize that, “Hey, this chute thing goes to that big pile of laundry in the basement. Let’s jump in!” Maybe nine times out of ten the kids will land on a pile of laundry and have a ball. The other time… the laundry might have already been done, and all that’s waiting for them is a cement floor. Or you might have your head bent over the pile as someone lands on the back of your neck.

You’ll still need a basket to bring the cleaned laundry up from the dryer, so I don’t see the advantage, personally. I’m thinking that most people will probably also agree with me and that this is going to hurt your resale value. People value their kids more than the wear and tear on a laundry basket that you can carry up and down stairs.

Now if you’re talking a dumb waiter… well… !

Solder it, if you can, rather than bolt it together with screws. You don’t want things to catch and either leave something foul in the middle of the chute or get snagged on the way down.

Laundry chutes are awesome. I have lived in houses with and without them. It will save you a bunch of trips up and down the stairs. If kids trying to use them is a concern, you can put a lock in the door. Most that I have seen were just plywood. If you do make one, consider having a table/bench underneath it so you don’t have to bend down to pick all the clothes off the floor.

Cement is an ingredient in concrete. They are not the same thing, although the words are mistakenly used interchangeably quite often.

You need to make sure that whatever you are making the hole in to accommodate laundry chute can handle it structurally. I

You need to size the hole. How much laundry do you want to be able to transport in one go?

Sheet metal would probably suffice, so long as you design the chute not to see any load. Rivets would be good fasteners. I don’t think solder will work. Welding is an option, but only if you’re using way-too-heavy-and-expensive thick steel.

You need to think of a way to frame it out.

You should check building codes to make sure whatever you install is code compliant, as something that is not may (not sure) affect resell value.

You should pick a place that is above the laundry room to avoid over-complicating the design. You want the chute to be totally vertical, otherwise things might get stuck and it will be harder to mfg the chute.

You need to consider how you will support the chute structurally.

View ports wouldn’t really be useful unless you’re spanning multiple floors – then they would elevate your laundry chute to super-de-duper-de-lux awesome status.

Doesn’t necessarily need to be within a wall; could just be a hole in the floor if the laundry room is one floor below the chute opening…but then the chute would be exposed.

Cleaning I don’t really see that being necessary. After all, it’s meant to transport dirty laundry…

It’s easier to make a rectangular hole in wood than a circle, at least for me.

Why don’t you hone in your skills by first building a dinning table/toilet combo !! Hey it makes as much sense !!

You need to make sure it backs up to the wine cellar so you can convienantly transport your empties to the basement. lololololol

They are absolutely wonderful. It is very easy to build, and there are several websites to help you.

@CyanoticWasp: Of course the laundry and trash would have different chutes but building them both at once would only be marginally harder than building just one. The thing you said that really gives me pause is that you believe it would hurt resale. I honestly thought it would help resale. Do you know or are you guessing?

@aprilsimnel: If I used steel I would rivet it or screw it from the inside out.

@lilikoi: I was going to screw steel stud tracks to the ceiling and the floor left and right of the holes I made between the joists. Then I was going to screw the steel studs into the tracks (probably 3 on each side of the hole). Then I was going to screw sheet metal from the INSIDE onto the steel studs left and right. Then I was going to screw a piece of sheet metal onto the face of the studs but since the studs have some width the screws would not penetrate the chute cavity. Then I was going to drywall over the outside (left, right, and front) with 5/8” drywall and metal corner beads.

@malevolentbutticklish if it could be perceived as a safety issue then it would hurt resale. A competent inspector would point out any flaws in its construction or ‘availability’ to children and call it out.

This could be moot if it were inaccessible to (or too small for) children, had a locking cover, etc. Good luck if you do go ahead with it. I seem to dimly recall that my grandmother’s house had a laundry chute, but we were warned away from it in terms of no uncertainty.