Extension Bulletin No. 320 February, 194 5 Agrieultttral Extension Set•viee State College of Washington PULLMAN, WASHINGTON Planning A ·Utility Room By Esther Pond Horne Management Specialist A utility room is a service room near the back entrance of the house and near the kitchen. It might be a place where the men or children wash, where the laundry and other work is done or where the hot water tank and .furnace are placed. For some farm families the utility room might be used for such things as, sorting eggs, cleaning vegetables, cutting meat and separting milk. Many such jobs clutter the kitchen or make extra steps to the basement.· I n planning a utility room, first make a list of the things you want to do in the room. Then opposite each job list the equipment and materials needed to do the job efficiently. Include things you do not yet have, so that there will be a place for them when you add them to your household. Your list might look something like this: Jobs Equipment To Be Used Materials Needed Men wash. Wash bowl or laundry tub. / Soap, towels, combs, mirror. Shine shoes. Shoe shining board, polishing cloth I Shoe polish. or brushes. Arrange flowers. Table or counter, flower bowls, I Water. frogs, scissors and knife. Clean vegetables. Counter, scissors, knife, peeler, I Water, newspapers. brushes, garbage can. Wrap packages. ~&issors, pencil. I Paper, cord and labels. Cut out garments. ~-C-o-u-nt_e_r_,-sc-i-ss_o_r-s,_p_i_n_s,-ta_p_e_m-ea_ s_u_r_e -+~-P-a-t-te_r_n_s_a_n_d_m~ . ~a-t_e~r-i_a~l.~~=====- Sew Counter, sewing machine, lap table, Thread, trimmings, materials, sewing closet, scissors, pins, thimble, snaps. mirror, waste basket. 1 Sort clothes. Clothes chute or hamper, so rting Soiled clothes, stain removal table. kit. --------r---------------I Wash clothes. Washer, laundry tubs, clothes basket \Vater softener, soap, bleach, and cart. water. 1 Starch clothes. Pan, hot plate, table. I Starch, water. Hang clothes to Electric drying cabinet or indoor I clothes pins. dry. clothes lines. Sprinkle clothes. Sprinkling table, sprinkler, clothes I Warm water. basket. I ron Electric iron and ironer, ironing Pressing pads and cloths, boards, racks ofr hanging clothes Isponge. 1 The list you make will show the size of the utility room you will need. If you are remodeling a back porch, bedroom or part of a large kitchen the list you make will be limited to the size of the available space. Enough space must be allowed around the equip­ ment to be able to work freely. Thirty inches (average door width) is considered minimum space between equipment or passage ways. The utility room will be a work room and should not be the back entrance to the house. A small hall with doors leading to the utility room, kitchen and possibly a third one to the basement makes a good entrance. Men's or Children's Wash Room Every family needs a wash room and an everyday wrap closet near the back entrance. Men's work clothes and boots should have a separate ventilated section. The coat closet may be in the wash room or in a hall. It may vary from 20 to 30 inches in depth and 24 to 48 inches in length. Low hooks should be provided for children. If the wash room is to have a wash bowl and toilet, the mini­ mum space needed is 3 by 6 feet. Some families want a shower in MEN'S this wash room. Then the room WOR K CL OT HE S will need to be 3 to 5 feet wider. EVERY­ A storage cabinet should be plan­ DAY WR AP S ned above the wash bowl for medicines, combs and hand lotion. Wash Room (6' x 8') There is space above the toilet for an 8-inch cupboard for clean towels, toilet paper and perhaps shav­ ing supplies. The Laundry Room The room used for washing the family's clothes must be large enough to allow space to walk around the washing machine. Also, it should have one to two feet open space at each end of the laundry tubs. There should be enough space for a 2 by 6 foot table or counter near the washer, where dirty clothes can be sorted. It also can be used for sprinkling clothes. This counter will help in doing other jobs too, such as wrapping packages, arranging flowers or sorting eggs. If there is a clothes chute, it should empty above the sorting counter. One story houses will need to use a hamper under the 2 HEATERS -<;>- ELECTRIC DRYING CABINET ;'- ----BUILT-IN "-,____ IRONING -, BOARD $----- ', HAMPER HERE IF NO CHUTE ~-----+----~--------------------------------~.----------, WORK TABLE 2'X6' 1 1 I I CLOTHES~----------~~----------~: IRONER 1 CHUTE : 1 L----------...J Laundry Room-(10' x 11' 6") counter. This hamper may be a large ventilated pull-out drawer on rollers or a section of the counter top may be hinged for lifting when clothes are put in or taken out. Each piece of equipment should be placed so that everything moves in one direction, toward the place where the clothes are to be dried. After the clothes are sorted they are put into the machine (may be soaked first). Then they are rinsed into the tubs and fin­ ally into the clothes basket. A portable laundry cart for the clothes basket does away with stooping and makes it easy to move the wet clothes to the lines. Above the laundry tubs is a cupboard (6 inches deep) for storing the soaps, starch, blueing and stain removal sup­ plies. All laundry rooms should have a place for drying clothes on bad days. This might be an eiectric clothes-drying cabinet or built-in clothes lines. The best arrangement for lines is to suspend two .% inch pipes from the ceiling or wall in a horizontal position, one at each end of the space to be used. Before fastening the pipe to the wall put 1~ inch harness rings on the pipe about every 3 inches apart. When the pipe is in place, fasten a clothes-line wire from one harness ring across to the one directly opposite on the other pipe. Thus when the clothes are hung the lines can be pushed close together or far apa.rt for convenience and quick drying. The Combination Laundry-Sewing Room A utility room where the homemaker can take care of the family's clothing would give any woman a sense of satisfaction. It would mean you could have a place to wash, iron, press and sew, a place where you could shrink material or cut out a dress and even go off to some other job between sewings. A room divided into three areas-washing, ironing and sewing, would take care of many of the problems and irritations of the average family and make housekeeping much easier. The room described here has been developed as a result of studies made by the Household Equipment Classes at the State College of Washington. These studies checked every motion used in sorting soiled clothes, washing, hanging clothes to dry, sprink­ ling, ironing, pressing, cutting out a garment, sewing and mending. For each task, the procedure which seemed to leave out the most unnecessary motions was the one that could be done with every­ thing within easy reach and with each piece of equipment placed in the order in which the homemaker would proceed with the task. If you were to do a motion study-while the average woman washes, you would likely find her wasting many steps sorting clothes on the floor instead of a table, walking around the washer and tubs time and again and walking miles to hang up clothes. If she were getting ready to mend or sew, you might find her hunting in one place for a needle, another place for her thimble and still another for the scissors. Even then she might not.have collected her thread. To do these and other tasks _with the minimum time and motions, the laundry-sewing room was divided into washing, ironing and sewing areas. This also makes it easy for two or more people to work in the room at the same time. THE WASHING AREA The motion studies showed that the soiled clothes would pro­ ceed from the hamper, to sorting, soaking, washing, rinsing, starching and drying. This means the washing area should include a sorting table, at least two laundry tubs, a washer, clothes basket on a portable cart and an electric drying cabinet or indoor lines all 4 _, BACK E.NTRANCE SEWING CLOSET 20"X30" SORTING ----, --------._,- I , > <"' ::J:r= SPRINKLING I / ' 36"X48" CUTTING I WRAPPING SEWING~ ~ I s FLOWER LAP 1 I. ,.,~ $,...,, ARRANGING BOARD 1 ~ -9- CHILDREN'S I = 1 I GAMES ____ j I ~ I 1 KITCHEN [CHAIR J OPEN SHELVES ~ I • I FOR RADIO­ t::l CHILDREN'S J SEWING ~ DOWN MACHINE _::;-=.=: =~ ~_-_-_-- _____ _A_ "-rovs --t-) !'-- :.n~I 00. - ----~ 'r ~~~ 11'6" • ~ 4 B ---------------- ,' \ CH1LD'S f \ P AV ~ j \ T BLE I I ~ I I I I ~ I I / '' L---..._JI ~ I 0 ~ RONING BOARD ,'\ 20"X60" I I I I I I IRONER SHOE SHINING / \ BOARD ___..: ..,.....: / L 1 .. I r 14 ~I within a few feet of each other. j+-- LENGTH OF TUBS ~ Only enough space needs to be allowed between each place for passage way, generally thirty T-=-----=------~-=.:-=---=--=- -=---=--=-----=--=----=-----=- 22 6" inches. There must be 15 to 24 1~~·~t~~:.;'i-o --~~~~-~---~, inches free space at both ends of laundry tubs. The soaps, bleaches, starch and stain removal supplies Soap and Stain Removal Cabinet would be kept in the six-inch deep Above Tubs cupboard above the laundry tubs.