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as long as they're using detergent made for gray water recycling, it's fine. add a sprinkler attachment to the gutter and you've got a great way to re-use water.

With respect to wiring - my Maytag stackable has a gas dryer, so no need for a special electric line. I have it in an alcove off my kitchen where there was already a gas line. I do vent to the outside.

Gray water.. there is nothing used in a washer that won't end up as plant fertilizer or will turn out to be benign.

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Do you have your own water heater or is it shared? If it's shared you can anger the neighbors when they go to take a shower and find the water ice cold. This happened to me when the girl upstairs got a washer. That and being woke up by her washer's spin cycle.

Neighbors have a washing machine on their deck which drains into a gutter than dumps waste water onto the ground. Exactly how illegal is that?

Thank you, thank you, this has been very informative. Although its my own place (a condo), the portable all-in-one suggested by BergenWood is appealing for least amount of work and cost. I will look more into that. "Rolled it to the kitchen sink"? So when you want to use it, you connected via a hose to the kitchen tap? And then when its done, what do you with the water ... or does it come with a hose that you also pipe into the sink while its running? This is cool, if it works :)

Floor drains ... more work than I want to do, I think. Maybe not possible but anyway good to know. But I'll put a pan under for sure, thanks for that advice.

The floor drain was something I wanted when I moved the laundry from the basement to 2nd floor, but how to do it was a mystery to several plumbers. You can't just plumb it to the sewer drains, since it's trap would be normally dry and would smell. One solution was a "trap primer" device that injected water to it every time water was used on that feed line. That was the plan till a different plumber later in the project said you couldn't have a washer on the same drain as a shower or you'd get suds coming up the shower drain. He then suggested a trapless drain directly to the basement floor as within code, since it would only be wet in an emergency situation and we had a sump pump. The whole thing had to be done twice, and was very frustrating.

MDM is absolutely right, and I think a floor drain might be a code requirement. My previous condo was in a historic rowhouse. The developer had converted a hall closet into a washer/dryer hookup. There was concrete flooring in that closet with a drain set in the floor - and that cheap-ass developer wouldn't have done that unless he was required to. Good thing, too, because my washer (effing Kenmore) sprang a leak less than two years after I got it. If that drain hadn't been in the floor, I would've ended up paying quite a bit in damage to the unit below mine.

A word of caution about the all-in-one washer/dryer: they break a lot. I bought one against the advice of friends and neighbors when I was living in Europe. I should've listened to them. It was one of the most useless pieces of machinery ever invented. Friends here who own them give very mixed reviews. Definitely do a lot of research on product reviews before committing.

The all-in-one is ok but you can't do a wash while the previous load is in the dry cycle. With two machines you can wash one load while the other load dries. The with the last load you just throw it in the dryer, set it and your done you can retrive them when-ever. Does the all-in-one go automatically into the dry cycle ?

if you do a non-portable install, install with a pan & drain in the floor. Washing machines, in the rare instances that they leak / flood can cause horrific damage.

All of it is definitely do-able. The question is, are you renting, own a condo or own a home.

If you own the home, it would likely be an upgrade in electric, if it's not 220, and some simple re-route of plumbing. This is all stuff I'm going to be doing as well in my place.

If you rent or have a condo, you'll need to check the association. Usually, you can add at least a washer. The all in one unit mentioned by BergenWood actually seems pretty awesome.

I had a portable washer/dryer combo that I loved, similar to this:
Haier All-In-One
It had a ventless dryer, and I rolled it to the kitchen sink when I needed to use it. I think it also had an option for a direct hook up.

For an old building where there's no specific hookup for the washing machine, you need to check with both a plumber and electrician - as well as make sure this is kosher with the landlord or condo association. A lot of old buildings ban washing machines because they fear plumbing can't handle the waste water and that it may back up into other units. I think these bans were put into place back when washing machines used much more water. I don't see how a high-efficiency front loader, which uses far less water, would create any more waste water drainage problems than, say, a shower or dishwasher.

The plumbing aside, you also need to investigate whether the current electrical configuration in your home can handle a washer/dryer. And if you're considering a ventless dryer, you'll probably need to hire an electrician. Most ventless dryers require 220V-240V, which means you can't plug it into a standard household outlet.

There are any number of ventless dryers available - both free standing or stackable or all-in-one w/d. The last time I explored the all-in-ones, they required you to dry half a load of laundry at a time (this was a while ago).

You might also consider putting the unit in the kitchen where you have use of counters for folding and cabinets for storing supplies. I'm guessing that the water connection and drains are more accessible.

Try Bill @ 201-823-3045

I am wondering whether its feasible to install a washing machine in the bathroom of an apartment in a pre-war row house, perhaps connecting to the water supply from the sink. Anyone knows about this? Recommendations for a contractor?

As much as a dryer would also be nice, I believe that's probably not possible since a vent is needed.

Thanks!