The Highlands laundry does more
A city laundry is often a cupboard. A Highlands laundry is a room people come through.
On a lot of Bowral, Burradoo and Moss Vale properties the laundry is by the back door. It is where boots come off after the garden or the paddock, where wet coats hang in winter, where the dog is towelled down, and — through a Highlands winter of short days and damp air — where washing is dried indoors because it will not dry outside.
A renovation that treats it as a place to put a washing machine misses most of that.
Designing a mudroom laundry
A bench to sit on. Somewhere to take boots off, with storage underneath.
Tall storage for coats. Hooks at two heights and a ventilated tall cupboard, so wet coats dry rather than sit.
A floor that can take mud. A textured, slip-resistant porcelain tile in a mid tone hides dirt and is safe underfoot when wet. Polished tiles and pale grout are a mistake in a room like this.
A proper tub. A deep stainless or ceramic tub with a pull-out spray does far more work than a shallow insert.
A dog-wash, if there is a dog. A raised, tiled shower base with a handheld spray, a grated waste and waterproofing to shower standard. It needs to be planned from the start.
Drying through a Highlands winter
Washing does not dry outside for a good part of the year here. The laundry has to handle it without turning into a mould problem.
- A ducted exhaust fan vented outside, run on a humidity sensor or timer.
- Hanging space — a ceiling-mounted rack or a pull-out drying rail over the tub.
- A heat source: a heated towel rail or an underfloor heating mat keeps the room above the dew point.
- A vented or heat-pump dryer with its ducting or condensate planned, not improvised.
Waterproofing is not optional
A laundry is a wet area under the Building Code. The floor needs a membrane, the walls need waterproofing behind the tub and at the floor junction, and a laundry with a dog-wash or a floor waste needs more than that. The same licensed waterproofing standards apply as in the bathroom, and you get the same compliance certificate.
On a suspended timber floor — common in older Highlands houses — this is doubly important. A washing machine hose that fails at 2am empties into the subfloor.
Services in rural properties
On tank water, a washing machine is one of the largest single water users in the house, and the pressure pump needs to cope with it running at the same time as a shower. On an on-site sewage system, laundry greywater matters too — some systems handle it separately. Worth confirming before the plumbing is set out.
Doing it with the bathroom
Trade travel into the Highlands is a real cost, charged per trip regardless of how much work is done once on site. Running the laundry in the same program as a bathroom renovation shares travel, set-up, skip hire and the waterproofer's attendance, and it usually adds far less time than doing it later.
Costs
A laundry refit runs roughly $10,000–$22,000 depending on size, joinery and whether it includes mudroom storage or a dog-wash. See the 2026 cost bands.
Call 02 4210 5289 or send the room details through.