Recently I got a new project from a client to setup a new SOHO unit for rent. The unit size is around 500 sq ft, pretty small and almost a shoebox apartment already. I notice that this unit does not have any place to hang clothes and wash clothes. There was no place to put the washing machine also.
I suppose the management is expecting that the dwellers will send their laundry to the launderette.
Well, to improve the rentability of the unit, I decided that having a washing machine area and a place to hang clothes was important to the tenant. To setup a washing machine unit, you need to have a somewhere where you can channel out all the used soap water and you will also need a water source coming from a pipe. I surveyed the whole area and found that the best place to put the washing machine was near to the sink. Reason is that there was a drain hole located nearby the kitchen area.
However there was one problem, there was no water pipe nearby. I called up my plumber and discuss with him, so we decided the best way was to pull the water pipe from under the sink. Basically we removed the existing water hose from the water source, put in a Y shaped metal divert, and then one source goes to the sink while the other source goes out to the washing machine. We drilled a hole out of the kitchen cabinet and surface mounted the pvc water pipe and attached a water pipe there. Once the water pipe was installed, we inserted a converter to connect the water pipe to the washing machine's inlet water pipe.
The next area to look for was the hanging clothes area. No point having a washing machine and the client is not able to hang up his clothes. I also don't want the client to simply hang his clothes anywhere as it might drip around the house might damage the unit. After some thinking, I decided the safest place to hang clothes is in the bathroom. I installed a mini clothes hanger in the toilet, hopefully this will be sufficient.
Now, we have a SOHO unit that is more competitive than the others who care putting up for rent because there is a washing machine and washing machine area.
