Planning the electrical for a laundry renovation

A laundry renovation is usually planned around cabinetry and plumbing, with the electrical fitted in afterwards. That's backwards. Where the washer, dryer, tub and any drying cabinet sit decides where every point goes, and moving a point once the cabinets are in means cutting into new joinery.

Settle three things before the cabinet maker draws anything: will the machines sit side by side under a bench or stacked in a tower, what kind of dryer you'll have, and what else lives in the room, such as a second fridge, a freezer, a hot water system or the switchboard. Many newer homes in Point Cook, Tarneit and Werribee have the switchboard in the laundry or garage, and new cabinetry has to leave it clear and easy to open.

Older brick veneer laundries in Altona and Laverton often have one double point, a batten light and a tub on legs, on a circuit shared with half the house. Those rooms need more than new fittings.

Each machine should have its own outlet. A double point shared by a washer and a dryer is common, and so is a power board behind the machines, which is the worst place for one: hidden, warm, dusty and close to water.

Put the points where you can reach the plugs without dragging the machines out, usually above bench height or in the cabinet beside the machines, and well clear of the tub, taps, hoses and floor waste. Your electrician sets the exact positions from the final layout, which is another reason to settle the layout first.

For a stacked tower, the dryer's point goes higher and beside the tower, not behind it. For a dryer on a wall bracket, the point sits to one side so the plug can be pulled without climbing.

A vented or condenser dryer heats air with an element and is one of the larger loads in a house while it runs. A washer heating its own water draws heavily too. Put both on a circuit that also carries the kitchen bench, a fan heater and the iron, and it's easy to trip a breaker on a wet Sunday.

A heat pump dryer uses a small refrigeration system to dry the clothes. It draws far less and releases little heat or moisture into the room, so it suits a laundry cupboard in a townhouse, where a vented dryer would fill the space with warm, damp air. Some drain to the waste through a hose; that connection is work for a licensed plumber.

If the laundry shares a circuit with the kitchen or other heavy loads, a dedicated circuit for the dryer, or for the laundry as a whole, removes the problem instead of moving it. Energy Safe Victoria's guidance says every final sub-circuit in a home must be protected by a safety switch, and when an existing circuit is altered, that circuit needs one fitted.

A laundry handles more water vapour than most rooms: wet washing on a rack, a vented dryer and a tub of hot water on a cold July evening. Without extraction it ends up on the window, inside the cupboards and on the ceiling as mould.

An exhaust fan sized for the room and ducted to outside does the most good. A fan that blows into the roof space pushes moist air onto the timbers and insulation, where it can condense on a cold night. If you have a vented dryer, a vent kit that takes its exhaust outside keeps lint and humidity out of the room.

Wire the fan so it gets used. A run-on timer keeps it going after the light goes off, and a humidity-sensing fan starts itself when wet washing goes up.

If the house also has a gas heater, check how it's flued before adding strong extraction. Energy Safe Victoria advises against running rangehoods or bathroom exhaust fans while a gas heater is on, because they can create negative pressure that draws carbon monoxide into living spaces, and a powerful laundry fan pulls air out of the house the same way.

One batten in the middle of the ceiling lights the top of your head and leaves the tub and bench in your own shadow. Downlights or a slim LED panel give even general light, and an LED strip under the overhead cupboards puts light on the bench where stains get checked and clothes get folded.

Neutral white suits a laundry, because colours read truer, which helps when sorting darks from lights. Fittings near the tub should be rated for damp locations, and anything near a dryer vent needs to cope with heat and moisture.

If the laundry is also the back entry, put a switch at each door so nobody crosses a dark room carrying a basket, and consider a sensor light outside for the walk to the clothesline.

Heated drying racks, drying cabinets and heated towel rails each need a point or a hard-wired connection in the right spot, often inside or beside a cabinet. A heated rail is usually hard-wired, often on a timer, so decide its wall and height before the tiles go on.

A fold-down ironing board in a cabinet works far better with a switched point inside the cabinet than with a lead across the room. Some units come with their own light and outlet, and they still need a supply run behind them.

While the walls are open, think about a charger point in the broom cupboard, a light in a deep cupboard and a spare double above the bench. Each costs little at rough-in and saves a power board later.

On a renovation, the order matters. The electrician roughs in cables and boxes once the walls are open and the layout is fixed, before plaster and tiling. Plumbing for the tub, washer taps and any dryer or cabinet drain is work for a licensed plumber, so plan the two rough-ins together.

Photograph every wall before it's lined. Those photos tell you where the cables run when you hang shelves or a broom rack later.

We give you the price before work starts, and if the layout changes part-way through, we price the change before doing it. When the work is done, Energy Safe Victoria says the electrician must give you a Certificate of Electrical Safety. Lights and power points are non-prescribed work, and your copy is due within 30 days.