Why My Laundry Room Is So Cold? Chilly Dilemma Explained!

You should not keep the laundry appliances in extreme temperatures as it causes them to malfunction. But, people residing in colder areas often complain that their laundry room area is colder than the rest of their house. If you are also one of those who have a chilly laundry room, you might ask why my laundry room is so cold?

A cold laundry room could be due to poor insulation, drafts from gaps or cracks, or insufficient heating. Check for air leaks, upgrade insulation, seal gaps, and consider adding a dedicated heat source to keep the space cozy and comfortable.

If you want to learn more about why your laundry room is freezing and some great solutions to help you solve that problem, stay tuned, and don’t forget to read this information-packed article.

Why’s Your Laundry Room Cold? Reasons & Solutions!

Laundry rooms are warm, cozy places, usually. However, if you are dealing with a cold laundry room, it might be due to some problems with the ventilation duct.

A laundry room with faulty flappers on the outside might be one reason why the vent allows the cold air to enter the house. If the vent flappers are not closing due to any reason, it is best to locate the problem and get it fixed as soon as possible.

The laundry room might also stay cold if the space where the vent is connected with the walls is not sealed appropriately. Caulking/sealing material needs to be reapplied after some time as these materials chip off with time. The empty spaces where the caulking has chipped off can also be a potential spot for air entrance.

If the duct connections are not tightly intact, it might also result in colder air entering the room and lowering the temperature.

Reasons Why a Laundry Room Is Cold?

These are some of the reasons why your laundry room might be cold.

Loosely Attached Duct

One of the reasons why your laundry room gets so cold in winter can be loosely fixed duct connections. If the duct parts are not sealed together well, there’s a huge chance that the cold air might flow into the laundry room through those spaces.

If you are sure the duct components are tightly connected, you should look for cracks and breakages. Cold air enters the room at any point, be it a gap/crack, so fixing these will also help control the cold air from entering.

Open Damper Flappers

Vents are connected to an exterior damper with flappers. It works as an exhaust to flush the warm air from the dryer into the open. These flappers have voids between them, so the warm air is successfully exhausted.

However, while the warm air is exhausted, the cold air enters the laundry room. The outside air passes through the ventilation pipe and goes toward the laundry room.

Moreover, sometimes when the lint/dirt starts forming layers on the flappers, the flappers stay open all the time. The little spaces between unclosed flappers are also an easy gateway for cold, outside air to pass through the ventilation duct and enter the laundry room.

Compromised Caulking

Caulking, sealing tapes, and other sealing materials fill the open gaps between the ventilation parts and the walls to ensure no air enters through the gaps. However, these materials start wearing out after some time. When this happens, the cold air gets sufficient space to enter the room.

So, you need to keep a cautious look at the caulking so that as soon as it starts coming off/forming streaks, you can repair it and prevent the outside air from entering the room.

Uninsulated Space

When picking a laundry space, people don’t pay much attention to the location. One such thing includes placing the laundry room in a room with an insulator. It is best to put the washer and dryer in a room with an insulator installed as it helps maintain an average temperature throughout the year.

An insulator in hot and humid areas will keep the temperature low and make it easier for you to spend time there. Similarly, in winters, an insulator helps increase the temperature and makes it bearable to do laundry in cold weather.

How to Fix a Cold Laundry Room?

If you have located one of the above-mentioned problems with your ventilation duct letting in cold air, you can use the following ways to solve them.

For a Loosely Attached Duct

It is best to get professional help for tightly adjoining the duct pieces. However, you can also do it yourself, but the process might take a lot of time. Put a foil or any heavy-duty weather-resistant tape and apply it over all the contact points between the pieces.

Furthermore, we also recommend you put the same tape over any cracks/broken areas.

For Damper Flappers

You can start by thoroughly cleaning and removing all the dirt, debris, lint, etc., that might have accumulated on the flappers. It is best to use a microfiber/cotton cloth dipped in soap-water or surface cleaner to clean the flappers.

However, if you don’t get luck even after doing so, you can replace your old flappers with newer ones.

For Compromised Caulking

It would be best if you kept checking the caulking every 3-5 years because usually, the caulking needs a redo after this time limit has passed. You need to first scrape off the older caulking layer (you can use a knife for this purpose). After that, clean the area and carefully apply a reasonable amount of caulking.

Is it Bad for A Laundry Room to Be Cold?

Laundry rooms have a warm-normal temperature due to the excessive heat emitted by heavy appliances. So, if your laundry room is cold, it might be because of outside air leaking into the laundry room.

A cold laundry room in winter might make your life even harder because it’ll be very uncomfortable to wash clothes, especially when the outside temperature is so low.

In wintertime, the water frozen in the pipes will take a lot of time to melt and reach the needed temperature. It will significantly increase your time spent doing laundry.

If the laundry room is cold and contains moisture, you’ll have to deal with mold and mildew. So it is another reason why people take measures to maintain an average temperature in laundry rooms.

Moreover, a washer in a cold laundry room might be home to many bacteria that can grow and flourish in such ideal environments. So, most experts advise you to prevent installing laundry rooms in a cold room.

Conclusion

Laundry rooms are one of the best additions to the house as they make your work easier by saving you the time and money to spare at a public laundry station. However, you need to act cautiously for a laundry room to be efficient. A laundry room should be comfortable, bright, and a place with moderate temperature. Otherwise, you might not be able to get the most out of this laundry room.

So, in this article, we have discussed why a laundry room can get chilly and what you can do to get it at a normal temperature. If you are interested in this topic, you wouldn’t want to skip this carefully drafted article.