Our washer and dryer recently broke, necessitating replacement. For most people, this wouldn’t be a big deal – they’d go out, buy what they needed or wanted and be done with it. However, the entry to our basement is narrower than most – instead of a 32″ opening, we have 25.5″. With 4 folks here, we do a lot of laundry – it seemed our options to getting the right size washer and dryer were limited to a first floor option, which meant construction and significant extra costs.
That is, they did until we talked with Felix.
Keep in mind this isn’t the first time we’ve thought about replacing these units. In fact, when we bought the house, we bought a new washer & dryer to replace the old ones. The delivery people tried for over an hour to figure out how to get them into the basement but the narrow entry kept them from being able to make a turn. We ended up moving the new units to the old house and settled into the cycle of repairing the old, inadequate units until we couldn’t.
After hearing our story, Felix the repair guy found a solution. It’s elegance can’t be understated – for one, it was breathtakingly simple, once I heard it, and for two, nobody else had figured out a solution that would work. His solution?
He took both units apart and easily carried the pieces in through the narrow opening.
He then re-assembled the units once he reached the basement. Voila – clean clothes! (Yes, we checked, this method did not void our warranties)
The lesson here? Anything large can be broken down, addressed in its component parts and then reassembled. Sometimes, breaking things down is the only way to make something work.