St Ives · Ku-ring-gai
Laundry renovations in St Ives.
With 42% of homes owned outright and the lowest rental share in Ku-ring-gai, people here are staying. A laundry with a step down into it, or a top loader you have to reach into, is a problem that grows.
NSW contractor licence 397801C · Ku-ring-gai Council area · Showroom at 104 George St, Hornsby
Building for the long term
A laundry that still works in twenty years.
Only 16.6% of St Ives dwellings are rented, the lowest in Ku-ring-gai. These are houses people intend to grow old in, and the laundry is where the practical problems show up first.
Take out the step
A single step down into a laundry is the most common trip point in these houses, and usually the easiest to remove.
Front loaders, raised
On a plinth under a continuous bench you load at waist height instead of bending. It also gives you somewhere to fold.
Pull-out drying, not overhead
A retractable rail at shoulder height beats a ceiling airer nobody can reach without standing on something.
Blocking behind the lining
Timber noggins now mean a grab rail can be added later without opening a tiled wall. It costs almost nothing.
St Ives by the numbers
41.8%
owned outright — households staying long term
Median age 43
an established population
4,164
separate houses in St Ives
481
townhouses and villas — highest share in the district
Strata — one in three St Ives dwellings
Villas and apartments.
1,644 apartments plus 481 townhouses and villas. The villa laundry in particular tends to be an afterthought in the original build, and it is one of the cheapest rooms to make genuinely useful.
Villa laundries are usually small
A single-storey villa often has a compact internal laundry. Stacking the machines is what makes it workable.
Approval applies here too
Strata-titled means owners corporation consent for waterproofing and floor penetrations, villa or apartment.
Do it before you move in
On a downsizing move, renovating the laundry with the kitchen while the property is empty is far less painful.
Credentials
Small room, long horizon.
NSW contractor licence
397801C
Renova Holdings Pty Ltd
Director and builder
99764S
Alireza Kamalzadeh
Accessible work
NDIS and aged care
We build from OT recommendations
Waterproofing
Certified
A laundry is a wet area
Tenure, age and dwelling figures from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for St Ives, NSW (SAL13654). Where a modification is funded, an occupational therapist assessment is generally required. Verify licences on the NSW Government public register.
St Ives questions
Laundries built to last.
Can the step into the laundry be removed?
Usually. The step is normally there because the laundry floor was set lower to contain water, so removing it means re-grading the floor to a waste and re-waterproofing. It is a genuine piece of work rather than a trim job, but on a house you intend to stay in it is among the best money you will spend.
Should the machines be raised?
If they are front loaders, yes. Setting them on a plinth so the door is at waist height removes the bending, and a continuous benchtop over the top gives you somewhere to fold. It only works with front loaders — which is worth knowing before you replace the appliances.
What is worth doing now for later?
Timber blocking behind the wall lining so a grab rail can be fitted anywhere later without opening tiles. Slip-rated flooring. A door that opens outward or a wider opening. All are nearly free while the room is stripped and expensive afterwards, and none of them change how the room looks.
Is my villa laundry big enough to improve?
Usually. Stacking the washer and dryer frees the lower half of the space for a trough and storage, which is what most compact villa laundries lack. Strata approval applies because waterproofing is involved, but the scope is small and committees generally deal with it quickly.
Can this be funded through NDIS or aged care?
Where a modification is funded, an occupational therapist assessment is generally required first and their recommendations shape the scope. We build from OT reports regularly. If you are renovating privately now but anticipate that later, say so — the structural provisions cost very little to include today.
Is there a step into your laundry?
If there is, that is where we would start. Tell us and we'll look at what removing it involves.
