The Laundry Quest: First Stop, Consumer Reports

I have an affection for Consumer Reports. As long as I can remember, my father kept a stack of several years' worth in a cabinet by the tv, and we would consult them for every important purchase. When I was bored, I would go through them, reading the back page. The memories.

Anyway, it seems natural to start with Consumer Reports now.

On washers:

I had the front-load vs top-load question. My laundry experiences have mostly been with top-load washers, and the one front-loader in the apartment complex has given me a mistrust of them. (I have to lean on the door during the spin cycle, or it'll dump my laundry on the floor.)

So I'm hoping for a top-load, but I vaguely recall hearing that front-loaders are better in energy-use and capacity.

CR: "But [top-load washers] still use more energy and water than front-loaders."

Grr. Oh, well. Unless further research finds me a loophole, it's front-loaders for now.

Initial models to investigate (links to Amazon):

LG WM062HW
At $900, it's really expensive, but it scored as well as the priciest machines ($1900!), and has exemplary ratings in water and energy-efficiency. One of the cons is a long cycle time, but I don't think that bothers me if it doesn't use any more energy for it. User reviews around the web seem overall positive, with some people complaining about noise and vibration, others saying their machines were defective, and a few comments that you need to manually drain water from it every so often or it builds up mold and mildew.

10% of reviews on CR complained of breaking.

Frigidaire Gallery GLTF2940FS
More reasonable at $650, which is certainly a plus, this one ranks only three points behind the top models. It falls slightly behind the LG in water efficiency (ouch,) capacity, and gentleness, but is still very energy-efficient. Reviews are much more mixed, seeming to indicate that these break more often.

More than a third of CR reviews complained of breaking - a possible deal breaker. (pun intended.)

This was the cheapest front-loader CR looked at, so for budget options I'd have to look at the top-loads.


GE WJRE5500G and Estate ETW4400TQ

These two top-loaders are similarly priced around $400, with the Estate being cheaper. They rank 17 and 23 points, respectively, behind the top-rated front load models, including the LG. Both fall short in the noise category, as well as water and energy efficiency, which may take them completely out of the running.

They got a three out of five in both categories, and CR estimates that each rank in energy efficiency saves $10-$20 a year in energy bills. So over the lifetime of these dryers (10-13 years, CR says) they would cost an extra $200 to $520 versus the two front-loaders above. This means the Frigidaire would almost certainly save us money, but doesn't do much for the LG.

Unfortunately, I don't have any more details than that on the relative efficiencies, and I don't know how much water is saved by the more efficient models.

As a family of two, (well, only two who wear clothes), however, we don't do that much laundry. Since I don't know what CR bases that $10-20 on, my assumption would be a family of four - would a savings of $100-260 be more accurate for our purposes? If so, the extra expense for the front-loading washer (and the possible aggravation) might not be worth it.

Still not researching down to the semiconductors, but I'm not satisfied with the amount of detailed information found as yet.

The Laundry Quest

The house is being sold with most of the necessary appliances, with two notable exceptions: washer and dryer. Mundane as these appliances sound, it's a thrilling quest. Really.

Neither of us has ever had the ability to control our own laundry destiny. For me, it's been my parents' laundry room, then industrial quarter-feds at undergrad and in our apartment complex. And doing laundry in public, usually in my grottiest clothes and unwashed hair, has been getting quite wearying.

So woo! Our own washer/dryer!

The research begins - R expects it to take me hundreds of hours, noting my tendency to be thorough. "You'll be researching the things down to the last semiconducter," he said. Let's see if I can be a bit more efficient than that.

Priorities: cost, energy-efficiency, noise, cleaning ability

Pressing questions:

1. Gas or electric?
2. Front- or top-load?
3. Is there a washer that gets rid of cat hair?

Buying the Nixdorf

coming soon

The History, Part One

With a bit of rudimentary real-estate searching we were able to discover the address of the house, and from there we found a few nibbles of information from the town's website:

"Built in 1783. During the 1890's G.W. Nixdorff ran a general store in the northern section of this house."

So says a 1984 guide to historic sites in the township. 1783? We're just getting older by the minute now. The northern section would be on the left from the road, the taller portion of the house.

But then,

"HISTORIC NAME: Matthews-Nixdorf House

The 1868 Atlas of Morris County identifies this as the residence of J. Matthews. At the time, it must have been a farmhouse reached by a lane from Valley Road, as Mountain Avenue was not created until the 1870s.

At the turn of the 20th century the northern section of the building was a general store operated by A. W. Nixdorf."

Well, this explained a few things, but raised even more questions. We now knew that the house was built long before the road, which explains its uncomfortable proximity to said road. We also now have the names of two of the previous owners, which should help in further research.

And we immediately dubbed the house "The Nixdorf."

But already there are contradictions: Is it Nixdorff, or Nixdorf? One 'f' or two? A.W. or G.W.?

Clearly, we had only begun to plumb the Nixdorf's secrets.


More information from the report:

STYLE: Vernacular
FOUNDATION: Fieldstone
EXTERIOR WALL FABRIC: Clapboard and shingles
FENESTRATION: 2/2 and replacement 1/1 sash
ROOF: Gable roof

ADDITIONAL ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
South portion of house appears to be older: East Jersey cottage type. Centered entry in pedimented portico with two panel Greek Revival style door.

Discovering the Nixdorf

I first came across the house browsing real-estate listings last fall. I didn't pay much mind to it - the asking price was beyond any theoretical budget we had, the house looked a bit strange, and our attention was caught by a much cheaper fixer-upper close to our apartment. We spent some time contemplating that house - it seemed like it might be the only way we could afford real estate in Northern NJ - but eventually concluded that it was less of a fixer and more of a tear-down. The several feet of standing water we discovered in the crawl space may have had something to do with that decision.

About two months ago, I was idly browsing once more. It really hasn't been a great time to think about buying a house these past few years, as I've bounced from undergrad to a short-lived job to grad school, and the last semester of a very intense dual-masters program was certainly a bad time, but looking at houses online is a great way to procrastinate.

And what were the chances that I'd come across anything we could possibly afford, that was in walking distance to the train line, that we could actually live in (unlike the tear-down), and that appealed to us?

Too high, as it turned out.




It was strange and intriguing. It was listed for a full 10% less than it had been in the fall, which brought it into the range of theoretical possibilities. Our first impressions, roughly in order:

• Might be affordable
• Almost an acre of property???
• Oddly close to the road
• Strange stone facade
• Cute front entrance area and dormer
• Built in 1793

Wait - built in 1793? Really? This required further investigation.