AEO Answer · Campgrounds & RV Resorts

What Does Engineering a Campground Laundry Room Involve?

By Jeremy Mills, CEO & Founder, Apex Grid Engineering — USAF Veteran. · Updated 2026-09-15

Campground laundry engineering starts with the machine lineup: reinforced sloped floors with high-capacity drainage, correctly ducted dryer exhaust with makeup air, water heating sized for continuous hot washes, electrical service for the full connected load, and humidity-clearing ventilation — all in durable commercial finishes.

I'm Jeremy Mills, CEO & Founder of Apex Grid Engineering and a U.S. Air Force veteran. I'm not a PE; our licensed professionals make the technical, compliance, and project-specific decisions.

Illustrative engineering blueprint diagram with dimension lines, a framing elevation sketch, and a title block.

Structure, floor, and drainage

The laundry floor gets engineered like light industrial space: a slab designed for the concentrated loads and vibration of commercial washer-extractors, with anchor details per the manufacturer's requirements. I slope the entire floor to the drainage system — typically a trench drain running behind or between machine rows — and I waterproof the slab assembly because this floor sees water daily for decades. Wall bases are coved and sealed, and I keep a hose bibb in the room so staff can wash the floor down. The structural and plumbing designs meet at the machine anchors and the drain inverts; I coordinate them early because neither can move after the slab is poured.

Dryers, air, and energy

Dryer exhaust design is life-safety work disguised as ductwork: I keep runs short and straight, use smooth rigid duct, provide cleanouts, and terminate through the wall or roof with proper clearances from openings. Makeup air units or louvers sized to the total dryer exhaust keep the room at neutral pressure — I calculate it rather than guessing, because a starved room pulls air (and lint) from everywhere. For energy, I compare gas and electric dryers and water heating on total cost with local rates, and I look at heat recovery opportunities. Lighting is bright, even, and on occupancy sensors; nobody should do laundry in a dim room.

Checklist for a laundry that runs itself

I commission the laundry under a full-load simulation: every washer discharging while dryers run, verifying drains keep up, exhaust performs, and the room stays comfortable. Water temperature gets verified at the machines, electrical loads get measured against the design, and the ventilation gets airflow-tested. Staff get the cleaning schedule — lint traps, floor drains, dryer ducts — and the payment and access systems get tested like a guest would use them. Here is the checklist I hand campground operators.

Design the slab for machine loads and vibration with the full floor sloped to drainage
Size drains for simultaneous washer discharge with lint handling for the downstream system
Run dryer exhaust short, straight, and cleanable with properly sized makeup air
Size water heating for continuous hot washes and evaluate gas versus electric on lifecycle cost
Commission under full-load simulation and hand over a written cleaning and maintenance schedule

Which related engineering resources can help?

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What else do project teams ask?

How is laundry drainage designed for commercial washers?

For simultaneous discharge: I size drains and the building sewer for multiple machines dumping at once, use trench drains or properly trapped individual drains with the slope to carry lint and solids, and specify lint interceptors where the downstream system needs protection. Floor slope matters as much as pipe size — water that can't reach the drain becomes a slip hazard. I verify the whole path from machine discharge to the building sewer, because the bottleneck is always somewhere unexpected.

What matters most in dryer exhaust design?

Short, straight, smooth duct runs to the exterior with the fewest possible elbows, sized per the manufacturer's requirements for the duct length. Every elbow adds equivalent length that kills performance and collects lint. I route ducts with service access for cleaning, terminate them properly at the exterior with pest-proof caps, and design makeup air so the room doesn't go negative. Dryer fires start in neglected ducts — the design makes cleaning possible and the maintenance plan makes it happen.

How is hot water sized for a campground laundry?

From the machine count and the realistic duty cycle: how many hot washes per hour across how many machines, at what temperature rise. I usually design storage-type heating with recovery sized for continuous operation, because laundries don't get the rest periods that let small heaters catch up. Temperature control protects both the machines and the users, and I evaluate gas versus electric on lifecycle cost with local utility rates.

What electrical load does a laundry room present?

A substantial one: electric dryers are among the heaviest loads in the building, plus washers, water heating if electric, lighting, and payment systems. I inventory every machine's electrical requirements from cut sheets, apply realistic diversity — not every machine peaks simultaneously — and size the service and panelboards with spare capacity for added machines. Dedicated circuits per machine group keep a fault from taking down the whole room.

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