Laundry carts make transporting clothing to and from the laundry area a lot easier, in many cases. They may not work well if the laundry can only be accessed by a stairway, thick carpeting, or rough outdoor path, but otherwise tend to work well in houses with the laundry room on the same floor. People living in apartments may also find using a laundry cart convenient, as most household laundry carts fit in elevators. Commercial laundry carts are larger ad more rugged in construction and are used by hotels and cleaning services.
One common type of household laundry cart has an open metalwork base with a fabric liner and casters or wheels on the bottom. There are handles at the top to pull the cart along the floor. Another type of household laundry cart has a metal frame with a cloth bag hanging down from it with the handle and casters attached to the frame. Household laundry carts may double as dirty clothes hampers especially when space is limited such as in apartments.
Commercial laundry carts are available in many more styles than household ones. A laundry cart used for commercial cleaning may be a simple plastic bin on wheels or it may be more like a rolling multi-level wire basket shelf unit. Some commercial carts have heavy canvas bags divided into sections. The type of laundry carts with shelves on the bottom and a rack for clothes hangers on the top allows clothes to be both organized and hung up right out of the dryer.
While laundry carts in the home don't usually have options for accessories, those used for commercial cleaning often do. For example, commercial laundry cart suppliers sell extra casters or wheels as well as bumper pieces and covers. Covers for laundry carts for cleaning services may be made of cloth that has an elasticized edge to fit over the top of the cart. Another type of cover is made of hard plastic with a hinge that allows easy access to different sections of a multi-sectioned laundry cart. Bumper pieces are foam shapes that fit on the corners of commercial laundry carts to prevent marks on walls.