As the mother of five sons, I have a lot of laundry to do, so my washing machine gets quite the workout. I have a large-capacity front-load machine and often throw in a load of clothes before we start school. Because our school room is in the basement, directly below where the laundry room is, when the washing machine would hit the spin cycle, it sounded like an airplane was taking off on the level above us (a bit distracting, to say the least). The noise from the spin cycle was also very noticeable from other rooms in the house. In addition to the noise, my machine would also move (sometimes several inches per load), and this scared my two dogs if I set the machine to run overnight. This obviously wasn't a good situation, but I wasn't aware of any solution. I was thrilled to get my hands on VibeAway Washing Machine Anti-Vibration Pads, even though I was skeptical they would work.

VibeAway Washing Machine Anti-Vibration Pads are four rubber disks that are placed under the feet of the washing machine (or dryer) to prevent the machine from vibrating and walking, and they can also be used to protect the floor. They are made from 100% recycled tire rubber and are over an inch thick. I found that installation requires two people--one person to lift or tilt the machine and one person to slide the pads under the feet of the machine. My husband helped me, and he made marks on the floor by the edge of the pads so we could tell for sure if the machine moved.

I've had these installed for almost three months now, which means I've done close to 100 loads of laundry. My machine has moved less than a quarter of an inch. I cannot hear the spin cycle in the school room (or anywhere else in my home), and my dogs now sleep through the spin cycle if I set the machine to run overnight. I am thoroughly impressed with this product, and I would highly recommend VibeAway Washing Machine Anti-Vibration Pads to anyone who has an unstable washing machine, or to those whose laundry room is on the second floor of their house.

Product review by Courtney Larson, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August 2010