First off make sure the machine is level. Also, try and balance the load of clothes. Especially front to back. You can tell by how the drum moves before you start the machine. Both of those will minimize the vibrations.

To get rid of it as much as you can you need to dampen the machines. They sell rubber dampers (round thick rubber cups) to put under the feet of the machine. This helps a lot. The best solution that I have found is to use a thick rubber mat that you can get from a weight lifting supply store. The size and mass of the rubber mat really gets rid of the vibrations from the machine. Think sound deadening on a Sub (Discovery Channel) works the same way.

Also, make sure the structure is sound enough for the machines PLUS the weight of the mat. Depending on the size and thickness of the mat it can add another 50lbs+. Sounds like in your case you can't laminate or sister the joists. Some cross bracing may help if you can fit it. You can also box the joists together by gluing and screwing 3/4" underlay plywood to the bottom of the joists to tie them all together.

I have also read but never personally seen this but if your buddy's machine has a pull out accessory draw under the machine try removing the draw. It is supposed to help reduce the vibrations. The structure of the draw is not as solid as having the machine rest directly on the floor and you are lowering the center of gravity.

Good luck and just remember your buddy's wife/girlfriend may not appreciate your effort.

 

I found this on Consumer Reports

New test shakes things up

Front-load washing machines spin faster, which wrings more water out of clothes so that they dry more quickly. But those higher spin speeds can cause picture-rattling vibrations. After we put the washers through our new vibration test, the scores of several front-loaders dropped. While concrete slabs, such as those found in basements, can absorb vibrations well, standard wood-framed floors don't. A $900 LG and the $1,300 Asko Ultracare shook so vigorously in our tests that they would be poor choices for laundry rooms on framed floors. The Asko's four-shock suspension didn't help

 

I had one in a rental on a slab in the bsmt. It ran fine for seven years, then broke one of the shocks right off the tub. It can't be repaired. I think the tub was rocking so bad that once the shock broke, it smashed the water pump below as well.

I can't blame the tenant for loading, etc. I could only fault them for not shutting it off, but that will get me nowhere, so I don't.

So keep an eye on them all the time I guess. I don't think this one had started walking until it really went hopping.

 

I have had a few customers with these new machines. The dealers told them that frame floors may not give them the support they need. The easiest fix is with 4x8 solid blocks, lally columns, and a 4x4 across the floor joists. I like using the lallys, because it makes adjustments in the future easy to do. Just turn the screw at the top if settling occurs

 

I have had another on a framed floor for 9 years, no problems.

And I have another, also on a framed floor, with a dryer on top of it, for a year. No problem.

I'm not sure that the stiffness of the floor has anything to do with it.

When they go bad, they go like a Pirelli tire, *** *** ***.

 

Two years ago I bought a new front load machine for home. The first load sounded like the marines taking a beach head in the pacific. I pulled out the instruction manual and found that I needed to remove two support struts that are attached for shipping.

The struts looked like a part of the machine, but when removed the washer quited down a bunch. The kids still joke about an invasion once in a while, but not that big a deal anymore.

It sits on a framed floor.

 

That's a good one Dakzaag. I think the ones I have installed had a lot of labels and maybe it wasn't even possible to finish the assembly without taking out the struts. As I recall, the power cord was locked through one of the struts. You had to remove the strut to plug the cord in.

Of course I could have cut the cord plug off and wired another on...

 

What you should do is send the kids out and take your wife to do some "Laundry".

 

Well I ended up building a couple small 8' long walls on either side of units in the crawlspace and man did it make a big difference! You can still feel a little vibration but nothing like King Kong was doing jumping jacks in the laundry room :laughing:

Ante