We moved into a new house (the house is about 6 yrs old) this weekend. We ran the washing machine for the first time last night. We never had problems with our washer at our old house, and everything looked fine last night after we washed a load. However, this morning, the laundry room had water on the floor. I went out to the back patio, and there was water there as well, apparently coming out of a pipe that appeared to come from the laundry room and emptied onto the back patio. The wall behind the washer seemed dry. There was some moisture where the hot water hose connected to the washing machine, but I didn't think that would have anything to do with the water on the back patio.. .
I am clueless about home repairs. Any ideas, or have I just confused everyone?:confused:

The drain line from you washer should go directly to your sewer line. It should never be vented/drained outside to your patio. Are you on city sewer and water or well and septic? I have seen a few people on septic try to drain grey water in this manner. It is improper and could cause health issues. Check with your real estate agent or attorney from the closing. You may have recourse with the seller. If you find improper draining.

It does drain to the sewer line. That line may have nothing to do with the washer, I just thought it was odd that there was water on the laundry room floor as well as the patio that shares a wall with the laundry room. Seeing as there was not a ton of water on the floor, and that the wall was not wet at all, it is possible that the hose has a small leak. What is throwing me off is the drain on the patio. Any ideas to what that might be?

How large is the pipe coming out to the patio? Is it PVC, copper or what? Can you see the pipe inside the room or just outside?

Well, after getting home and looking at it, I think I realized the problem. That pipe isn't leaking the water, it just happened that a puddle of water was under that pipe. There is water coming out of the side of the house both on the patio and the garage. The cold water pipe is constantly dripping (won't turn off) and is running down the pipe through the wall.:mad:

Is the leak from the valve or a joint in the pipe?

Just from looking at it, I believe it is from the valve. We moved in Saturday, and the previous homeowner had left his cold water hose attached to the valve. It was rusted on, and when we tried to get it off, water spewed everywhere, and it has leaked ever since. We are unable to turn off the water (and unable to turn ON the hot water at all now). Our realtor is trying to get into contact with his agent. We are supposed to have a plumber come look at it sometime today.

This type of problem can easily come up when appliances are being swapped. I suspect that a soldered joint has be disturbed/cracked when the hoses were disconnected and reconnected. It is not a big job but could require removing some drywall to get to the fittings. Be very careful sweating fittings inside a wall cavity. You could cause a fire if you don't know what you're doing. In any case you should really press you agent to seek recource. If you agent can't get consideration from the seller suggest that your agent should lower his/her commission. Did you have a qualified home inspection? Your inspector may also have some exposure to remedy the problem.

Our realtor has already cut her commission in 1/2 since we have done a lot of business with her in the past. Our inspector was really great, and I do intend to call him as well. Whatever the problem is, I will not take it on myself, I don't need to risk further damage.

I just reread one of your statements that removal of the old hose started the leaking. Are your vales and drain inside of a recessed white box in the wall or are they sticking out into the room? Are the valves threader or sweated on the stub pipe?

Well, the plumber came last night. Turns out that since the hose had rusted to the valve, it actually broke when we tried to take it off (since we didn't get it all the way off, we didn't know it had broken). The plumber just took out both old (and very poorly made according to him) valves and installed newer, nicer ones. Our realtor covered the cost, so we only ended up being out the cost of new hoses ($20). Not too bad I guess, and there was no water damage.