Two tiny ensuites - what to do?

EdInvestor

I wouldn't change it if you are on an estate where all the other houses are the same, because although 50% of buyers might want the new layout, it's just as likely the other 50% will reject your house because "it's the one with only one bathroom". Too risky if you want to sell the house, IMHO.

If there are only two of you sharing the house, you could give yourselves more space by having one each: a 'girls' bathroom' and a 'boys' bathroom', so to speak, with the guest cloakroom downstairs

You might like to enjoy this kind of luxury of having your own personal bathrooom for a while, before kids and other such destroyers of privacy come onto the scene ....
.

ScoobieGirl

itsakidsworld wrote:

Guests do not like using ensuites!

Oh yes we do! No embarrasing peeking out into the hall, trying to rush to the bathroom before the next person does!

Doozergirl

I think itsakidsworld has knocked it on the head. One fabulous bathroom is better than two dowdy ensuites.

I don't think you will devalue the house anyway as the fact that you have a downstairs loo keeps things balanced; that's all you really need. You don't get so many people living in a 2 bed house that they need to wash at the same time. 2 ensuites is not something that I would expect to find in a 2 bed house and not really something that many people have on their tick list when buying.

Alternatively, if you keep the two, check out Ideal Standard's great space saving range with corner toilets etc which work fantastically in a very small space.

never_enough

I would rather have a good sized, nicely fitted, (all white) main bathroom & no en-suite than two small en-suites & no main bathroom.
It's probably best not to think of it as a possible £2K off the future selling price, but rather can you live with it as it is? I'm not clear from your posts whether the one knocked through bathroom would still be en-suite? If so that's obviosly fine for the two of you, but I'm sure would impact on sale price. Having to go through a bedroom to use a bathroom is a no-no unless it's your bedroom & you will cut down your potential market when you sell. If however you can manage to create a main bathroom that has seperate access that's a differant matter.
The other thing to consider is the actual cost of doing the work. Whilst you can get some real bargain suites, moving pipework, soil pipes etc is often quite an expense. Rather than ask an estate agent for advice it might be better to first work out on graphed paper if the bathroom would work then get some quotes for the work. At least it would give you an idea of costs & timescale involved.

deanos

Id rather loose £2k years down the line and have a house i like rather than live in a house im not 100% happy with.

nearlyrich

I love my ensuite, it has a jacuzzi bath and a shower over so best of both worlds. I wouldn't really expect 2 ensuites and no main bathroom in a 2 bed house, would be useful in a house share but maybe not in a family house. The only thing is if you have more loos, showers etc it makes getting ready to go out quicker especially in a morning with children.

Hizz

I spent 2 years self building our house and to increase sizes of other rooms, whilst we have an en-suite and cloakroom toilet, we opted for a smaller family bathroom.

I would advise that you get a space saver bath (B&Q have a good one) It's narrower at one end. We had the aqua jets added to ours as well.

I woud also suggest small corner sink and pedestal (again, having searched around B & Q). We also have a cloakroom toilet in the bathroom which is narrower than normal loos. Together with matching tiled wall and floor, this has given the room a larger feel to it. Surprising amount of floor space.

beckstrous

Thanks again all!

We will have to sit down and have a proper think about this. The ensuite in the smaller bedroom (which is actually the one we use at the moment - the other one, which I am in now, is used as a study/general dumping ground for stuff we have not sorted yet) is okay. I mean, I don't like the colour (pink) but it is okay, apart from a broken toilet seat! Liveable for a while, though. The ensuite in this room, which is much smaller and just has a shower, loo & basin, is a bit of a problem. The inside wall around the shower is wet, and the fan has just gone, so we need to do it soon. I wondered if a wet room might work quite well as they are often recommended for small rooms.

I personally find it a bit odd to have two ensuites and no main bathroom in a two-bedroom house, but we would obviously sell at some point, so I guess asking an estate agent would be a good idea. I guess they would be able to tell us more about the sort of things people do in the rest of the houses on the estate.

malawi

tawnyowls is right enjoy the house the way you want it, 2k in years to come won't even be worth considering the way prices are going

tawnyowls

beckstrous wrote:

I wondered if a wet room might work quite well as they are often recommended for small rooms.

Short answer - no! Wet rooms look great on house makeover shows - they are not a good idea in a normal house, particularly upstairs. It is extremely difficult (and expensive) to get it sealed to the standard that you need for a room that will have water pouring onto it.