Downstairs bathroom ?

cottonhead

Just seen a 3 bed house that is a lovely victorian terrace backing direclty onto the canal. Viewed one a few doors down that was on the market for around £30,000 more than this one. Reading the description, this one has 3 beds upstarirs where as the other had 2, but the bathroom is downstairs.

Having never experienced a downstairs bathroom what are your opinions ? The cheaper price and extra bedroom make it really tempting but I don't know in reality would it be a bit annoying after a while?!

headoutthesand

I had a downstairs loo in my old house and it was good (except when I was ill).

It meant there was no reason for people to go upstairs. If you are having people over, they have no reason to go upstairs. It also meant my stair carpet stayed in better condition as it was only walked on when going to bed or having a purpose to go to the bedroom.

On the other hand, it can be a bit of putting if you are in a shower/bath and someone visits.....

If you have kids, it's easier for them going when they are out playing in the summer months. I kept wooden floor downstairs so that they could run in and out with their muddy shoes and it was easier to clean up.

I now have an upstairs loo but a small WC at the bottom which is great for the kids too.

FireWyrm

Depends where the bathroom is and what it's attached to. I once viewed a house where the only bathroom was off a narrow kitchen. One, it was next to a kitchen, never good and two, who ever wanted to use the bathroom would have to squeeze through the kitchen, not very practical if dinner is being cooked at the time. I just didnt like it, but like the owners, I couldnt see where else to put a bathroom since the house didnt originally have such a thing anyway. Personally, I'd be more concerned about that canal....any chance of flooding?

Also, it's not clear...is the downstairs bathroom the ONLY bathroom? Is it just a cloakroom? If it's just a cloak room, I'd say that the extra bedroom and extra cloakroom (regardless of where it is situated) is worth the money myself.

Uk_Lover

Our old house was originally 3 bed with the toilet downstairs. It was moved into the smallest room. Price difference between our house and other non converted ones was about 10k but we bough that years ago and made a good profit so wasn't bothered. Plus we had a much bigger kitchen. Our friends next door always complained about using during the night, having to go down in the dark etc. Plus being off the kitchen if you were cooking it isn't very nice if someone goes to a number 2 !!

hazyjo

My ex's family used to have a downstairs bathroom off the kitchen, no loo/sink upstairs. I hated it. Even putting makeup on upstairs was a nightmare as there was no water and I had to do pretty much everything in the bathroom.

Do you get up for the loo in the night?

IMO, it can kill any sex life cos you really can't always be bothered to traipse downstairs after lol. (Sorry, just saying it like it is!)

Are you likely to have kids/do you have them? Friend of mine has 2 kids and a downstairs bathroom. Her kids have had several 'accidents' on stairs and can't just use the loo in the night on their own as they're too scared to go downstairs in the night alone.

Were a couple of similar threads on here with lots of pros and cons. Personally, I'd always rule out a house with only a downstairs bathroom.

Jx

louisa_84

Our last house had the bathroom downstairs, at the back added on to the kitchen, it was great for potty training my kids - not so great for getting them dry at night though, having to go downstairs and through 3 rooms to get to it, both my boys took a lot longer than average. Id take that into consideration if you have/plan on having children.

MummyMummy_2

i ruled out all houses with downstairs bathrooms when we were looking at rented properties. great for daytime but at night time having to come down? no thankyou. having steam from the shower coming through the downstairs rooms didn't impress me either. it'd also be a bit ummm strange to go the toilet and be fabreezing away for all in the kitchen/living room to know what you've been up to or for other people to hear you! oh. my. gosh. i'd end up using more toilet paper for soundproofing toilet business than i would for actually wiping the toilet business!! i feel like i'm giving all our lady secrets away now LOL

cottonhead

Some great feedback thanks. Yes we have 1 child and she is dry at night but I do get up in the night and probably wouldnt fancy making the trip downstairs in the night. Yes the bathroom is through the kitchen and there isnt a loo upstairs. I hadnt really thought of it but having to cut through the kitchen whilst cooking to use the loo.... umm not great and not sure how visitors would feel - its not very discreet. Think I have made up my mind now - thanks all.
The canal hasnt flooded into the gardens as far as we can ever remember but it has flooded the footpath across the other bank. I was thinking that house insurance might be expensive becauase of the added risk but it does look so lovely watching the old boats drift past the bedroom window.

propertyman

The only thing that I can add is that the same issues rumbling through the above musing of members, are those that your future buyer will have.

If you do buy think about the future buyer.

Still depending on cost and price a nice opened up family room/ kitchen breakfast room looking at canals might make up for the loss of one bedroom to a well equipped bathroom

ReadingTim

I would say that how the bathroom is accessed is more important than where it is located.

If it's seperately accessed, great; but often it isn't - in these Victorian houses, the bathroom was originally the 3rd bedroom, accessed through the 2nd. (They're sometimes described as 2+1 bedrooms by EAs) How would you feel about having children or visitors traipsing through your bedroom in the middle of the night to visit the loo?

My house is a terraced Victorian 2 up 2 down, and the downstairs bathroom has never bothered me - I'm downstairs for more time than I'm upstairs, so it's more convenient; and the water pressure is greater, meaning I don't need a power shower or a seperate pump for a good shower. All of these far outweigh the odd trip downstairs in the night....

Finally, with regard to future buyers, have a look at the local market and see how unusual a downstairs bathroom is - where I am (Reading) the place is awash with Victorian terraces, so downstairs bathrooms are perfectly normal; but in an area where they aren't, perhaps you need to be more cautious...

colli

We've got a downstirs bathroom as the only loo. I really wasn't keen when we bought but pricewise round here our decent sized 3 bed semi with downstairs bathroom is not much more money than a nice 2 bed flat so seemed much better value for us but I guess the price reflects the fact lots of buyers are put off by it. We were thinking of getting an ensuite or something added as soon as poss after the purchase but I honestlly don't know if we'll bother as it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it could be (and that's even with me being pregnant and making a thousand night time trips to the loo in the cold as our boiler is broken!:D)