how many loos?

trailingspouse

Very many thanks for all the interesting replies.

It's a 4-bed house, although only 2 of us live here all the time. In the attic we have 2 full-size bedrooms, but we use one of them as our office, with a sofa-bed for guests. This floor also has a bathroom although it's a bit cramped. On the first floor there's the Master bedroom and another bedroom, both very generously sized, and a big bathroom.

The bathroom situation doesn't worry us - however it was interesting to hear other people's views and to know that the lack of a downstairs loo would be a deal-breaker for some.

When we renovate the top bathroom, we're thinking of getting rid of the bath - making it into a good sized shower room rather than a cramped bathroom. It would only ever be used by visitors, and in my experience visitors have showers rather than baths. If they desperately wanted/needed a bath, they could use the main bathroom.

dominoman

trailingspouse wrote: »

When we renovate the top bathroom, we're thinking of getting rid of the bath - making it into a good sized shower room rather than a cramped bathroom. It would only ever be used by visitors, and in my experience visitors have showers rather than baths. If they desperately wanted/needed a bath, they could use the main bathroom.

If you can keep the bath and fit a shower attachment (a proper fitted one with a wall hook - not the shoddy rubber push on type) then I'd keep it. A lot of people, especially older people and women, prefer a bath.

As to the downstairs loo, in your original post you mention the possibility of a loo in the basement. Don't do it! If you are below the drains you'll need to use a Saniflo pumped toilet - and if you want to know about those then there are plenty of threads around. Not nice things.

Personally to me, a downstairs loo wouldn't make a big difference so long as there are 2 toilets in the house.

Like PinkTeapot we have 4 toilets for 2 of us and I can honestly say that 2 of them have never ever been used (one is in the garden)

aldershot

trailingspouse wrote: »

When we renovate the top bathroom, we're thinking of getting rid of the bath - making it into a good sized shower room rather than a cramped bathroom. It would only ever be used by visitors, and in my experience visitors have showers rather than baths. If they desperately wanted/needed a bath, they could use the main bathroom.

Totally agree. We are in the same situation and are renovating one bathroom with a bath and the other with a fab huge shower. You don't need 2 full baths.

JimmyTheWig

trailingspouse wrote: »

The bathroom situation doesn't worry us - however it was interesting to hear other people's views and to know that the lack of a downstairs loo would be a deal-breaker for some.

A deal breaker with small children, certainly.

When we renovate the top bathroom, we're thinking of getting rid of the bath - making it into a good sized shower room rather than a cramped bathroom. It would only ever be used by visitors, and in my experience visitors have showers rather than baths. If they desperately wanted/needed a bath, they could use the main bathroom.

Makes sense. Anyone able to climb two flights of stairs is likely to be able to use the shower.

DRP

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

A deal breaker with small children, certainly.


Makes sense. Anyone able to climb two flights of stairs is likely to be able to use the shower.

Agree with this. It would be an improvement.

TBagpuss

I agree that if you have a main bathroom with a bath, then having just a shower in the 'spare' bathroom makes sense.

I've recently moved from a two bed terrace I to a 3 bed semi, and now have a downstairs loo for the first time. It is handy (well, it is now I've had a wash basin put in there. Not so much when you couldn't wash your hands!) and I think I would prefer to have one in any future house. Whether or not it was a deal breaker would depend a lot on the size and layout of the rest of the house, and I would probably look at whether it was possible to add one anywhere if I was buying a ouse which did not already have one.

I would see an en-suite as nice but not essential, and it would depend a lot on how big the rest of the rooms were - If the cost of having an ensuite was cramped rooms I'd pass.

My parents moved house when they retired, and their house has an en-suite to the master bedroom. It's nice, and I know that it was particualarly handy when my dad was poorly recently, but when the house is full, it would actually be much better to have a second bathroom which wasn't en-suite, rather than having people go through their room to get to the bathroom.
(It's badl designed. The room has a big dressing room / built in cupboard and the en suite, which are mirror images of each other. Had they put them in the opposite way round, the ensuite would have been just inside the door. (And the plumbing would have made better sense!)

Anne_Marie_2

I have a 3 bedroomed house. 1 toilet downstairs with enough room to add a shower if required, family bathroom upstairs and en-suite upstairs.
I really do like having a downstairs toilet, saves me and visitors going upstairs all the time. Love the en-suite, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker.

AndyT678

aldershot wrote: »

unusable for guests without load music on!

:rotfl:

Is this a specific genre of music particularly suited to providing camouflage when dropping a load? Any examples?

BigAunty

The downstairs loo in my family sized house gets a big thumbs up from nearly all viewers and the estate agent wanted to include pictures of it on the schedule as he regarded it as a positive feature, even though its obviously evident in the text and floor plan.

The fact that I've only got one bathroom between many bedrooms has only been an issue with one or two of the viewers (though there is a store room that's big enough to install a second one for those that demand it. However, one negative feedback from a viewer included the belief that my property is overpriced because they would want to install one, they don't seem to realise that the property is priced in its current state, not based on their desire modify it to their tastes, it's at their expense!).

On a personal level, I'm not fussed about downstair loos but I can see why they are popular.

Again, I'm not fussed about ensuites and don't actively seek them out when I am compiling a list of properties to view. I am actually deterred by properties who have stuck in tiny ensuites. If a property has one, I would want it to be a proper size bathroom, not some kind of cobbled together cupboard that has slashed the size of the bedroom.

I've seen really awful ensuites online, including people boxing in part of corner of a bedroom. I don't like modern apartments but at least some seem to have proper roomy ensuites designed into them. My parents bought a modern house, though, and their 'ensuite' is laughable - tiny and with a very under powered shower.

bmunky7

BigAunty wrote: »

Again, I'm not fussed about ensuites and don't actively seek them out when I am compiling a list of properties to view. I am actually deterred by properties who have stuck in tiny ensuites. If a property has one, I would want it to be a proper size bathroom, not some kind of cobbled together cupboard that has slashed the size of the bedroom.

I've seen really awful ensuites online, including people boxing in part of corner of a bedroom. I don't like modern apartments but at least some seem to have proper roomy ensuites designed into them. My parents bought a modern house, though, and their 'ensuite' is laughable - tiny and with a very under powered shower.

Very true, my pet hate is when someone sticks a shower into a bedroom in place of a wardrobe, so you step directly from the bedroom into a shower, with no real privacy. It just looks ridiculous in my opinion and they almost always look badly constructed.