No window in Bathroom - offer

Firsttimebuy1991

Simple question Is a terraced house with no window in the bathroom common? I’ve never seen that before and I believe this house has a ventilation system but not sure how effective it is. I don’t see any mould in bathroom but don’t want to be caught out. Anyone had experience of this?

davidmcn

Probably not common for houses, but very common for flats. And in any event, modern building regulations require mechanical ventilation even if there is a window, so I wouldn't be concerned about whether it's sufficient in principle to rely on a fan.

Brodiebobs

Lots of terraced houses where I am are like this, dating from the days when there were outdoor loo's and a bathroom was moved inside by taking a bit off each of the bedrooms.

Our first house had no bathroom window, was a bit grim with no natural light but we had a decent extractor and never had any issues with damp.

diggingdude

Popular in all my old student shared houses, i didn't find them that great but then they were get alot of use and weren't maintained

JayRitchie

Pretty common I'd say. Its generally a trade off between window position and layout. Have a look at other similar properties in the area to see if its a real compromise which might be an issue for future sales.

PasturesNew

It's almost 100% the way most mid terraced houses do it, unless the houses are large there's no way to get a window there without losing a bedroom.

Where I live there are three blocks of terraces, all the middle houses have internal bathrooms. I've even seen builders of end of terrace houses, who could've had a window on the side, not bothering to put a window in. It'll be down to cost/size. A wider terrace can have room for a window. If a house is only 10-12' wide then there will only be four windows to the outside world: kitchen, living room, bed1, bed2 - with the bathroom in the middle without one.

If you want one - and have the spare money - you can cut a hole in the ceiling and install a velux window in the roof.... pricey just for getting a window in there, but some people do it as the overall value of the house makes the cost just a small cost by comparison.

Davesnave

Yes it's common on modern, cheap houses with no side return and on older properties which didn't have a bathroom originally.

For many, it's a non-issue, but what the 'many' care about isn't your concern, as it's you who have to live with it, or do the roof window adaptation if you can't.

People who owned our property previously created a non-windowed en-suite to cut costs, but we found it claustrophobic and never used it. Now we've put a window in, it feels entirely different.

If the extractor fan proves inadequate to change the air quickly, it's not a major job to replace it with something better. Most fans fitted in cheaper property are rather poor. The better ones may have a humidity sensor and work automatically until the air is less humid.

Firsttimebuy1991

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's almost 100% the way most mid terraced houses do it, unless the houses are large there's no way to get a window there without losing a bedroom.

Where I live there are three blocks of terraces, all the middle houses have internal bathrooms. I've even seen builders of end of terrace houses, who could've had a window on the side, not bothering to put a window in. It'll be down to cost/size. A wider terrace can have room for a window. If a house is only 10-12' wide then there will only be four windows to the outside world: kitchen, living room, bed1, bed2 - with the bathroom in the middle without one.

If you want one - and have the spare money - you can cut a hole in the ceiling and install a velux window in the roof.... pricey just for getting a window in there, but some people do it as the overall value of the house makes the cost just a small cost by comparison.

Thanks for your help! Unfortunately there is a loft above the bathroom so I don’t think it would work but otherwise that would have been a great suggestion

Firsttimebuy1991

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes it's common on modern, cheap houses with no side return and on older properties which didn't have a bathroom originally.

For many, it's a non-issue, but what the 'many' care about isn't your concern, as it's you who have to live with it, or do the roof window adaptation if you can't.

People who owned our property previously created a non-windowed en-suite to cut costs, but we found it claustrophobic and never used it. Now we've put a window in, it feels entirely different.

If the extractor fan proves inadequate to change the air quickly, it's not a major job to replace it with something better. Most fans fitted in cheaper property are rather poor. The better ones may have a humidity sensor and work automatically until the air is less humid.

Unfortunately I have a attic above the bathroom so a roof window wouldn’t work but I’ll look into an new extractor fan, hopefully not too expensive!

MoneySeeker1

You might be able to think in terms of some borrowed light from elsewhere in your home.

I was checking out some photos this morning and one was a room they had added an en suite bathroom to and got some light coming into the bathroom from the wall surrounding it being those glass "bricks". The bathroom still had privacy (at least with the light in it off) and the occupant of the bed wouldn't have been able to see into it. On the other hand, the bathroom had some light coming in through those glass "bricks". It looked very nice I thought.

There must be scope, I would imagine, to have a section of those glass "bricks" opening maybe? There would certainly be scope for putting a blind or curtain up inside the bathroom, so that the light could be put on without losing privacy to the rest of the house.

PasturesNew

Firsttimebuy1991 wrote: »

Thanks for your help! Unfortunately there is a loft above the bathroom so I don’t think it would work but otherwise that would have been a great suggestion

Having a loft above is irrelevant. You cut a hole in the bathroom ceiling, between two loft joists. Then install a "chimney type of vertical part" with the velux at the top. Cost is: somebody to saw through bathroom ceiling, bit of joinery to reach roof height, a few tiles off, fit a Velux window. Then plaster/finish/decorate.