Combined bathroom and utility room...does it work?

Storyboard

Buying a property for the first time...taking the plunge and hoping to live there for a long time.

At the moment it has a very small toilet and shower and separate utility room downstairs listed as laundry room on the image. The bathroom is the start of a kind of annex after the utility room from our kitchen (which also needs to be redone as its a mess), which we will keep for the in laws when they come etc.

It has been suggested to open the bathroom and utility room into one joint room (thus reducing the amount of doors and maybe saving space) and having the utility room/bathroom shared between the inlaws little unofficial annex and main house.

Any thoughts or ideas from people who know more than me would be massively appreciated! Thank you.

theoretica

You would have a lot of doors to lock/remember to unlock when someone wanted to use the bathroom.

Jeepers_Creepers

Storyboard said:

Buying a property for the first time...taking the plunge and hoping to live there for a long time.

At the moment it has a very small toilet and shower and separate utility room downstairs listed as laundry room on the image. The bathroom is the start of a kind of annex after the utility room from our kitchen (which also needs to be redone as its a mess), which we will keep for the in laws when they come etc.

It has been suggested to open the bathroom and utility room into one joint room (thus reducing the amount of doors and maybe saving space) and having the utility room/bathroom shared between the inlaws little unofficial annex and main house.

Any thoughts or ideas from people who know more than me would be massively appreciated! Thank you.

Yes, of course you can have a combined room. What would be in the utility room - I presume W/M, T/D and a sink and storage?

The combined room would be around 2.8m x 3m, plenty large enough!

I think the obvious thing - certainly from looking at the plan - would be to move either the kitchen or the bedroom door so that you have a corridor joining them, and then the new combined U-S room would come off this with a single door. But you know what it looks like on the ground.

It doesn't even have to look utilitarian - W/M and T/Ds can be housed inside purpose-made units provided they are around 700mm deep, so that loses the eyesore without having to pay extra for 'integrated' appliances.

If you go for this, just make sure the shower room is well ventilated, perhaps with an extractor also set to dehumidify - you don't want condensation forming on the appliances or I guess they could rust over time?

You might, tho', decide to keep them separate if you move one of these doors and introduce that corridor, even have the loo turned into an en-suite.

Lots of options as far as I can see.

Storyboard

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Storyboard said:

Buying a property for the first time...taking the plunge and hoping to live there for a long time.

At the moment it has a very small toilet and shower and separate utility room downstairs listed as laundry room on the image. The bathroom is the start of a kind of annex after the utility room from our kitchen (which also needs to be redone as its a mess), which we will keep for the in laws when they come etc.

It has been suggested to open the bathroom and utility room into one joint room (thus reducing the amount of doors and maybe saving space) and having the utility room/bathroom shared between the inlaws little unofficial annex and main house.

Any thoughts or ideas from people who know more than me would be massively appreciated! Thank you.

Yes, of course you can have a combined room. What would be in the utility room - I presume W/M, T/D and a sink and storage?

The combined room would be around 2.8m x 3m, plenty large enough!

I think the obvious thing - certainly from looking at the plan - would be to move either the kitchen or the bedroom door so that you have a corridor joining them, and then the new combined U-S room would come off this with a single door. But you know what it looks like on the ground.

It doesn't even have to look utilitarian - W/M and T/Ds can be housed inside purpose-made units provided they are around 700mm deep, so that loses the eyesore without having to pay extra for 'integrated' appliances.

If you go for this, just make sure the shower room is well ventilated, perhaps with an extractor also set to dehumidify - you don't want condensation forming on the appliances or I guess they could rust over time?

You might, tho', decide to keep them separate if you move one of these doors and introduce that corridor, even have the loo turned into an en-suite.

Lots of options as far as I can see.

Thank you for your help

Ectophile

You'd have to consider all the electrical safety issues if your shower room is also the utility room.  There are some quite severe limitations on power sockets in the vicinity of a bath or shower.  All the appliances have to be appropriate for use in a bathroom.

It's the sort of thing where it would be best to check with a qualified electrician before starting work.

kdotdotdotdot

In Germany it's usual to have the washing machine in the bathroom, so there's no reason not to do it (other than electrical considerations as mentioned above).  That said, you'd have to work some system out so that you don't accidentally walk in on your in-laws using the bathroom while you're trying to put some laundry in. 

It might also be a bit odd going through a bathroom to get to the 'annex'.  Might be nicer to have the shower room and loo as an en-suite to the bedroom by extending it slightly into the existing laundry room, if there's room and the supporting walls lend themselves to it.

ryan7

You could turn it into an ensuite but that lends itself to the bedroom only rather than a downstairs loo.

Currently, it's pokey but functional. 

Storyboard

All excellent points thank you. The electrical issue is great and never thought about an ensuite either

weeg

I have my washing machine and tumble dryer in my bathroom. It's brilliant! So much more sensible than in the kitchen (why would I want my clean clothes smelling of food?) and it keeps the noise contained.

The sockets are the hard wired kind, no plugs/ switches.

Never thought about it until I moved into this flat with this arrangement, but I'd absolutely do it again. 

Rosa_Damascena

weeg said:

I have my washing machine and tumble dryer in my bathroom. It's brilliant! So much more sensible than in the kitchen (why would I want my clean clothes smelling of food?) and it keeps the noise contained.

The sockets are the hard wired kind, no plugs/ switches.

Never thought about it until I moved into this flat with this arrangement, but I'd absolutely do it again. 

Why would you wish for your nice clean clothes to share a site of ablution?

koalakoala

Most foreign countries I've stayed in have their utilities in the bathroom