New builds. Do you really need three toilets in a 2 bed mid/semi?

Bonniepurple

dimbo61 said:

As you point out in a small 2 bed house why 2 bathrooms upstairs as well as the downstairs WC and basin.
However if you bought that house and wanted to rent out the " spare ensuite bedroom " for say £625 a month (£7500 a year ) 
You could do this Tax free under the Rent a room scheme.
Horses for courses.
Some people might love this.
As someone who visits lots of older properties with older owners/tenants the lack of a downstairs shower room with WC, basin and wet room features is a Massive disadvantage to easy living in later life

I’m disabled and, after having to drag myself up the stairs every time I needed the loo, one of my priorities when we were house hunting was a downstairs cloak room.  Even better, where we are now, it’s only a stud wall between the (large) living room and the cloakroom, so it should be easy enough to put a shower/wet room in.

Even before I became disabled, we knew that our old house wasn’t going to work long term.  One toilet between 4 people does not work!

MFWannabe

It’s obviously personal choice but to me I think downstairs toilets are great 
1) When you come in from a walk with muddy/ wet boots etc and desperately needing the loo; no rushing up the stairs 
2) When you have visitors; they don’t have to go upstairs to use bathroom 

On the floor plan each bedroom has an en-suite so perfect if you have visitors and to me it doesn’t look like they impact on bedroom sizes 

lincroft1710

I have a book of house plans published in 2003. One of the plans is for a rather grand 5 bed house with 1 bed annex and a swimming pool, it has a total of 11 (yes, eleven!) toilets

Marmaduke123

MFWannabe said:

It’s obviously personal choice but to me I think downstairs toilets are great 
1) When you come in from a walk with muddy/ wet boots etc and desperately needing the loo; no rushing up the stairs 
2) When you have visitors; they don’t have to go upstairs to use bathroom 

On the floor plan each bedroom has an en-suite so perfect if you have visitors and to me it doesn’t look like they impact on bedroom sizes 

Also ideal for a lodger or for sharers renting the property or buying together when not a couple.

philip63

Marvel1 said:

Such hard work using the stiars to use the toilet, surprised people are buying houses wirth stairs.

It's even more difficult without stairs

BungalowBel

I have (briefly) lived in a house with five adults and one bathroom/toilet.  Never again.

Our flat which we rent out has two bedrooms, one ensuite and a separate bathroom.  This seems ideal to me.  Even when we had our static caravan, the main bedroom (of two) had an ensuite toilet and basin.

My bungalow where I live now has one bathroom/toilet.  I would like , at a minimum, another toilet, but can't get one without compromising other rooms, or access.

If I had a house I would like a downstairs loo.

Sapindus

I think ensuites are uncivilised and wouldn't want one.  Perhaps oddly, I grew up in a four bed house, family of four, where the "master" bedroom with the ensuite was the guest bedroom/model railway room.  ExH grew up a family of five with one bathroom.  When I re-did the downstairs bathroom here, MiL said "shall you bother having a toilet still?"  I think people spend far too long in the bathroom these days as they have been duped into beauty and skincare regimes by the industry, and that's why they think they've arrived if their shiny new-build house has an ensuite. Preferably with his'n'hers side by side sinks - can't think of anything less romantic! (oh, no, hang on, I can - a two seater toilet...)

TripleH

When we were buying, we looked at 2 houses attached to a converted mill.

Each bedroom had a bathroom but there was no storage which to us seemed daft as a home to live in but I can understand it for a rental property.

We have 3 toilets in our 4 bed town house. The toilet on the ground floor makes sense.

TonyMMM

We have 4 toilets (house of  3 adults) - one main bathroom, which very rarely gets used, two ensuites and one downstairs.

Nice to have a choice though..

theoretica

Several of the student rooms I lived in had a sink in the room, and my parent's house had a sink in the front room when they bought it.  Doesn't take up space the way ensuite does (or have the same risk of smell only one door away from the bed) and a lot of the time consuming stuff is using the sink and mirror.