Would you rather have a downstairs toilet or laundry room?

[hereismydog]

As above, we have a downstairs toilet that nobody has used in well over a year because the seat is broken and has proved impossible to replace due to its awkward shape and internal fixings.

We haven’t really missed it, so have been toying with the idea of turning it into an all-in-one laundry cupboard, as our washing machine and tumble dryer are in separate areas of the house, but we are worried about resale value if we completely scrap the toilet. There are two other toilets in the house, so we feel three is probably a bit excessive (3-bed house).

So, which would you rather have?

It also exists for when you’ve young kids. Amd for us as we have a lot of friends, and our kid had a lot of friends over growing up,

With a baby on the way, definitely a downstairs loo.. potty training is much better when you're not having to run a desperate (potentially already weeing) toddler upstairs...

Aldo it’s not really a laundry room; by the time the whiteware is in it it will be a laundry cupboard, which isn’t nearly as attractive.

check regulations as in some areas a downstairs toilet is mandatory.

but anyway, I would keep it (and get it fixed)

Utility and toilet in same room is good if you have the space.

You said you had a dryer somewhere already?

I’d look into either stacking dryer and washing machine in the place where the dryer currently is, or swapping both for a combined washer/dryer and putting it where the dryer currently is. You will free up storage space in the under stair cupboard.
And get the loo fixed/done up, for all the reasons everyone has said.

We don’t have a downstairs loo, we managed when DS was toilet training but I’d have really liked one. I am counting the days till our playroom is obselete and we can rearrange downstairs to fit one in.

I was not a tumble dryer user until I had a baby, absolutely can’t live without it now.

Toilet all the way for me. I think you need one on each floor. I'd hate to go upstairs and especially send guests up to my master bathroom.

I've been put off buying a house that didn't have space for a downstairs toilet but had a boot room utility.

A downstairs loo is invaluable when potty training.Save the laundry room for when your child is older.

Toilet definitely, especially with a baby on the way and for future potty training.

Is the toilet next to the cupboard that currently has the washing machine in? Can it be incorporated any way so you can have both.

Not having down stairs loo will affect sale value. The fact that all new houses after a certain date include downstairs loo means it is seen as a 'norm'. Also when potty/toilet training a child, that need to go upstairs every time will be a real nuisance (and mean more wet pants/clothes due to not getting to the loo quite in time). Finally having guests, especially getting older ones means that downstairs loo is the difference between you being able to have family round. (My SIL was smug and thought that not having downstairs loo meant she would get out of entertaining my late mother, my brother pointed out that no, it just meant that he and she and the kids would have to go to visit at my mums bungalow every week instead. After my mum died but when SIL Mum got a bit more infirm, I noticed they had a downstairs loo installed).

We turned our downstairs loo into a laundry room. We just put the washing machines on cement bricks and left all the toilet plumbing reasonably intact - sealed off, but easy to reinstate. It's not pretty (neither was the loo!), but no one else sees it!

Haven't regretted it once in ten years.

You'd be surprised at how small a space you can fit a loo into. You can get those all in ones with the sink in the cistern.

I know you can't fit a toilet and a washing machine in the room, but maybe you could fit some sort of clothes hanger or dehumidifier in there as well to help with the extra laundry.

Agree, I think in this scenario calling it a laundry room is delusions of grandeur, if it’s so small you can’t get a loo in too, then it’s a laundry cupboard,

Keep the downstairs loo (and get it fixed).

As you have two other bathrooms, convert one of those to a laundry room (or see if you can fit your washing machine in one).

Delusions of grandeur? Did you mean to be so fucking rude?

Does it really matter what I call it?

It sounds like you will need to get a new toilet anyway. So why spend that money on something you don’t want. Set that money aside so if you ever sell the house you have it to reinstate the toilet if the estate agent thinks it’s t deal breaker.

Then get a price for someone to cap the toilet off in some way that isn’t irreversible if possible. As well as whatever you want in the laundry room. Then enjoy the space as works for you!

@Staunchlystarling In your case the downstairs loo sounds like what works for your family. In Op's case, it sounds like they aren't missing the downstairs toilet much!
But the clear majority seems to agree @Staunchlystarling ...

😂 calm down it’s just a saying and a thread about loo v utility.,

@Shudacudawuda

ah the innocence afforded to the youth with happy knees!

my knees are fucked. I'd spend my entire life with wet knickers if I had to get upstairs for the toilet - not glamerous, but reality.

secondly I was hit by a car in a carpark & after surgery & a couple of weeks in hospital I could only come home because I had a downstairs toilet, else I'd have had to find other accommodation.

so now, life lessons later I'd never buy a house that didn't have (or rather-couldn't have) a downstairs toilet.

A laundry room would be lovely but nowhere near as important.

We have a laundry room and I love it. In our previous house we had a downstairs toilet and no where to do or store laundry, here we lost the downstairs toilet and gained the laundry room and I'd never change it now

Could you not have the whole of your understair area opened up and turned into a utility with doors on the front? My friend has this. It takes a washer, a tumble drier, worksurface for clothes folding, baskets and a cupboard for washing sruff,iron, ironing board etc. It has lights and lovely doors.

Downstairs toilet and turn one of the upstairs ones into a laundry room instead.

If you ever have guests, or elderly relatives, or injure yourself such that going up and down stairs is impossible, you'll be very glad of having the downstairs loo.

Same. Only two adults in this 2 bed, 2 bath house so we didn’t need a third loo and as it’s all open plan downstairs, the loo was effectively in the lounge area. We removed the loo and basin but left the pipe work so that both could be put back in if needed. Installed washing machine and added deep shelves above. Also coat pegs on both side walls. Love it!

No it’s not delusions of grandeur op.

But buyers will see it as a cupboard instead of “ the smallest room in the house”!) and I think it will detract.