to get rid of a downstairs loo?

[Babybrainx2]

Housey post - we live in a 3 storey house with bedroom (used as playroom), downstairs toilet and kitchen on the ground floor with a wide, long hallway between the rooms. Lounge, bathroom and 2nd bedroom (used as office) on the middle floor and 2 big bedrooms and another bathroom on the top floor.

babies are now toddlers/preschoolers so we are starting to socialise in the evenings again, having friends over and carrying food and drinks up and down stairs to the living room is becoming a pain.

I would like to make downstairs open plan, to have a big kitchen/living space but it would mean losing the downstairs toilet. DH thinks that will knock money off the house value and won't even consider it, especially as our youngest is not potty trained yet. AIBU for wanting to get rid of a convenient 3rd toilet?

Obviously knock all the other walls down

From your diagram I'd put toilet next to front door and have a door opening into kitchen family room area. You'd have a hallway with stairs and loo in it separate to open plan bit.
You'll regret loosing the loo.

breakfast that looks good, the only issue is the only window is on that wall and we have neighbours on that side so can't put another in. Like the idea of making a little hallway to block sound and keep the heat in though!

I believe, although you'll need to check, that you need building control approval to remove an existing downstairs toilet, regardless of the age of the property.

I too was wondering why you don't have your 'lounge' downstairs ?
I'd not buy a house without a downstairs toilet, or an obvious way to put one in, and obviously the price would need to reflect that.

Particularly when you have dc playing in the garden, and playing whilst you are in the kitchen, one one not potty trained yet.

Why don't you just knock out the wall between the hall and playroom, and keep the loo and kitchen separate, and make a small hall/cloakroom in the outside the loo door and under the stairs.

Aside from it being a necessity for anyone who may visit and finds stairs a challenge, now that I have dc I couldn't be without a downstairs toilet for 4 main reasons.

1. The kids always seem to need a poo as soon as I get in the bath.
2. When they're muddy they only wreck the hallway and sink instead of traipsing mud through the house.
3. If DC are sick/ asleep they arent disturbed by guests going to the bathroom.
4. D&V bugs. You may be one of those lucky people who's kids never get ill but imagine all of you struck down at once, you'll be praying for more bathrooms.

I'm pretty relaxed about downstairs loos - they are useful, but not essential in my book. It wouldn't put me off buying a house if it didn't have one if I liked it otherwise.

However, getting rid of one is a bit different to never having one in the first place, IYSWIM. And moving it is likely to be expensive

the only issue is the only window is on that wall and we have neighbours on that side so can't put another in.

Doesn’t have to be a solid wall. You can put in a glazed door with glazed side screens, or a borrowed light.

But, Can I ask, what is the appeal of open plan. I know it is all the rage at the moment, but cooking and washing up is a really noisy thing to do. Whenever we stay at places which are open plan, it is such a PITA, so noisy and you have to do the dishes immediately else it looks a bloody mess.

Also, check on building regs. If you are going to need a building warrant for the work, you may need to have at least one door between the WC door and the kitchen.

The playroom is too small for a lounge. The layout on the middle floor is basically the same as downstairs. Lounge above the kitchen (about a foot narrower), full bathroom (using extra lounge space) above downstairs loo and office/bedroom above the playroom.

New plan, how ridiculous would it be to have a teeny tiny cupboard sized extension to put a downstairs loo by the front door?

I'm determined to get all of our living space downstairs. If I could manage it, we could stay in the house for longer as the kids could have a top floor bedroom each ( when they are too old to share) and we could have the old middle floor lounge as our room.

My parents have a house that has an open plan doenstairs with a loo in just that place, it actually gives the rooms separate zones whilst still being open plan.
Would that work?

I would get rid.

I don’t understand this obsessiveness with downstairs toilets

The draw for open plan is purely to get our living space downstairs. The playroom is too small to be a living room so without doing a big extension, the only way would be to remove some walls and make use of the big hallway and downstairs toilet space.

We briefly considered extending into the back garden, but as a 7 year old "new" build, we only have a 6mx10m garden as it is.

New plan, how ridiculous would it be to have a teeny tiny cupboard sized extension to put a downstairs loo by the front door?
Not ridiculous, but worth knowing that the majority of the cost is in foundations, walls, roof etc. Building a really small extension is not efficient. You will find that if you are building external envelope, a smaller 2x2 extension is not actually that much cheaper than a 3x3 one. It all goes by wall to floor ratio.

Isn’t it going to be very expensive to put in enough supporting steelwork?

Cupboard size extension wouldn’t work, can have a toilet off a kitchen.

I would lose it. You’ve still got two other bathrooms, that’s ample! I’d rather go upstairs for a wee than have to carry every meal/cup of tea upstairs.

Isn’t it going to be very expensive to put in enough supporting steelwork?

Not for a house that small. As a new build, the internal walls aren’t likely to be loadbearing.

Could you change the angle of the stairs and put the loo on the right but with no extension?

With a macerator (look up saniflo) you can site a toilet and basin well away from the soil stack.

I converted a coal hole/cellar in my son’s house into a toilet. The macerator shreds the poo and paper up and pumps it through narrow pipe, round bends etc into the main sewer pipe.

You can look at your ideas with fresh eyes with one of these.

I'd do what Breakfast suggested.

Take the point about under the stairs being too small. But could you nick a bit of the kitchen to make it a bit bigger. Shifting the plumbing might not be too bad, depending on where your upstairs bathrooms are, you might find you have plumbing close enough to tap in to.

Could be worth finding an architecture student to give some solutions?

If it’s a new build, does it have an integrated garage? You could knock through and create the WC in the garage. It’s not like you can get a car in there!