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?

I've never lived in a house with a downstairs loo. I used to really want one but now I don't care so much. It's just another toilet to clean. I like your open plan idea and you have 2 other toilets in the house.

You need Building Regulations approval to remove the toilet. Would be a good idea to start there. I like Gaudemaus's suggestion.

Can you not move the loo slightly and incorporate it into a utilities room? We had a similar problem and that's what we ended up doing.
It works well. There are two doors between the loo and the living areas and the noise from the washing machine is muted.

I would never get rid of a downstairs loo. If you ever have any ill health it can be invaluable.

Never get rid of a downstairs loo. I wish we had one.

I'd keep the loo too. Even before you're elderly you might twist an ankle or (like me) ruin your knee and need to live downstairs for a while. I wouldn't buy a house without one.

Also a lot of planning authorities won't let you extend forwards. Worth checking your local ones policy.

We recently had our downstairs loo redone so it was out of action for about a week. Really missed it so no, I wouldn’t be without one

I seriously considered spending £40k on an extension just to give us a bigger hall, downstairs lav and utility room. There's just 2 adults in the house!

We're paying off the mortgage instead, but at least once a week I curse the lack of a g/f loo.

No keep the loo, so useful. Then visitors etc are not trailing upstairs and you may be caught short

I got rid of our downstairs loo. It was straight off the kitchen which I loathe and when we did an extension I felt not having a toilet downstairs gave a lot more space, plus it would have had to be off the kitchen again. That’s quite common in the old houses round here though, and we do have two bathrooms, for the emergency wee when someone’s in the bath. I think the designs keeping your downstairs loo but moving it so you can also have open plan are great, given that your house is modern more people will expect the loo to be there.

Our house was built in 1988 (we're the second family to live here) and oh how I wish it had a downstairs loo. I wished it at the toilet learning stage but I wish it even more now both DC are getting older. It will get worse too. I hear stories of my cousins (late teens, early 20s) spending ages in the only bathroom in their house.
I wish I could squeeze one in here somehow.
I even debated buying a camping loo and putting in shed (don't worry not that desperate...yet!)

We live in a 2 up 2 down Victorian terrace. Our kitchen is an extension, there is a small lobby between that and the dining room and our bathroom is situated there. It's the only one in the house. I love having it there, particularly when you charge in through the front door 'in need' as it were. And it saves trooping up and down stairs whenever you need the loo. Dining room has a door so we shut it off if we have guests.

We had a downstairs loo/shower room in our old house and again it was invaluable. I can't imagine not having one to be honest.

Could you move it to the back of the house(I presume the kitchen backs onto the garde) in the left hand corner, have a little corner with loo/utility room, the plumbing would be extending the waste pipe only I believe ( not expert) I would def keep it if you can and if room a little Utility space...I would love a utility. I have utility room envy of those that have!

we have two small children, one bathroom, one downstairs loo. Am going to put another shower in downstairs loo.

KEEP IT

I would love to have a downstairs loo, and would hate open plan living space for a family. Much better to have the option of closing doors sometimes.

I second that open plan isn't a great idea. Our house has a large kitchen across the whole back, a contained dining room in the conservatory and a lounge, with the only doors being into the conservatory. It's really annoying to hear and there's only our bedroom door between us and the washing machine.

We're putting in a downstairs loo under the stairs before we have kids. I also was a fan at all of houses without hallways when we were looking. I hate not having a space to hang coats and store shoes etc downstairs.

I wish next door wasn't bloody open plan, i hear everything they do downstairs as its echoes so badly and it's all wooden/laminate floors too!
My own house the living and dining rooms are half knocked through, has a low wall but the kitchen is a separate room, and i'm so glad of the door, cooking and washing up is NOISY, as is the washing machine and dryer.
No central heating either, just a space heater since the gas fire has packed in, keeping just the living/dining room knock through warm is a pain, i can't imagine the time and cost if the stairs weren't behind a door and all the hall/upstairs landing was part of it.

Growing up in a one bathroom house with 4 people was torture, especially as me and my sister have disabilities, having to wait an hour for her to use the loo when we both decided we needed a wee at the same time (i could hold it better but took equally as long to go so i was always the waiter) was almost a daily occurrence, and i now have lasting bladder issues as a result.

Keep the toilet. As someone who earlier this year tore a major muscle in my knee and couldn’t get upstairs for a month, I really appreciated one. I personally would also be careful with open plan as a few of my friends are getting negative feedback from buyers about it at the moment and can’t sell

The OP will still have a separate life living room upstairs (won't you, OP?) so she's not going totally open plan, she's creating a much more user friendly kitchen/dining area.

I didn't have a downstairs loo until my mid 40s and I managed to be both toilet trained and to train DD. I also don't have the other MN essentials - a utility room or an en suite!

Don't do it! Going up 2 flights every time you need the loo will get old very quickly.

A lot of people seem to be missing the point when they say the loo should be kept as elderly/infirm visitors may not be able to manage stairs - they have to go upstairs to the living room as things are!! There is no living room or entertaining space on the ground floor. So while I'd usually say keep the downstairs loo, I can see OP's reason to lose it. We were meant to have a downstairs loo in our house, but it got filled with second fridges and freezers plus cat beds and coat hooks! All much more useful and people all seem to manage the upstairs loo no problem!

Did you/do you live in a town house though Charlene ? I grew up in one one almost identical to the OP's and I seriously recommend not getting rid of that loo.

Why does a townhouse make a difference? Didn't op say her bathroom was on the first floor along with the living room and an office/bedroom?

True maybe it doesn't. In ours the mid bathroom was an on suite off the main bedroom so not ideal for guests and I assumed the OPs was the same but it may not be.

No, our present house is Victorian with a downstairs loo. I still tend to go upstairs to use the loo there (oh the things we share on MN!) because every bit of exercise helps!

We didn't have a downstairs loo when DD was small and we managed just fine.