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Original poster

To buy a house with one toilet

212 replies

wellwhatisit · 27/05/2018 16:05

Is this a bad idea?

The only toilet is in the bathroom. It's a two bed house. Would this get annoying?

OP posts:
MrsHathaway · 27/05/2018 19:15

Now that we're used to having two loos, just one would put me off if house hunting and there was no room to put an extra loo in.

Some things are fine but difficult to go back to once you've experienced the luxury version e.g. dishwasher, second toilet, off road parking.

Butterflykissess · 27/05/2018 19:20

I live in a 3 bed with one toilet and 4 kids and tbh it is a pain! The kids hate going all the way upstairs to the toilet and I hate how we all have to queue for the toilet in the mornings. 3+ bed houses should definitely have more than one. Ok In a 2 bed though

knowledgeofnone · 27/05/2018 19:20

I noticed a house up for sale the other day and the neighbour was in the garden so I asked her about size, noise etc and then I asked how many toilets did they have? And she said one and asked "really how many do you need?" Whilst laughing and then I said "well my husband has a pretty serious bowel condition and we really struggle just having one loo with two kids! So ideally I need 2 toilets" it got a bit awkward after that!.... so basically I would always want 2 but I think bowel conditions aside 1 will do 😂

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 27/05/2018 19:22

When I was a kid there were 6 of us in a 4 bed house with one indoor loo - but it was separate from the bathroom, which was IMO very sensible, and quite usual then, when baths rather than quick showers were the norm. I still remember, though, my sister at about 3, jumping up and down outside the occupied loo, saying, 'It's coming it's coming it's coming!'

We did have an outdoor one, but it was always full of spiders, not to mention bloody freezing for half the year, so we never used it.

KlutzyDraconequus · 27/05/2018 19:35

when I were a kid I had to get up half an hour before I went to bed, lick the road clean with me tongue, have half a slice of stale bread before starting a 25 hour shift down the mill and we only had a cracked tea cup and roll of old newspaper as a toilet... but you try telling the kids of today that and they won't believe you..

GlitterGlassEye · 27/05/2018 19:51

I’ve stayed in several houses and only had 1 toilet. In my current very old 3-bed there’s only 1 toilet between 5 of us. It’s a literal pain in the arse at times so when we get round to buying our own home in a couple of years, I’d choose a house with at least 2.

GlitterGlassEye · 27/05/2018 19:52

Then I’ll moan about cleaning them all Grin.

MrsHathaway · 27/05/2018 20:00

One benefit is that when you're cleaning one you can direct everyone to the other...

Takeoutyourhen · 27/05/2018 20:13

AlmostAJillSandwich - that sounds really tough.
It reminded me of living at home which had a single toilet next to a bathroom complete with a bathroom. Because the single loo was a bit iffy for poos, it was largely ignored and for a long time I was shouted at for locking the door whilst I was in the shower so other people could go to the loo. I kept my privacy but it didn't stop my sister and mum trying to break the door down.
Now I've only got one bathroom now and a handful of small children I'm fairly used to having someone toddle in but what happened back then was very unnecessary :(

amusedbush · 27/05/2018 20:23

I grew up in a family of four (three bed house) with one bathroom and I've never once thought it was odd. It was fine.

Maybe it helps that I've always been a night time hair washer, my brother and mum are morning people and my dad showered when he finished his (very physical) job at 4pm.

It might be pain if the whole family is on the same shower schedule.

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 27/05/2018 20:26

Hmm you do know it's a relatively recent phenomenon to have more than one toilet in the house?

JacquesHammer · 27/05/2018 20:27

you do know it's a relatively recent phenomenon to have more than one toilet in the house?

Things get better. Who knew!

Puffycat · 27/05/2018 20:29

2 beds 1bog seems reasonable

Devonishome1 · 27/05/2018 20:30

4 bed detached here and only 1 toilet. Fine for us,only 3 of us though.

daisypond · 27/05/2018 20:30

Five of us (two adults, and three teenagers) in my family and we've only got one loo... Never known anything else!

Whyohwhy65 · 27/05/2018 20:33

This is probably for the daily fail. So they can bitch about people who can't live without 2 toilets in their house Hmm

Gazelda · 27/05/2018 20:33

How many living in the house?

Buglife · 27/05/2018 20:36

A downstairs loo is useful if you have very small children (easy for you to do a very fast wee, and for potty training) but otherwise in a small family 1 toilet is ok. We went to view a 3 bed new build house before we bought the one we have now... it had 4 TOILETS. In a 3 bed house! One cloakroom on ground floor, a family bathroom, and two en suites. It was just ludicrous and it made me not buy that house, such an insane waste of space to have 4 toilets in an average (and otherwise quite poky) 3 bed house. Moving to a large 4 bed now and it has two bathrooms (an en suite and a family bathroom) and no downstairs loo but that’s fine with me.

TheNoodlesIncident · 27/05/2018 20:36

We put in a lavatory under the stairs in our previous house, it makes such a difference if someone's under the weather/in a hurry/bit desperate/toilet training/struggling to get up the stairs.

Our present house has the downstairs toilet accessible from outside only, I dearly wish we could bring it inside so to speak. I would consider buying a house with only one lavatory but I'd be looking to install another if possible tbh.

It doesn't seem necessary to have one's own personal pan though

SoyDora · 27/05/2018 20:37

A downstairs toilet was a godsend for me when I potty trained 2 children within the space of a year.

Floottoot · 27/05/2018 20:39

knowledgeofnone, I also have a serious bowel condition (Crohn's), so I empathise with your husband!
We have 2 children, now 14 and 12 and until the beginning of the year only had one toilet, in the family bathroom. The kids have grown up with mum on the loo while they were in the bath. 😨
Thankfully, we had a 2 storey extension built, with a new bedroom and en suite for us, and a downstairs classroom - bliss!

mercurymaze · 27/05/2018 20:42

i have a 3 bedroom house with one toilet in the bathroom and 2 sons and can say it has never been a problems that we don't have more than 1 toilet. to me more than one toilet just equals more cleaning, more problems with plumbing and more lack of cupboard space. i do kind of hate downstairs loos too, my loo needs to be away from kitchen and living space :D

feelingfedupnow · 27/05/2018 20:46

3 bed house.
Bathroom upstairs (toilet in there too),
but another toilet downstairs.

Toilet downstairs is brilliant for guests (they don't need to go upstairs) and for DC.

Also! Downstairs toilet was brilliant when I had morning sickness!

But! My sister has a house with three toilets!! One downstairs, bathroom upstairs and then en suite! There's only 3 of them and my nephew isn't even 2 yet so really not needed.

dementedma · 27/05/2018 20:48

i've never lived anywhere with more than one loo. our current home is a flat with one bathroom and the 5 of us have survived here for 16 years so far. Just shout, "does anyone need the loo?" before running a bath and it will be fine!

FowlisWester · 27/05/2018 20:54

We have one. Works fine... until there's a nasty d and v bug in the house. Then it's buckets and potties etc. 😆

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