No bathroom

[GiBlues]

DH and I are thinking of building a 2 storey extension on our house which will mean all 4 bedrooms we have now will be bigger as well as adding 2 extra en-suites. So 4 bedrooms, 3 en suites.

DH has suggested we do away with the main bathroom and make that a 4th en-suite so everyone has their own bathroom. I’m not sure as I think it seems odd not to have a main bathroom although we do have a downstairs toilet for visitors so the main bathroom would only be used by the person in the 4th bedroom.

Would love opinions on what we should do:

YABU for no main bathroom and YANBU for keeping the main bathroom

I think it depends on a bath - en-suites are fine for family, but if you have guests staying, a family bathroom is loads less personal; plus en-suites are very private and are generally a shower/toilet/sink.
If it's a 4 bed house, you need a bath and a family space that is more shared.

I wouldn’t have wanted my kids to have had their own bathrooms when they were little. I would worry about their safety, not to mention them flooding the bloody house or something, so I wouldn’t buy a house that had en suites for every room because of that.

Don’t forget you’re asking an odd demographic, where the majority won’t open the front door unless an appointment has been made first & where tradespeople aren’t permitted to use the toilet.

I’ve lived in several houses where the rooms each have an en-suite and there’s no ‘family’ bathroom- it’s brilliant

You said you’re staying there long term, do what suits YOU, I’d buy 4bdrm with 4 en-suite over a 4 bed with fewer en-suites and a family bathroom.

When you have 3 teenagers, each of them having their own bathroom will be brilliant

Definitely no Jack & Jill nonsense though tbeyre a nightmare.

If it's a 4 bed house, you need a bath and a family space that is more shared

Why?

Something to argue over?

No one needs to share a bathroom with their siblings

Kids are no more likely to flood an en-suite than a family bathroom

Some people are just set in their ways & cant think outside the box,

The only reason not to have all as en suites is if there's ever going to be a situation were someone doesn't want to take a shit in their bedroom.

The OP is going to solve that issue by putting in internal walls and a toilet 🙄 by the same ridiculous thinking I could ask why you prefer to shit in the hallway or the corner of a restaurant or the middle of a shopping mall

Both my parents and PILs have removed their baths and have no regrets. Causes no problems with visiting toddlers either.

Design the house for your family, not selling if you have no immediate plans for moving. Maybe see if one bathroom can e accessed from both hallway and a bedroom so it has flexibility for guests, parties etc.

In terms of resale I think it doesn't make much difference because the two different proposals would attract different buyers.

A young family is not going to be interested in 4 ensuites and no main bathrooms because obviously nobody wants very young DC to be let lose in their own bathroom, as they always require assistance when using it. Also cleaning up after young ones in 4 different bathrooms sounds like hell on earth.

However a family with older kids/teens would probably love this set up. Also it is possible that someone would see the property as an opportunity to set up a b&b, or a house share type situation for young professionals.

If you're out in the sticks don't forget that you'll be in this house for a lot longer as an empty nest couple than a family. For 30 or 40 years this will be a two person house, as opposed to 13 or 14 more years as a family home.

Your kids probably won't be living with you full time in 14 years time, and you'll have 3 ensuite bedrooms which are closed up most of the year.

If this is your one massive remodelling splurge think about future proofing. Will the house work for you and DH if one of you lives the last 20 years of your life unable to climb stairs or as a wheelchair user?

The forever home idea is actually quite impractical because what people need from a home changes drastically throughout a life cycle. Maybe Google future proof homes.

If you ever have a party, you will need more than one bathroom.

How on earth do people with only one bathroom manage to entertain?!

A good idea in my opinion. We have three en-suites, a family bathroom and downstairs loo. The only use for the family bathroom is for bathing the dog. Nice that he has his own bathroom too!

We're having a new master room with ensuite and are actually taking the opportunity to merge the old generously sized en-suite (off a snug master room) to the main bathroom to double the size and make it comfortable.

We see no point in an empty spare room with an ensuite that will seldom be used and will still need a clean each time it will be used. It would also be unfair on one sibling to not have an ensuite.

The window of teenagers all benefiting from their own en-suite is a small amount of time in a forever home. With primary school DCs, I'd rather they still didn't have their own bathrooms to mess up, and I'd rather discover any unpleasant messes promptly in a communal space.

In the absence of a guest room, it pushes guests in through a private bedroom (my last bastion of chaos after a visitor clean-up operation)

In old age, MiL is pleased to only have a walk in shower. On the other hand, DM finds a lengthy warm bath activates her joints for the day.

There is no right or wrong, but I think long term there are more downsides to extra en-suites off smaller rooms to larger rooms which are more versatile in use. I also find that the second doorway off a bedroom kills storage space.

I don’t want to shit in the corner of my bedroom.

If you haven't understood that an en-suite is a different room that is separated from your bedroom by potentially as many or more doors and corridors as a "separate" bathroom, then YANBU to not want what you are imagining.

I assume you think an en-suite is a potty, plus a metal basin for washing, with a jug supplying water, all on the other side of some sort of curtain or paper room-divider.

I know a lot of housing in Britain was built before indoor toilets were a thing, I think growing up in such houses (albeit modernised since then) is shading perceptions.

I doubt any new house in any first-world country would be built without at least one en-suite. (Or any flat with three or more bedrooms, for that matter. I'd guess many new two-bedroom flats also have an en-suite.)

(I know people in what counts as social housing in Singapore, even their 20-year-old three-bedroom high-rise flat has an en-suite and a main bathroom. There is short corridor and two doors separating the en-suite from the bedroom it serves. Mind you, in Singapore public housing is standard housing that nearly everyone lives in, it's not something reserved for the poor.)

I know what an en-suite is, thank you, @PettyContractor. I don’t live in the third world and I don’t want one. All right with you?

I cannot work out if that totally patronising post explaining what an en suite is is a pisstake or not

Sadly, I think it’s for real.

We have 4 beds and 3 ensuites. The boys have a jack & jill between their rooms but not accessible from the hallway. Works perfect for us. Don't see a need for a family bathroom.

I can't believe people care so much about bathrooms - it's a bathroom,you need it to wash in,you need a toilet,but why more than one or two when all that space could be used got more interesting things?
I wouldn't buy a house with an ensure at all if I had the choice,and certainly not that many with no family bathroom.
If it works for you,fine,but it might well not work for future buyers.

@SunniDay Fair enough, but I'm ever having a party, non overnight guests don't go upstairs and I've never seen a queue forming! Didn't have a choice when I had a one bed/one bath flat anyway. But I do see what you mean!

I think I’ve spent too long looking at floor plans etc on Pinterest as the norm in the USA seems to be to have more bathrooms than bedrooms