Understairs toilets - yay or nay?

[excitingusername]

I get it has it's uses for disability etc if you've nowhere else to put one, but am I the only one who finds toilets under the stairs a revolting concept? I find it particularly grim if your understairs cupboard is directly in your living room!!

Downstairs loo in a reasonable place not a problem. But surely most understairs are little more than an unventilated poky cupboard. I just can't see why people think this is an improvement to a home - unless they really need disabled access. Just think it's an odd trend.

Mines under the stairs. It's a great size and very nicely decorated if I say so myself. It means guests don't have to traipse upstairs and is handy with having young kids. I don't use it myself but the kids do. I much prefer it to the more recent trend of having one off the kitchen. I do not want people traipsing through my kitchen to go to the loo.

Er..... no? Do you?

Well, this is peak Mumsnet, isn't it?

If you don't want to put a loo under your stairs, don't have one. It's not fucking complicated. Stop fretting about other people's houses.

Dear @NeverDropYourMooncup I feel as though in real life we would be the very best of friends!

SW19 is a postcode I know all too well, and I have just just learnt to cope with quietly cringing and keeping my inverse snobbery to myself.

MN is a good release

x

We had one in our old house I hated it. We didn't use it as was grim with no window and dark and cramped.
We just used it as a normal under stairs cupboard

I really don't understand what's "revolting" about an under the stairs toilet?

Or what's so "grim" about it being in the living room?

These feel like very excessive adjectives for such a non issue.

My husband wanted to do it. Apart from anything else we have a loft conversion so the cupboard under the stairs is about the only storage we have. When I asked where all that stuff would go he didn’t have an answer!

If it’s the only place you can fit a downstairs loo then better under the stairs than none at all. When buying, I’d never consider a house that doesn’t have a downstairs loo and an upstairs bathroom.

I absolutely love them; it's a great use of an otherwise random and not that useful space (we store coats and vacuum cleaner elsewhere, and don't want to be become up and down in there anyway. Plus it's a real bonus if the house only has a single toilet upstairs. I grew up in a house of 5 with 1 toilet inside the bathroom, still can't believe no-one ever wet themselves!

I'm about to put an under stairs loo into my new house, as I can't afford to do my full kitchen-diner-utility extension just yet, at which point it will become a larger shower room.

Mine will look like this picture, and will have a full-size door as my stairs are quite deep; loads of room!

I forgot to add I have a decent sized frosted window already in there, so it's not going to be musty. It's also directly under the main toilet upstairs, so plumbing can be connected easily (no macerated required). I much prefer having a toilet under the stairs off the hallway, to any alternative which opens directly onto living space!

Never knew toilets under stairs was a thing! I guess if the under stairs cupboard is big enough, can't see the problem. I'd rather that that one off the kitchen.

We have an under stairs toilet. It’s got a main light and spotlights. It’s tiled. It has an extractor. It’s airy and light with a sink. It opens into the hallway. I honestly don’t see the problem. It’s probably cleaner and less drafty than ones I’ve seen in sperate rooms in other houses.

My house is big enough to have a good sized downstairs toilet but I have friends whose houses are smaller or a different layout and the only place is under the stairs. Saves having to climb the stairs everytime you want to wee or guests needing to go upstairs to use the toilet. My boyfriend has a big house but no downstairs toilet and it is a pain.

Ours is under the stairs in the hall. I can't see a problem with that, but agree I wouldn't like it opening out in to a room

Why has this made me laugh do much? I'm cackling 🙈

It would have to be an amazing house for to me to buy one without a downstairs toilet. Mine is under the stairs, full size door, bigger than the one in the picture a previous poster attached. Has a vent and light colours make it bright. It opens into a hallway and is so incredibly useful. When your desperate for loo and just make it gome no running up the stairs, or middle of a movie just go downstairs, handy for guests. My dad who is elderly and cant climb stairs much comes over to my house more than my sister purely cos I have a toilet downstairs so its easier for him

Have you not seen Mrs Browns boys? The loo under the stairs episode

As you get older you realise what an asset it is. They can fit them in the tiniest space under the stairs and a friend of mine has one with a built in wash basin on the top of the toilet- clever design.

I changed my username for this thread apropos to that very episode!

They are bloody helpful if you become infirm and have to be cared for downstairs for a while - especially if they open off the living room (which becomes your bedroom).

Also great if you break a leg.

Both situations where my old understairs loo was used and appreciated (not by me).

But I bloody loved my hatch between kitchen and dining room too. I'm just pure naff

Incontinence or just the need to go without warning is something I would not wish even on Boris Johnson. So even though it may not be ideal, a downstairs second toilet in a house seems valuable for many people. Even before anything temporary such as being on crutches.

We had one in previous house, with macerator to allow for a narrower soil pipe and extractor fan that came on with the light. Our stairs were in the hall though, I wouldn't install a lavatory off a living room (unless I absolutely had to). They are very useful in circumstances such as: feeling ropy suddenly and needing to dash to the loo; infants toilet training; elderly or infirm who'd struggle with the stairs; not having a lot of time and needing to do a wee before leaving.

EA made a point of mentioning it in the house particulars as a plus point although I doubt it made up for the rubbish parking restriction.

Revolting?

Take in you don't like an en-suite then. A bog in the bedroom, nice

Ours was already here. It’s not tiny though. Ot takes up a good amount of the under the stairs space. It also houses the boiler. It had a window you can open and really high ceiling in line with the stairs going up.( stairs are quite steep. It’s in the hallway not in the kitchen or Iiving room room. It’s very handy.