To move the family bathroom downstairs?

[letsjustdothis]

We've seen our dream property after years of looking...it's beautifully secluded, architect designed, and even within our budget, but the problem is, the eaves make the top floor feel a lot smaller than it is.

This looks okay for the bedrooms but the "main" bathroom has a tinier than average bath with attached shower head and a toilet and sink crammed in, and no storage options. It doesn't actually have a terrible footprint on the plans but in reality feels tiny and extremely claustrophobic because the ceiling height is incredibly low (part of the room is effectively lower than knee height) and there's no window (no idea how the extraction/fresh air works, if at all...).

I just don't think it's viable at all, but we love the rest of the house.

We could change the smallest bedroom into the bathroom instead, but then it would only be a 2 bed house which I think is too few bedrooms for its size (currently 2,000 sq ft on paper).

I was thinking we could just knock the bathroom through to the smallest bedroom instead and use it for a dressing area/cupboard storage, as closing off one of the doors would also increase the amount of usable ceiling height space for that bedroom.

And put a family bathroom downstairs off the sitting room (which is a decent sized second reception room with one tiny window). The house is very open plan with a big hallway, so I don't think it would look out of place.

Both my partner and I love a big bathroom, and he likes to have late baths, so there would also be the advantage that he wouldn't wake me up. And if there was a leak or something (as happened in our current house), it wouldn't wreck a ceiling. Plus some potential buyers may appreciate a downstairs bathroom for accessibility needs, although we would really like it to be our forever home so it may be practical even for us in the future.

The master bedroom upstairs has a small ensuite, so there would still be some kind of bathroom up there.

There's also a small cloakroom downstairs with just a toilet and sink, but I don't think there's the space next to that room to make it into a full bathroom.

We can't knock through the ensuite and bathroom to make a normal sized bathroom with a window because there's an old chimney in between the two.

So it seems like building a small extension for a family sized bathroom could make sense. The space where it would be built is currently part of a (long) flat paved driveway so we don't need it, and it's not at all visible from the street, plus there are tall electric gates so no one can see in.

That said, I'm reading that having a downstairs bathroom is really undesirable and knocks a lot of value off the property. I've been googling but a lot of situations seem to be where it's the only bathroom/toilet in the property, or where you have to walk through the kitchen to get to it. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on this specific situation.

UK based, if that's relevant.

YABU = you wouldn't buy your dream property if it had the main bathroom downstairs and just an ensuite upstairs.

YANBU = doesn't bother you because there's a toilet and shower upstairs and it would be better to have a nice family bathroom even if downstairs.

Bathroom downstairs is a terrible idea . Who wants to listen to people shitting whilst you are trying to watch corro?

I mean for sure consider resale issues if it's seriously on the horizon. But if not, go with what you want and need.
If we'd insisted on an upstairs bathroom we would not have been able to afford the size and location we needed, so💁

Shut the door/eat more fibre. Seriously, have you had a downstairs bathroom ever because it certainly doesn't sound like it...

This was going to be my suggestion too. Remove the wall (or is it a chimney?) between the en-suite and family bathroom to make 1, larger bathroom. Keep both doors, so you can access it from your bedroom as an en-suite still, but also accessed from the hall for guests.

Edited to say that we recently renovated and removed 3 chimneys. It was incorporated into a massive renovation including new roof so can't advise on price. It made a massive difference to space though.

If the ceilings are sloping, won't taller people hit their heads? If its that claustrophobic with sloping ceilings- is it really a forever home?

I hate the idea of the family bathroom being downstairs. Possibly a shower room or cloakroom would be ok but my main bathroom for me has to be upstairs.

I grew up in a house with a family bathroom downstairs and I hated that I had to dress before leaving and I always had to wait around longer to get in. It may be different for you as there are other options (en-suite poss bathroom upstairs and cloakroom) and privacy may not be as much of an issue.

Since it's just the 2 of you I would make the smallest bedroom into a bathroom upstairs. If it's your forever home then do what works for you. If you're thinking of extending downstairs why not add a bedroom / studio down there with en-suite. That way guests have privacy and no one needs to be near your upstairs. Also that bedroom would be good for accessibility in the future. Would still be a three bedroom and could be advertised as a granny annex or as space for teenagers etc.

I don't like downstairs bathrooms, I don't think they're very nice to use. In your situation, as the master bedroom is so big, I'd expand the en suite to a nice size with bath and keep the current bathroom as the smaller extra one (is there room for a shower instead of the bath in that one?). Or increase the current bathroom into the smallest bedroom leaving that bedroom as more of a single/kids room/study.

I think people used to buy houses to live in but it seems nowadays all we worry about is taking the value off. It’s crazy, just have your house the way you want it if you’re planning on living in it for a long time.

As @smurfmonkey & @JC03745 This looks a good option.

Keep access from your bedroom (could you swap the way the door swings into the space?)

Remove chimney, not prohibitively expensive, from eaves to first floor.

www.homehow.co.uk/costs/chimney-breast-removal#

Agree that chimney removal could be the way to go.

Are you buying with a mortgage? If so reducing the house's value may be costly LTV-wise at re-mortgage time.

We would be, sorry for probably a stupid qu but why would it be costly at remortgage time if house is worth less?

Hmm that's an idea, but not sure it's possible because we don't want to ruin the ceiling in the master bedroom: www.imghippo.com/i/l5gMD1721997299.jpg

Removing a chimney doesn't cost that much in the grand scheme but very messy. Eed a structural engineer. I'd do that, for sure. You regain tons of space.

I'm leaning more toward knocking the wall in between down having read all these comments!

The sloping ceilings aren't an issue in the other rooms (other than making wardrobes difficult in the two smaller bedrooms), head height is still fine generally.

Just annoying it was built this way on purpose!!!

I think a ground floor bathroom in addition to a first floor bathroom is a real selling point but there are no circumstances where I would buy a house with only a gf bathroom.

Could you put a dormer window in the current bathroom to give height & space?

Normally I'd agree but the house has been on the market agesss and has already been reduced by £75k. We wouldn't be able to rent it out anywhere near the interest rate on the mortgage and if something bad happened and we needed to sell it we could be in negative equity pretty easily/struggle to sell it at all if we end up decreasing the value instead of increasing.

Take the bath out the existing bathroom and replace with a shower. It may have started out like that. Put the bath on its own elsewhere. The last boutique hotel I stayed in had the bath (Victorian claw foot type) in the bedroom. Your master bedroom might suit that. Otherwise I'd put a bath in the smallest bedroom which would mean minimum effort to turn it back into a bedroom in future.

Ah, that's a pretty feature. Yes, it would look strange if the oval recessed bit wasn't central-ish. I think knocking through is your best bet then. That way it probably wouldn't be horrifically expensive to reinstate as 2 bathrooms if you decide to sell and that works better for buyers.

Lots of things to consider:

• I wouldn't remove the smallest bedroom. Like it or not, UK houses are based on number of bedrooms and it will affect your value, plus potentially mortgage options as pp said due to LTV
• Having an en suite wouldn't work as an upstairs alternative loo. That would just be weird for any guests
• The older I get the less I like having to schlep downstairs for the loo. Also, an aunt has a crazy extends bungalow (so yes, no stairs) but where you have to cross the entrance hall and kitchen doorway to get to the bathroom or shower. It's horrible. I loathe it. It would be even worse in this house as your stairs come into the lounge.

Personally I would keep it as it, and look to add a bigger bathroom downstairs. Don't do it off the sitting room. That's also weird. Aunt's house also has one of those and there's nothing like someone doing a loud wee while you're watching tele. Even if it doesn't bother you & DH it will put people off. Also it doesn't look like you might have plumbing over there.

Can you move the front door to the side? Then you could make a big bathroom out of the current downstairs loo area, without much other compromise given how large the hall is.

Can you remove the chimney stack? It's not on the floorplan so don't know if there's a fire below?

Ideas

• look into combining en-suite and bathroom
• knock through bathroom into the bedroom to make a large bathroom with walk in wardrobe/dressing room
• make the sitting room into a guest bedroom with large en-suite bathroom, remove upstairs bathroom and make the small upstairs bedroom into study and storage

I think it's a good idea actually.

How about knocking ensuite into bathroom and having it as a jack and jill bathroom. Would that work?

You should consider speaking to an architect. If you have the budget for an extension, you could probably rejig the upstairs, remove the old chimney, add rooflights or sunspots etc and make the floor plan work properly.

I voted YANBU because you say it is your forever home. In which case, do whatever you like to it. It needs to suit you, not anyone else.

However if you are asking would I buy a house with a downstairs bathroom: no. Having an ensuite would be fine for me, but it would not be fine for overnight guests.

You're talking about potential negative equity if you need to sell, so presumably you would be really stretching yourself financially. Maybe it isn't the right property for you if you can't do the reconfiguration without that concern.

Why not take out the bedroom adjoining the small bathroom and make half a big bathroom and the rest either a storage/utility room, or knock through from the other bedroom for form a snug/dressing room? If you're suggesting that guest might sleep downstairs anyway, why do you need three bedrooms upstairs?

Alternatively, you could get quotes to remove the chimney between the ensuite and bathroom and go that way to make one much bigger room, with Jack and Jill doors if needed.