Toilets in family houses - weigh in on our argument!

[GrendelsMum]

DH and I are currently arguing about what we need in the way of toilets in our house.

We have a large 4 bedroom detached house, and we're currently re-doing the bathrooms.

Downstairs, we have one toilet. Upstairs, we have a separate toilet, an en-suite bathroom with a shower and sink and no toilet, and a family bathroom. At present, the family bathroom has a toilet, a bath and a sink.

Would you rather have
a) family bathroom without a toilet, but with a separate shower, and use the upstairs toilet along the hall
b) family bathroom with a toilet directly in the bathroom, but with a shower over the bath
c) family bathroom with a bath, a sink, and plenty of floor space

Also, is it or is it not normal for small children to put unsuitable things down the loo?

a)

I'd say A but would like a loo in the en suite if possible.

I'd quite like the main bathroom and loo to be separate and two, accessible to everyone, on the same floor seems a bit much.

B. Mine largely didn't though DS did experiment with an small diecast aeroplane once, which was Not Cheap to sort out...

(We have two en suites, one with shower/bath/toilet and one with shower/toilet as well as a family bathroom with toilet all upstairs and a seperate toilet downstairs. I wouldn't want to lose the family bathroom toilet tbh.)

b)

and mine haven't. Or at least, I haven't noticed.

I'm wondering whether MaryZ's right, and whether it's better to have no toilet than a macerating toilet...

We have a downstairs toilet, then upstairs a family bathroom with bath and shower over, plus, separate shower room with shower and toilet. It works...seems a common arrangement here in Belgium. I don't like the loo to be in the bathroom, and the last two houses we owned in UK has the upstairs loo well away from the bathroom.

Maryz - that's our set up. Ensuite is mine tho everyone can use shower and my 4 year old uses every loo in the house. Foul bathroom is the kids and dh has cloakroom aka poo loo ds12 years now has to do poo's there as they are man stinky. Lol

Does it have to be a macerating toilet? Could you get a saniflow system instead?

A if no loo in your ensuite but really should be b and your ensuite should have a loo. Can you get your ensuite converted to a wet room with a loo at the same time?

B) AND YES.

B. although if there is a sink in the separate toilet then A also not too bad
and yes normal I think, my ds2 is bad for this! :( but ds1 never did it
I don't really understand what is a macerating toilet but if you are getting new ones put in cant you just chose a normal one?

Macerating doesn't really make a difference. A bathroom should have a loo IMO.

We have a saniflo (Sanibest) in our cellar which we put in when we converted it to a utility toom. It copes with washing machine and basin drainage and obv loo (jobs big and small) nothing has been too arduous for it yet and it's been in for about 5 years.

Option B. A family bathroom should be just that, so yes, it should include a toilet. And in my experience from homebuilding and renovating, this would be a selling point should you ever need to put it on the market.

No, not normal for us with things down the loo as dd didn't bother.

Option B +

Remove the macerating toilet and make a wee laundry room (even if you have a futility room already), can't beat having the washer and dryer upstairs.

B yes

It's a listed building, 500 years old, so all plumbing is very difficult. Rooms are where they are, pretty much! If we're going for the authentic look, we could all just pee in chamberpots and throw them out of the window onto the flowerbeds.

DH and I are thinking about the practicalities in terms of re-sale. I can see that the general consensus is that you want a loo in a family bathroom. On the other hand, I wonder whether I'm not comparing like with like - I'm coming to suspect that the average family with small children wouldn't want to buy our house (small kitchen, very steep staircases, stone floors etc), so maybe we're thinking about older families only, in which case perhaps having the toilet along the hall is not a problem.

Thanks for all your opinions - much appreciated!

We have b, but also en-suite shower room with seperate toilet from master bedroom. So, 2 toilets upstairs, one down. And, if desperate - only 12 stairs between them!

B while I have tiny toddlers but A as soon as they get older!

I agree with Maryz, the main reason for having an en suite is surely so that you can nip to the loo in the night without needing any clothes. A macerator is fine if you are kind to it, and if it is in your en suite you can control what goes in. There is a very recent thread devoted to macerators, I am all in favour.

B for me

B definitely, have only had a teddy bear put down the toilet so far but DS is only 21 mo so I'm sure it is the first of many unsuitable objects to go down there!

B definately. Otherwise children in the bath that need a pee put wet foot prints all over the hallway.

Can you go for option B with macerator loo (I find the DSs often need a wee when its bath time and would be a pita if they needed to leave the bathroom) but keep the loo in the hall as well?

You should have a non macerator loo upstairs as if it does go wrong its good to have a spare loo near the bedrooms (not always easy to find someone to fix a saniflo).

ps thanks for your email!

B