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Original poster

Why don't people like downstairs bathrooms?

60 replies

Maebe · 15/03/2013 10:41

I keep seeing this pop up on so many threads and I'm always confused why people feel quite so strongly against downstairs bathrooms.

We have one - old converted/extended 2-up, 2-down, so it is off our kitchen. I've not only got used to it, I really quite like it now. It's surprisingly handy. For example...

It's great with young DCs, you can go to the loo without being a whole floor away from them (say if you only have an upstairs bathroom)

It makes getting ready in the morning so easy. I can have the baby's milk warming and the kettle boiling etc while I start the shower. I find that saves time as compared to when I had a house with an upstairs bathroom and was trudging up and down between floors. I can see it being easier when the DCs are older, they can be eating breakfast in the kitchen while I'm ten feet away showering etc.

And the same thing in the evenings - one of us bathes DC while the other is in the kitchen starting dinner, it's quite sociable really!

Also, I spend most of my time in my house downstairs. Where the loo is. Which is all very handy, really

Yes, once in a blue moon I wake up in the middle of the nights and think, arse, I've got to go downstairs to pee, but that's so rare. The only time it was an issue was when I was heavily pregnant, and then I just admitted defeat and had a bucket in the spare room. And tbh, the stairs were so annoying I half suspect I would have put a bucket somewhere downstairs if the bathroom had been upstairs!

Now, obviously the ideal would be some form of toilet on every floor, but not every house has room for that. So why do people hate the thought of a downstairs bathroom quite so much?

OP posts:

Original poster

Maebe · 16/03/2013 21:01

I see how that sounds like changing the question Didn't mean it to sound like that, I guess in my head it made sense that there was a distinction between a bathroom and a toilet, completely get why people would like a toilet in each floor. I spend more time downstairs that upstairs, so at the moment having the toilet downstairs is more convenient and I don't find it a problem at night. And not trying to convince anyone, I was genuinely just intrigued (as I said before) why some felt so strongly about it that it would put them off an otherwise great house.

OP posts:

GreenEggsAndNichts · 16/03/2013 21:59

The problem is, it would have to be a great house. As in, significantly better than anything else in that price range. And if we're now saying that the upstairs has a loo, and the downstairs has the bath, then (for me) that arrangement would only be acceptable if it did not require me having to walk through all living areas/kitchen in order to have a shower. It's fine if we're just here as a family but not ideal when we have guests or extended family/inlaws around. I, for one, am a pro at forgetting little things, forgetting I've left my hair towel on the hook in the bedroom instead of the bath, for example. I'd be forever back and forth through the house to fetch them. It's just not ideal, and if you're looking to buy a house you want to live in for a long time, why settle for something which you already know will irk you?

Jaynebxl · 17/03/2013 10:44

We have a loo upstairs but our main bathroom is downstairs. I would have been put off the house if there had been no upstairs loo but I've never minded the downstairs bathroom. In fact I quite like it with young children. If they are ill or have a wee accident in the day it is easy to just plonk them in the shower, for example.
The house we are moving to has two bathrooms upstairs and one bathroom downstairs plus a loo. I suspect there are times we will still choose to use the downstairs bathroom for convenience but no doubt we will use the upstairs ones more.

Jaynebxl · 17/03/2013 10:45

And actually when we were selling our current house we had 17 viewings in three days and only one of those was at all sniffy about the downstairs bathroom.

Jaynebxl · 17/03/2013 10:45

I think people generally accept it is often par for the course if you go for an interesting period house.

Bunbaker · 17/03/2013 10:57

"And actually when we were selling our current house we had 17 viewings in three days and only one of those was at all sniffy about the downstairs bathroom."

Don't most people read the particulars of a house before viewing? I would have though that this would have weeded out the ones who wouldn't want a downstairs bathroom.

DontmindifIdo · 17/03/2013 11:01

bunbaker - yep, DH wouldn't view a house with only a downstairs bathroom, becuase there's no way he'd agree to buy it, so why waste everyone's time.

Bunbaker · 17/03/2013 11:08

"bunbaker - yep, DH wouldn't view a house with only a downstairs bathroom"

Neither would we.

Jaynebxl · 17/03/2013 12:15

So would I Bunbaker which goes to show how many people were still interested despite the downstairs bathroom. And one person who didn't read the particulars

Coconutfeet · 17/03/2013 19:48

We were put off houses with downstairs bathrooms for the reasons mentioned but also because they're usually between the kitchen and the garden so you can't supervise children playing outside while you're in the kitchen, or open the kitchen up to the garden with French doors, which is something I really like the idea of.

They're fairly common where we used to live and they were always really cold and damp.

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