If main bathroom of house was 6ft 6 x 5 ft 4 but you had a separate loo

[TKKW]

My DH and I are considering our options about having our main bathroom split into two. I am desperate to have a second loo. Even with just my DH, me and our toddler, its a nuisance having to hold in or go to the loo when someone is showering.

We have a 1930s house, its the smaller scale, 2 double bed/ box room with space for literally a single bed type, so small.

The boiler is newly installed under the stairs so we could have a double oven unit and a larger kitchen. So really there is no place for the loo to go downstairs.

If we did divide the one bathroom we have, we would have a teeny tiny separate loo room right beside the " main" bathroom.

The "main" bathroom would end up as 6 ft 6 x 5ft 4!!

The main bathroom would have a 1200mm bath with a shower over bath, as big as we can handbasin as sometimes i wash hair in ours, radiator hung upright and a loo.

It would look roughly like this except a touch smaller and our radiator would be at the left of the wash hand basin. Obviously we would have nicer tiling and and not gold coloured towels!

www.rightmove.co.uk/home-ideas/photo.html?homeImageId=21082325&searchTagIds=229%2C3961

The loo room would have to have concertina or a narrower than standard outward opening door and one of those loos with the handbasin attached like so:

www.cleverandeasy.com/Space-Saving/caroma-toilet-with-integrated-hand-basin.html

Both rooms would have windows.

Have not had a builder in yet as we are at the seriously considering stage but we have a fair idea of costs - Im guessing around £8-9k.

What do you think - would it be crazy to do this?

Doesn't sound ideal, a lot of money to spend to end up with a cramped bathroom.
COuld you squeeze a loo in the boiler cupboard downstairs?

Is a 1200mm bath even long enough to stretch your legs out in? Could you not have a 1500 mm bath ( shower above) along the shorter wall, with room for loo and sink side by side?

My DH really doesnt think there would be room as the under the stairs cupboard was very small anyway and the boiler is huge. The electric breaker boards and new electrical switches for the heat and water are housed there.

I was just thinking that we will need to change the bathroom soon anyway as the last owners installed themselves to up date for a sale and its a terrible leaky installation with a huge gap between bathtub and tiling so the sealant needs to be ripped off and replaced every 9-12 months as water looks as though it may go behind it.

We were thinking a new bathroom may be about £5k.

My DH thinks both loos need to be on the same wall due to waste pipe reasons.

We could have a 1500mm if a basin slightly over hung bath i suppose?

I would actually just have a seperate loo and bathroom rather than squish an extra loo in the bathroom.

Any room spare in the yard/garden? Could you add a rear porch type building, half for dryer, washing machine etc, plus a loo?

I think you would be crazy to do that and I speak as someone who has a tiny bathroom with a separate toilet so I can understand the appeal.

BUT £8-9k

You may still have the problem that flushing when someone else is showering means they get burnt/frozen by the water so we wait most of the time anyway iyswim.

Plus tiny bathrooms put off buyers, I bought my house for a steal for this very reason, so consider it very carefully!

The bathroom pic looks OK.
Please DO NOT consider taking the toilet out of the main bathroom, or the sink out of the separate toilet. Those are my pet hates.

I'd agree with looking again downstairs. Would be a better balance if you can.

Can you go into your loft and put an extra bedroom and bathroom up there (most 1930s accommodate the staircases quite well)? It might not be something you can afford immediately but worth considering as a long-term project - much better use of money than £9k for a tiny bathroom and loo.

Our main bathroom with loo is just bigger than that, 6ft by about 5'8" (I can just touch the walls one way and just not the other). It's just workable (the door opens outwards).

As for holding on for the loo when showering, why would you worry unless you have lots of house guests.

Please dont think Im being defensive but:

I dont think there would be a problem with flushing and showers as when Im on the loo for a wee and DH is in shower or vice/versa, I notice nothing.

It would be two loos and two hand sinks for sure, that's the whole point.

No room at the rear as a conservatory already there. An extension would be much more than 8-9k.

The whole house is small however, its on a tree lined avenue, in a fantastic primary school catchment, on the "right" side of town (i think), has a 110 ft garden and off street parking at front. I love the house and we dont want to move.

Really dont think there is any room for under the stairs due to the boiler/ break boards etc.

Argh! I need a second toilet.

oh ok I understand and sounds like you have 'proper' plumbing so ignore me on the flushing thing

A small toilet, next door to the main bathroom.

If it suits you then it suits you, but as I said think about selling as this sort of quirk is what puts buyers off ime.

I bought my house for lots of £ less than others on the street due to the teeny tiny bathroom.

Have you asked a plumber to look at the possibility of fitting a loo in the understairs cupboard before you write it off?
You can have a loo in the same room as fuse boards if they are boxed in with access.
You could get a very small loo and basin, and even moving the boiler a bit to accommodate a loo is probably cheaper than your suggestion.
I would check this out fully before making any decisions. small and cramped bathrooms are not very nice to use.

Could you take a little bit of room off the existing bathroom to create a compact en-suite in the bedroom next to it? So you end up with an ok sized bathroom and a 2nd toilet?

We have just measured the boiler and as the roof of the cupboard is so low, it will not allow access to the boiler front if it is placed at the end of the cupboard and the same if the toilet was placed at the end.

Therefore would be able to access one but not the other.

En-suite idea work?

I think you can get away with a smaller family bathroom if you have an en-suite...

Got any floor plans?

Other option is whether you can build a porch and have a WC in there?

thanks people, I think DH may be upstairs measuring.

Dont think any floor plans as we've been in house 2.75 years so digital marketing material long gone from websites.

I totally understand your need for a second loo but that does sound too cramped. I couldn't cope with a tiny bath either. and that's really expensive for what you would gain.

sorting your current bath problem should be way less than £1k so probs that does not justify the rest of the expenditure

I can see the appeal of a 2nd toilet, but would ask how much do you use the bath before you decide to get a small one.

We have a small bath (~1400) with shower over and whilst 99.9% of the time we use the shower and its not a problem, its really frustrating not to be able to have a decent bath when we want one - I'm not that tall and I can't get my knees/shoulders/back under the water at the same time. And now I'm heavily pregnant and really wanted a bath to ease aches and pains the other day - I nearly cried when I couldn't get more that a third of my bump under the water. :(

My husband who is 6'4 can't fit in it at all (helpful when the shower broke a few weeks ago) and my 4 year old now fills it when he lies flat to have his hair washed, so it may soon be too small for him to comfortably bath too.

If you want to go for this plan I'd suggest you go to a bath store and test a super small bath and see how you get on.

Dh has considered (how does he know all this stuff?) the ensuite loo in biggest bedroom and tells me that again, its the waste pipe problem and that without major disruption, the toilets need to be be on the same wall.

To have an ensuite toilet in our room, the waste pipe would need to go to the room below and then under the flooring down stairs and out to the mains.

Im totally stuck aren't i?

Will a 3 bed semi sell with only one bathroom? its been modernised and everything!

I have one of those 1930s houses and it drives me mad that some bright spark combined the originally divided bathroom and loo. We have exactly the problem you describe, and it's a bleeding nightmare. With toddlers though, we really needed a downstairs loo, not a second one upstairs. We're going out to the side to create a bigger kitchen and utility, although this does mean losing the garage. I second the loft conversion idea though. Going up into the loft has (nearly) given us a big bedroom and a large en suite. About £35k all in, so much more than your budget, but really does add to the value of the house. Quite quick as well.

If the second room is still a decent double no reason why you can't have it in there, like I said pinch a bit off the bathroom as you planned.

Or as I said, have a seperate but only WC next to the bathroom. We had a 3 bed house like that and it was never ever an issue.

Random, the bedroom is on a different wall to the wall where the loo is. The bathtub and bedroom are on one wall and the toilet and landing on another.
So to have ensuite loo- would have to go under floor beneath. Need a high enough slope which the bedroom wont give us - hope that makes sense.