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Original poster

Is a bath a necessity?

72 replies

ozzia · 30/07/2015 15:34

I'm currently planning how our new house will be bathrooms wise. Upstairs we can either have an en suite and a small shower room or one massive room. Downstairs we can either have a lovely walk in shower but no bath or a shower over bath

I'd love 2 shower rooms upstairs and a walk in shower downstairs but that would mean no bath. We haven't got children yet but want them and we wouldn't be moving before then.

We have a bath no and I think it's been used once in 3 years
What would you do?

OP posts:

ladymariner · 30/07/2015 16:49

Had our bath taken out when we had the bathroom done... Don't miss it at all, and it looks fab.

RandomFriend · 30/07/2015 16:57

I wouldn't have either of the options that you suggest. Instead, I would go for:

Upstairs: one massive room (with bathtub and separate shower). Downstairs: lovely walk in shower

Not three shower rooms. And I wouldn't buy a house without a bathtub.

mandy214 · 30/07/2015 17:12

Is that the overall size of the space you have for an ensuite and shower room upstairs? If so, I don't think it's big enough for 2 separate rooms. Will the small single be in use? I'd be tempted to make it like a jack and Jill bathroom so most of the time it can be an en suite but when the 2nd room is in use, they can access it too.

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 17:20

That would be the space per shower room if we have the en suite. The shower room would be double that if we only had the one

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StonedGalah · 30/07/2015 17:28

We bought our house without a bath but dd was little and used the baby bath until she was over 2!

She then started showering which was great as l could potter around upstairs while she was in the shower.

We got a bath last year and l wouldn't be without it now.

Aridane · 30/07/2015 17:44

Wouldn't buy a house without a bathroom, or even one with the bathroom downstairs (eh?). Fine though to have the extra two shower rooms you mention, one downstairs and one en suite.

But, yes, a 'family' bathroom is required (not really a 'statement' bathroom)

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 30/07/2015 18:10

A bath is definitely a must for me, although no bath wouldn't stop me buying a property as long as there was space to retro-fit one.

Last house (Georgian, over three storeys and a complete uninhabitable & unmortgageable wreck when we purchased) had a bathroom on the ground floor in a 1980s annex as well as a teensy bathroom on the first floor that was completely unsuitable for 21st century family life.

As we knew quite early on that our decision to make this our forever home was the wrong one and we'd be selling once the project was complete (three years as we did most of the work ourselves), we wanted to keep our options open regarding the layout.

Therefore, although we opened up the bedsit-y annex into a large third reception room, we retained a shower room - reconfigured the layout of rooms, swapping old 'kitchen' space for new shower room and incorporating old bathroom into living space. This gave the option for teenager/elderly relative suite, or even ground floor master suite if a future buyer so wished.

Upstairs we made the old family bathroom a shower room and took the decision to lose a bedroom in favour of a large bathroom that was en suite to the master, but could easily be reinstated as a family bathroom as we retained access from the upstairs landing.

Only thing we didn't do - as we were already over budget - but would have had we stayed, was to fit another bathroom on the second floor to service the two attic bedrooms.

We sold to a family with three DC and they loved the set up.

I would go as far as to say that most family buyers with young DC expect baths, although we did sell my parents' house in 2012 that had the bath removed and a large walk-in wet room type shower fitted a few years previously. The buyers were a young couple planning to start a family.....

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 18:12

I know people are keen to have a bathroom upstairs but would that be the case when only one child would ever be upstairs?

OP posts:

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 18:13

Because of the area we live in there are a vast amount of bungalows with loft conversions so bathrooms downstairs is quite normal here

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TheRealMaryMillington · 30/07/2015 18:18

IMO
Most people want a good big family bathroom with bath and shower, in reach of the main family bedrooms
And ideally, on another floor, a nice shower room.

In your set up with master upstairs I would put a fab shower room
And fambo bathroom downstairs.

Even with 5 beds I would be unlikely to want a third bathroom. Too much cleaning. Caveat - unless one bedroom/bathroom combo was possible to turn into an annexe/granny flat thing.

TheseSoles · 30/07/2015 18:25

I think in that situation a family bathroom downstairs (with a bath) would be fine.

I think the Jack and Jill bathroom idea for upstairs is a good one. Possibly you could steal a bit of space back from the bathroom to make the single bedroom bigger as well? Or extra storage? Walk in wardrobe?

cathcustard · 30/07/2015 18:27

I think you only need one bath, purely for the resale factor.
We only use ours when someone has a broken limb

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 18:38

I don't think a jack and Jill would work looking at the architects plans

Personally I'd rather have a nice en suite and make the resident of the other room go downstairs to use the facilities but the architect suggested that was a bad idea

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Floralnomad · 30/07/2015 18:47

I would just have the master suite upstairs with a really luxury bathroom and lose the single bedroom .

InsertUsernameHere · 30/07/2015 18:51

Your layout is slightly unusual so the typical upstairs/downstairs rules don't apply. I think you need to ensure that you can get directly from each bedroom to a bathroom (eg across the hall okay - walking through a living space not ideal). If you are reselling a bath is best - and have this closest to the bedrooms that are going to use it. Ie if the kids bedrooms are upstairs you don't' want to be traipsing downstairs for the bath - but also vice versa if the kids bedrooms are going to be down stairs.
The other great use for a downstairs shower and toliet is by the backdoor so that mucky people (gardening/rugby playing DC) can get clean without trailing muck through the house.

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 18:55

I want to keep the upstairs smaller bedroom so that when we have children they can move into that room then downstairs when they're that bit older.

I'm leaning to 2 shower rooms upstairs having played on the homebase room planner

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WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 30/07/2015 18:56

I would not buy a house without a bath, If I was the single upstairs resident having to go downstairs while the others had an ensuite I would not be impressed. I have never had the desire to have an ensuite.

So, upstairs I would have a family bathroom with shower and bath. Downstairs a smaller bathroom with shower over bath, best of both worlds.

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 20:16

I'm definitely not going to bother with a bath upstairs when there's one downstairs

I think you're right, we can't just have an en suite up there though

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specialsubject · 30/07/2015 20:57

how many bathrooms do you want to clean????

one big one upstairs with the bath and shower

shower downstairs, also for those coming in mucky from garden/cycling whatever.

and one sink per room, people can share when toothbrushing!!

ouryve · 30/07/2015 21:00

Bath all the way.

With it being the holidays, I've been having to make do with showers while the boys are engrossed in their screens. Have just spent an hour wallowing in the bath (until it was almost cold) and actually feel properly clean for it.

And I can't shave in the shower. Always shred myself trying.

ouryve · 30/07/2015 21:03

We also have neither a bathroom nor shower room upstairs. I can't see a problem with a shower room downstairs and an ensuite upstairs. The only thing I miss having upstairs is a loo.

Original poster

ozzia · 30/07/2015 21:07

Haha I'm not keen on the additional cleaning, I'm thinking for resale value really
We don't plan to move for a loooooong time but be nice to know we've made the best of the house when we do

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minibmw2010 · 30/07/2015 21:46

My son hates showers but loves bath and it's always been that way. He's 4. I would also discount a house without a bath and I'm a lot older than 4 I love them, so relaxing.

dynevoran · 31/07/2015 05:30

We just visited Barcelona and stayed in an airbnb apartment owned by a couple with 3 kids. It was city centre so space a premium. Had two bathrooms - one with big walk in shower and second with a half bath. Basically not a bath that an adult can bathe in but probably about half the standard length but good enough for kids.

Obviously it's hotter there and people don't really have baths, but if you're worried less about resale and more about your own needs this could be a solution. I'll post a picture of what it looked like .

merrymouse · 31/07/2015 06:08

If you have a bungalow it would be normal to have the main bathroom with bath on the same floor as most of the bedrooms.

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