Would you remove downstairs toilet?

[ByeByeLilSebastian]

We live in a house with 3 floors, one toilet on every floor.
The downstairs toilet is right next to the front door, the entrance hall is v small. I'd like the toilet gone so that we have a bigger entrance but dh is worried it will affect the house price when we come to sell in 5+ years time.
Wwyd?

I agree with PigletJohn about a short projection loo. If it's under the stairs you might be able to have the loo wall hung with the plumbing in the part where the ceiling is far too low (i.e. saving even more floor space).

We have a short projection loo, and have made our downstairs toilet smaller to give a larger hallway. We could have easily made the toilet room smaller still; even though I did all the measurements I was distracted by the size of the previous ginormous toilet and couldn't believe just how much extra space a short-projection one would give us.

No, I love our downstairs loo.

Having lived in a house with no downstairs loo for 12 years, I'm saying keep the loo!

No keep it, but dont use it for a coat storage place too. We have a loo under the stairs in a 1930s semi - its tiny but sooo useful. DH insists on hanging his coat in there and it drives me insane, I also think its a bit odd when you go to other people's houses and you've just been to the loo and you're pushing coats out of the way so you can wash your hands, ewww. Much as I think my 11 year old DS has a good aim, I wouldn't want my coat in there!!

Could you put drawers under or in you staircase for shoes? uk.pinterest.com/explore/stair-drawers/

I can't believe you don't use it, or want it. But if you don't, then I certainly wouldn't get rid of it, because it's worth tonnes when selling, just modify it a bit, so you don't use the toilet, but use the room for something else?

Well, the previous owners of our house had taken out the downstairs loo and soil pipe when they converted the basement. We now have a separate cloakroom instead with shelves for shoes all along one side and 2 rows of cost hooks all along the other side. Bags etc get chucked in a big box on the floor. It is fabulous and all our friends are envious when they see it.

Yes, definitely don't get rid of it, just think of it as a "cloakroom" instead. I don't have a downstairs loo, and therefore can't have my m-i-l or grandmother round for more than an hour or two as neither can get upstairs to use our only loo. I'd love a downstairs toilet so we could host Christmas Day here, but we don't, so we can't
It would be very shortsighted to get rid of yours in my opinion.

Doesn't it depend what the layout of the rest of the house is? What other rooms are on that floor?

I absolutely agree with PPs that a downstairs loo is very much a positive, but it sounds like you have a "downstairs" loo on the next floor up, which is still living space? So if your living & kitchen are over the first 2 floors, you effectively have 2 "downstairs" loos at the moment.

It depends what else is on that floor.

I live in a 3 floor town house which had toilets on every floor. The ground floor is garage, utility and a tiny supposed office. We took out the toilet and now have a useful room instead of the useless tiny office.

Our main living area with kitchen diner, living room etc is on the first floor and that has a separate toilet away from bedrooms and the main bathroom.

I would check with your council too - newer houses in my area can't have downstairs loo removed due to planning regs. We wanted to get rid of ours (it's in the kitchen ) but were told it'd be impossible as house was built after 1999.

Saying that, all our neighbours seem to have got rid of theirs

Littlest what??? They put loos in the kitchens in the 2000s...wtf? As in a room off the kitchen ?

This is the building regs regarding accessibility - if there's no daytime living sace on the ground floor, then you could get away with it.
www.nhbc.co.uk/Builders/ProductsandServices/BuildingControl/documents/filedownload,52832,en.pdf
"Reasonable provision for sanitary conveniences should be
made on the level where daytime living occurs"

When we moved into our house it had a toilet in the kitchen (not envy). Didn't even have a proper door between the loo and the rest of the room. Getting rid of it was the first thing we did and we now have a spacious utility area at the end of the kitchen.

Spooky yep and it takes up a whole corner of my otherwise small kitchen. In fact, our kitchen would be wonderful if we took it out.

However, planning regs say that - unless we replace it elsewhere on the ground floor - it has to stay. I see why, in case we have elderly or disabled visitors (or next owners are elderly or disabled). But the kitchen was the worst place they could have put it.

We use it to store dog food and other bulky things and never, ever for its original purpose!

I would much rather have a useful hall than a downstairs toilet

Don't do it!

We bought a cottage without one, but with potential to put one in, currently we are awaiting PP to add a porch that will include a downstairs loo , we have a very narrow hall. If we don't get PP then we will put it under the stairs, but then have a bigger job moving electrics etc. But it will be done somehow, a downstairs loo is a must!

Could you build a surround to it so it has a giant lid? Then you can use it as a mud room bench with coats above - but there's a secret loo for when you sell/need a downstairs loo.