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Original poster

Removing an ensuite, yay or nay?

50 replies

ArseyTussle · 03/01/2017 12:48

Our house is a bit of a weird layout, it has two bedrooms downstairs (one of which is ensuite), plus the kitchen/dining room, utility room and downstairs toilet.

Upstairs are two more bedrooms, the living room and a normal sized bathroom with bath and shower over.

I don't like ensuites, can't quite get my head round sleeping next to a toilet. I'm thinking of taking out the ensuite, and adding a shower to the downstairs loo.

Would this be off-putting for future buyers?

OP posts:

Original poster

ArseyTussle · 03/01/2017 17:37

Gosh, not many en suite haterz.

Yes, it has a door but as it's very clearly a corner removed from the bedroom (wall at 45 degrees) it really does feel like a toilet is in the corner of a bedroom. There is a window in the ensuite but it's frosted and doesn't open.

I think I'd like it more if it felt like it had been added to the side of a bedroom, rather than removed from it, if that makes sense.

The downstairs toilet has a sink and toilet already, I'd be adding a shower.

I don't want to change the overall layout, the house was built with the living room upstairs because there's a nice view from there.

Anyone sleeping in the non-ensuite downstairs bedroom would shower in the main bathroom upstairs I suppose (or both bedrooms would use the new shower room if I made one). At the moment that bedroom is an office.

OP posts:

QODRestYeMerryGentlemen · 03/01/2017 17:44

We had a 'no shits in the suite' rule at our old house where we had one

This house DD has the room with en suite and her BF regularly drives them from the room 😂

PigletJohn · 03/01/2017 18:01

the extractor must be broken.

Newtssuitcase · 03/01/2017 18:07

Other owners of the house though are likely to go back to a traditional layout aren't they? You actually have a normal downstairs layout with a downstairs bedroom with en suite (which makes sense because that bedroom isn't next to the main bathroom), plus you have three bedrooms upstairs. Removing the en suite makes no sense.

Not criticising you using the room upstairs as a living room. It's your house, you do as you please.

lukasgrahamfan · 03/01/2017 18:09

I dislike ensuites with a passion. A waste of space which could be better used in other ways and one more toilet to clean. If I was buying an en suite would put me off.

But lots love them and if you are moving in the next couple of years maybe best to leave it in.

Bluntness100 · 03/01/2017 18:15

Ok so you want to remove the office and extend the downstairs loo to turn it into a shower room? I think that would offset the removal of downstairs en suite, but I'm assuming the office is not one of the bedrooms, so you'd still have two bedrooms downstairs? As turning it from a four bedroom to a three bedroom if you want to sell it wouldn't be a great idea.

Original poster

ArseyTussle · 03/01/2017 20:09

No, I'm considering going from:
Downstairs
Bedroom with ensuite
Bedroom/office
Kitchen/diner
Utility room
Downstairs loo with sink

Upstairs
Living room
Bedroom
Bedroom
Family bathroom with bath and shower

To:
Downstairs
Bedroom
Bedroom/office
Kitchen/diner
Utility room
Downstairs loo with sink and shower

Upstairs
Living room
Bedroom
Bedroom
Family bathroom with shower and bath

Hope that makes sense!

OP posts:

Floralnomad · 03/01/2017 20:20

An en suite would be on my list of must haves , but ours is fairly large with a bath and a window , that said I think the changes you have suggested OP would make sense in your particular house as you have bedrooms on both floors so ideally would have a bathroom on each floor .

SJCV · 03/01/2017 20:51

We behave just moved into a house with an en-suite. I love having one (first time) and it was a definite selling-point for us.

Ours has a hugewindow and it has one door from the master bedroom and one from the corridor. It is also bigger than the family bathroom in our old house!

namechangedtoday15 · 03/01/2017 22:44

Is there a way that you can make the ensuite the main bathroom downstairs, instead of extending the downstairs loo to incorporate a shower, and then simply change the position of the door in the ensuite so that it opens out onto the hall / corridor but leave where the door used to be (i.e. the door back into your bedroom) free from any of the bathroom fittings - so that if you did decide to move / wanted to reinstate it, it would be fairly easy to do?

Of course it depends on the house, and whether the current bedroom with ensuite is classed as the master. I think most people looking for a 4 bed house, these days, expect the master to have an ensuite so removing it might limit your market if you did need to sell.

ScarletSienna · 03/01/2017 23:20

I think your proposed change looks sensible. It's more a second bathroom that adds value rather than specifically an ensuite so I don't think just changing it from ensuite to bathroom will affect value. I'm sure I've read that a second bathroom adds between 2k and 6k to a property's value and you won't be going down to one bathroom.

bouncydog · 04/01/2017 05:02

We would never be without en suites. I can remember as a child all 5 of us having a sickness and worse bug at the same time with only one bathroom! Also generally a very strong selling point.

KittenDixon · 04/01/2017 06:06

I hate ensuites. Sounds and smells travel, ugh. Disgusting.

Bluebolt · 04/01/2017 07:45

I do imagine a plasterboard box where the wardrobes should be when I read the word ensuite. Whereas loft extensions I imagine bathrooms that are adjacent the bedroom. I blame viewing too many new builds for my bias against them.

Original poster

ArseyTussle · 04/01/2017 08:48

But surely the 'everyone having food poisoning' situation is covered by having more than one bathroom in the house? In fact that way it's more convenient for the majority?

For the ensuite lovers, is it proximity of loo to bed that you like, or the idea of an 'adult only' bathroom? Or what?

If we slept in there (which we don't), I can't see either of us using the loo in the night, surely you wake each other up?

This thread is v helpful by the way. Don't know if this will be our forever house, but don't want to knock value off it regardless, particularly as the unusual layout may not suit everyone.

OP posts:

Original poster

ArseyTussle · 04/01/2017 08:54

Interesting point upthread about whether that room is considered to be the master. I'd say yes, purely based on it having the ensuite. The larger of the two upstairs bedrooms is bigger and has the same countryside view as the living room, whereas the one with the ensuite faces the drive.

OP posts:

namechangedtoday15 · 04/01/2017 09:26

I like it because its an adult only bathroom. I am not tripping over my tween son's pants as I brush my teeth (that might just be our house though !) and with two daughters too, its my own little space that I don't have to fight for. There is a kind of "out of bounds" feeling about it - both from the children and guests' point of view.

I also like it because we give up our room (with ensuite) when we have guests who stay over night (parents or MIL) and they enjoy the privacy of not having to share facilities / traipse to the other bathroom when they invariably need the loo in the night or when they're getting ready for bed.

Oliversmumsarmy · 04/01/2017 09:35

The loo in my ensuite is 6metres from the bed. The door to the ensuite is not visible when you are lay in bed.
I do think it depends on the lay out. My bedroom takes up the whole of the upper floor and I prefer being able to shut the door to my bedroom and not having to make my way down stairs in the middle of the night to use the loo.

reallyanotherone · 04/01/2017 09:36

Actually if you have two beds downstairs, and the only downstairs shower/bath is the ensuite, i would make the loo into a shower room.

Otherwise the non- ensuite bedroom has to go upstairs for their shower/bath. I'd hate that.

I recently viewed a beautiful 4 bed house. It had 4 ensuites and no family bath. Too far people.

I'm not keen on ensuites either. I'd prefer two family bathrooms.

YelloDraw · 04/01/2017 11:10

I recently viewed a beautiful 4 bed house. It had 4 ensuites and no family bath. Too far people

I stayed at a friends house when I was about 18 - they had a 5 bedroom house ALL with en-suites AND a huge family bathroom with a big Jacuzzi and a steam cubical thing! Now that is bathroom overkill.

Newtssuitcase · 04/01/2017 11:19

We all have an ensuite. The house is large and was built this way and so they're not add ons or carved out of corners, they are proper bathrooms.
The DSs are now 11 and 9 and are starting to make use of them now. It means I don't have to be surrounded by boy mess and so I like it.

2017watchoutherewecome · 04/01/2017 11:21

I'd remove the en suite and make that bedroom into the lounge as I assume it was the lounge and then converted for an elderly family member at some point and then make the upstairs living room into a bedroom.

Original poster

ArseyTussle · 04/01/2017 12:46

Nope, it's only 10 years old and was built that way, the living room in the houses in our street are upstairs to get the nice views.

OP posts:

NotCitrus · 04/01/2017 14:32

I'm no fan of en suites, but one in a four-bed house is reasonable - it's when there's one per bedroom that I feel they're just a waste of space.

Having a shower on the same floor as the bedroom is good, though, so if the en suite is just a toilet and basin, I'd be happy to sacrifice it if needed in order to get a shower in the other cloakroom.

If the en suite already has a shower or bath, then I'd leave as is.

RobinSnood · 04/01/2017 15:21

Your plan sounds very sensible to me.

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