One ensuite of two?

[monkeywithacowface]

Four bed house currently has a very small family bathroom (bath no shower) and two ensuites (both quite small) I would like to knock the two ensuites together to make a reasonable (still not huge) ensuite for the master bedroom. DH thinks this will be a mistake long term. Personally I hate having three bathrooms to clean and the fact that they are so bloody small anyway and as we're not planning on moving in the next 10 to 15 years then would rather have a layout that I prefer.

Mistake that would eventually devalue house and put buyers off? Or would one larger more useable ensuite be a bonus?

Is there a downstairs loo as well?

It would be a mistake, imo, if you were left with only one loo for 3 bedrooms, plus guests etc.

Otherwise, I think the same as you. We are just at the end of a very long extension/refit. We will have one main bathroom (for 3dc's bedrooms), plus ensuite to master, and downstairs loo. More than adequate.

Yes we have a downstairs toilet. We don't have overnight guests very often and even then only close family so see no real advantage in an extra ensuite. If we put a shower over the bath in the main bathroom then I think that will be more than adequate for the two ds's to share and have no Objection to them using the master ensuite too (am not precious about sharing!)

The other option would be to leave both doors in situ and have it as a jack and Jill bathroom but not sure if that just leaves you twice as vulnerable to being walked in on whilst on the loo?!

It sounds fine to me.

But I am not typical in my view of these things - I'd rather have the space in a bedroom than a poky ensuite.

One thing to look at, if you are doing building work anyway, is potentially laying/leaving pipe work for future owners to be able to put it back to two ensuites fairly easily.

As mentioned, we've just had an extensive project on the go, and have remodelled our house considerably. What we have upstairs now is master+ensuite, 3 further bedrooms plus main bathroom. However, ds' bedroom, in between the dds rooms, 'should' be a further bathroom (either ensuite to dd1's room, or jack-and-Jill for both), and all the pipe work is present but capped, so it would be an easy fit-out if we wanted to do so. It suits us more to have the 3 bedrooms currently. we're not precious about sharing either - would rather have good space in bathrooms, and less of them, rather than more bathrooms but cramped. Both main bathroom and ensuite have full bath and separate shower, so lots of sharing possibilities!

I'm not a fan of ensuites in general. The small family bathroom would be a much bigger issue for me as a buyer.

If you're not planning on moving for at least ten years I'd just do what will make the house best for your family to live in. It's a long time to put up with something for potential resale purposes.

If you sold, who would be your typical buyers. If it's in school catchment area and you would be aiming to sell to young families then they probably won't want ensuites for any other room than the master, it would be dangerous and put them off. If selling to families with older teenagers or couples without kids/ without kids at home then it would probably be a selling point. For now though I would go with what suits you best.

I'd second the above if you're looking at living long term in this house and I'd class 10-15 years as long term. I'd make it yours and do what suits you. I don't think the 2nd ensure would really add any value.

I don't understand why people think they need pretty much one bathroom per bedroom these days . We have a 5 bed house with 2 bath/shower rooms and a separate loo. We have had up to 9 guests as well as the 4 of us and never had a queue for the loo or shower.

I'd prefer 2 good size bathrooms than 3 poky ones

Nothing we can do to change the size of the family bathroom unfortunately i would say the bathrooms are the biggest downside to the house but I don't worry much about reselling. Downstairs is very family friendly and all four bedrooms are comfortable doubles. Hmm think I'll struggle to convince DH though

I don't think losing the third bathroom is an issue, but I think a large ensuite and small family bathroom is offputting. We've recently moved and the fact that the family bathroom is on the small side, but one of the ensuites is massive, definitely put other buyers off. The only reason it didn't put us off is because we plan to do a lot of structural work anyway.

That said, 10-15 years is a long time to live with a decision made in favour of a hypothetical buyer, and if it suits you better to have a large ensuite, do it. If you were going to go ahead with that, rather than have a shower installed over the bath in the family bathroom, I'd look at taking out the bath and putting in a large shower cubicle instead (assuming there's a bath in the large master ensuite). It would make the room feel more spacious and would probably serve two teenage boys better than a bath. When it comes to sell, anyone looking for a large family bathroom or three small bathrooms is either going to look elsewhere or need to do work anyway, so you might as well have something that works best for you in the meantime.

You're probably right about a large shower cubicle in the family bathroom in the long run. There's really no scope to change the size of the family bathroom so it is what it is. I guess it didn't put us off when we moved in with a toddler and a baby so I guess others may not be too bothered either. Maybe the extra ensuite distracted us as an added bonus at the time although no it's just another toilet to clean! Hmm good for thought