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Property/DIY

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Original poster

How important is downstairs WC?

67 replies

bebeboeuf · 15/04/2019 08:56

If you are a couple up to a maximum of a family of 4, how important would a downstairs WC be in a 2/3 bed house?

And if it is important would you carve out space from dining room to have one?

OP posts:

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 15/04/2019 08:58

I think it’s really useful if you have children that may be potty training. I also hate guests having to troop upstairs and using my bathroom which feels like a private space.

We made one when doing renovations for that reason but it only took space from a utility room. How big is the dining room?

Keepaddingpets · 15/04/2019 09:01

Personally I'd not buy one without. A downstairs loo is much more important to me than a large dining room.

MsSquiz · 15/04/2019 09:02

There's just DH and I in our house, and our downstairs toilet is the most used in the house!

I'd rather visitors weren't traipsing off upstairs (giving them an excuse to nosey about in our en suite - I am looking at your SIL!)

I'd rather have a downstairs toilet than the toilet in our en suite

Bluntness100 · 15/04/2019 09:06

I think it's important, yes, but much depends on the size of the dining room and if the space is available really.

fortifiedwithtea · 15/04/2019 09:07

Very important, it was one of the reasons for moving from our 3 bed terrace. 14 years later I am not so mobile, stairs are a painful chore and our daughter gets little warning from wanting to go to needing the loo pdq.

AppleKatie · 15/04/2019 09:07

Two loos is the important bit for me. Either one up and one down or both upstairs is fine.

WitsEnding · 15/04/2019 09:11

Not having a downstairs loo would be a deal breaker for me. I do look for a decent size dining room too but would settle for kit/diner or lounge/diner if it came to that.

The older you get the more necessary it becomes IME, regardless of number of occupants.

Butterymuffin · 15/04/2019 09:16

Once you have one you'll never want to live without. So handy for visitors, anyone older or less mobile, those last minute trips when you're just heading out of the door, all that.

IrmaFayLear · 15/04/2019 09:17

I'd have as many loos as possible.

Downstairs loo is a deal breaker: small children need one at hand, elderly visitors can't climb up the stairs, general visitors don't get to go upstairs, WORKMEN can use the one downstairs, and anyone feeling ill or in a desperate hurry to do a wee (that's me - only have to put the key in the lock and I'm pirouetting on one toenail!) after returning home can quickly duck into the loo.

cricketmum84 · 15/04/2019 09:20

Couldn't live without my downstairs loo. As PP have said my main bathroom feels like private space and I don't want visitors nosying around upstairs.

Original poster

bebeboeuf · 15/04/2019 10:35

Thanks everyone. It seems unanimous.

We’ve had a quote to put one in to include new drainage and it’s coming to about £5k at the moment.

Just seems like a lot of money but we are thinking of having a second child if possible and I would have ECS so a I think a downstairs toilet would be nessecary for me then

OP posts:

PlanBea · 15/04/2019 22:36

I wouldn't buy a house without a downstairs WC. For guests and potty training a kid it is really helpful to just be there, or if the main bathroom is in use I don't have to wait! Ours is tiny but we also have space for the ironing board/coats/the hoover (we are in a really tiny house!) So it's doubly practical

PigletJohn · 15/04/2019 23:26

put a good solid door on it, to block sound.

I have a fire door on mine for that purpose (and it feels better). With a thumbturn lock that has an emergency release on the outside.

And an automatic extractor fan operated by the light switch.

You can use an ordinary wall-mounted light switch. There are no special rules for switches and sockets, if the room does not contain a fixed bath or shower.

Whitechocandraspberry · 15/04/2019 23:29

I have 4 bathrooms with 2 downstairs. Too lazy to go upstairs now but wouldn’t carve out space From dining room in 2-3 bed house for one unless mobility an issue

Singlenotsingle · 15/04/2019 23:32

We've got 3, one upstairs and two downstairs. Absolutely vital imho, and non negotiable!

DramaAlpaca · 15/04/2019 23:35

It would be essential for me.

Wigeon · 15/04/2019 23:42

I am always really surprised that people consider it essential! Living in a modest area in SE England, I’d say almost all the 2-3 bed houses round mine don’t have downstairs loos and everyone manages!

We have a 3 bed 1950s house with no downstairs loo, family of 4 (DDs aged 7 and 10). Both DDs potty trained in the house. It’s totally fine having one loo. Visitors just go upstairs. You just wait a short time if someone in the family is in the loo.

In a small house I hate going to the downstairs loo in case people can hear you, and it just doesn’t feel very private. I only like them in big houses (of my richer friends), when you can go off down a corridor away from the main living area.

BackforGood · 15/04/2019 23:49

Agree with everyone. I wouldn't buy a house without one now.
Irma has summed it up well.

AlunWynsKnee · 15/04/2019 23:55

If I had to chose between two similar houses a downstairs loo would be a significant positive. Visitors, children, mobility issues, dodgy bladders etc.

Wigeon · 15/04/2019 23:56

Do you all live outside SE England? Two and three bed houses round me cost £350k-£500k and still often don’t have a downstairs loo - it just isn’t a very common thing and if you insisted on only buying a house with one, you’d probably be looking at a four bed over £550k. Which most people I know can’t afford.

BackforGood · 16/04/2019 00:11

Well, can't speak for other posters Wigeon, but I do.
Statistically it is likely that most people do, as the overwhelming majority of the populations do.

yomellamoHelly · 16/04/2019 01:18

Depends on the kind of house I think. I wouldn't want to buy a family house without one.

Ifonlybatshadhats · 16/04/2019 01:35

We're planning to remodel our house; we're going to knock the wall out between our kitchen and dining room. I was going to take a bit off our kitchen and keep the original door from our entrance hall to the kitchen to make a down stairs w/c. Then I was thinking that we should make a bigger kitchen and no downstairs w/c. This thread has made me reconsider! We live in a lovely 3 bed 1930s semi 15 mins walk from the sea... when we come to sell would no second w/c really be a deal breaker for most?! (Yes, I love my home, we've been here less than a year but always thinking about the next sell!).

MonsterKidz · 16/04/2019 02:04

It’s really very handy with small children. The actual potty training can be done with a potty, I’d argue that it is most helpful when they are able to go themselves, but not quite old enough to go upstairs alone. With a down stairs loo you can keep an eye on them at the loo, whilst also be doing other things.
Also handy if you have a preschooler and a baby.

WolfhoundsofLove · 16/04/2019 03:33

Would have hated to not have one before I developed Bladder Pain Syndrome, absolutely essential now.

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