Bathroom with no window

[Roomarmoset]

Would it be a deal breaker for you? We sold our house 5 weeks ago and there are no houses coming on the market. One came on yesterday and ticks every single box (although they're already fully booked for viewings so chances of us getting it are slim but we are booked in to view it).

It's slightly under budget so we could go higher, my only concern is that the bathroom is on the side of the house that's attached to next door so there's no window and there's no way one can be put in.

If we managed to get it at a good price we could add a toilet downstairs or possibly a small en-suite but with so many people wanting to buy houses and such a limited choice we might have to go in higher and forfeit another bathroom.

Any thoughts?

I wouldn't buy a house with no window in the bathroom (unless it was easy to put one in.)
And despite what pp said upthread, my bathroom window is opened every day.

I’ve had plenty of houses with no window. As long as their is an efficient fan it’s not a problem. And the windowless bathroom is usually warmer and has less condensation- the fans seem to dry a room better than opening windows, particularly in wet cold weather.

We are extending and moving our bathroom internally so no window. I also had reservations. Until i remembered that neither of our flats in Dubai, or our flats in Dublin had bathrooms or en suites with windows. It was an effective use of the space and they were very luxurious bathrooms and I never missed it once.

I have done a lot of research into extractor fans and I would recommend looking at installing a Manrose inline fan, which is much much more poweful than the average bathroom fan but also quieter because of how its installed. I'd also buy the one with the humidstat and timer and wire it into lights so that it is always on if someone is in there and stays on for 15 minutes (or a time of your choice) after they leave.

It’s very common in modern flats and I don’t have a problem with it. You just need good lighting and a modern fan that is quiet with a high extraction rate. It will cost about £100 plus an electrician to fit it.

It bothers me a lot. Our last couple of houses - much larger than our current cottage - had massive bathrooms with windows that had a lovely view, in the first case the ensuite had countryside views whilst the smaller main bathroom (that we converted to a shower room) had a garden view and in the second house the family bathroom had amazing far reaching garden/countryside views.

So tbh I was never going to be happy with a windowless bathroom 🙄

Our current home - a massive downsize - is a four hundred year old (non-listed), detached converted mill that was renovated badly by the previous owners. The bathroom whilst quite spacious, used to be the middle bedroom that interconnected with the rear bedroom. They configured it so that the bathroom was on the windowless side whereas the window (with lovely view) was in a huge landing space.

We have completely rejigged the upstairs layout so that the former landing is now the large bathroom and there's a newly created hallway on the site of the old bathroom that leads past the bathroom to the main bedroom. It was a huge (DIY) job, but has totally transformed the way we use the upstairs! I love it, particularly my view from the bath and tbh if we hadn't done it, we'd have probably not stayed here much longer (purchased early 2018), but sold up again.

I guess what we've done is fairly extreme, but was well worth the £££ and effort to make the upstairs work for us.

We're about to add a ground floor cloakroom which won't have a window, but imho it's less important to have a view from the loo than the bath, lol!

My parents house has no window in the bathroom. It wasn't an issue.

I've had 2 with no window and it doesn't bother me. You need a real good extractor fan.

I hate mine. We actually have a shower room upstairs too that does have a window, but the shower has been broken since we moved in and despite the landlord "fixing" it three times it still leaks. It's also got shit pressure and the plumbing is awful so we never use it. Such a waste

The house was amazing 😩 didn't even notice the window issue. Unfortunately 23 people viewed it today so it's unlikely we'll get it but if we do I'll definitely be taking on some suggestions from here. Thank you all x

My Mum had a bathroom with no window, it never bothered her until she had a leak and just couldn't get rid of the smell of damp. So she got planning permission and had a tiny window put in - the difference it made was unbelievable.

It would be a deal breaker for me.

Definitely a deal-breaker. And the pandemic has shown why it should be.

We put a skylight in ours and it’s made a huge difference.

Nope, I need the window open when I'm having a bath. Sorry neighbours!

@Livingintheclouds

You can upgrade the ventilation of its not good enough. When you view you'll be able to tell if it smells damp. I also don't think most people open their bathroom windows, it's more for light than ventilation.

Our bathroom window is permanently open, even in winter.