We have two bathrooms - do we lose a bath?

[Baggingarea]

So hear me out on this...

We have two bathrooms - both with tubs. Our upstairs is lovely and has a really great tub shower. We use this as our main bathroom.

Downstairs is very small and has a giant bath squeezed next to a toilet - making it awkward to use. The whole room needs a bit of love. I had designed a way to have a shower without moving the soil pipe of the toilet bit contractors are saying this wi be £££.

Do I lose the bath altogether and renovate downstairs to be a really lovely, well finished closet loo? Will this affect value??

I feel like a family would want a bath but not necessarily two.

How many bedrooms? I feel like that affects how many bathrooms are expected

It will 100% decrease the value of the home and limit your buyers if you sell.

I would at least swap it for a shower if it's too cramped.

Even a 1 bedroom house is worth more with 2 full bathrooms.

Lose the bath definitely, stick a shower in if needs be! I would prefer a full upstairs bathroom plus downstairs lootility/closet than two bathrooms in a normal size house (would literally never have a bath downstairs)

Surely a shower would be useful and fit better?

Yes a shower would be the dream but is way past our budget. I would like a workable downstairs loo that guests like to use too.

House has 2 bedrooms and a box room @Lemoncurtain

So you're proposing keeping a decent upstairs bathroom with nice bath etc, and turning cramped downstairs bathroom into what - a downstairs loo, lootility, or shower room?

Either way I think with 3 beds having one bathroom upstairs and a downstairs loo is fine and pretty normal. I wouldn't pay extra for a downstairs bath - no one would use it! I'd pay extra if downstairs loo was a lootility though...

Have you had more than one quote?

@titchy exactly right but it would be just a closet loo (but lootility is my new fave word!).

What about one of those Japanese soaking tub things?

@ChikiTIKI do you mean a half bath? I have no idea what a Japanese bath is! I'd love to learn more. Link me.

Issue in the room is width not length chuckles it's about a metre wide by 2.5m long.

They're pretty deep but square so you're upright in the bath but fully submerged. Here is a place that do them basutub.co.uk/

I've not heard of a half bath before. That might be different but I don't know.

Our en-suite is 1m wide by 2.5m long and houses a shower, full size sink and toilet. Could you do similar?

A usable toilet would be better than a room you can barely squeeze into..

Unless its a wet room?

I agree with titchy - for a 3 bedroom house I would be looking for a nice upstairs bathroom and a downstairs toilet. If there was an extra downstairs bathroom I don't think we would use it much so wouldn't add value for me personally. If it was no massive extra cost go have a shower downstairs then might as well have it but as you have said it will be $$$ I would just stick with a downstairs loo (or lootility!)

Search up tenement bathrooms for inspiration.

If you have a tub can you replace that with a shower tray or cubicle. Why are they saying it will be really expensive?

@Whitefire we want to keep loo and have a shower. The issue is the keeping the same position of soil pipe (although contractors don't think this an issue - it will be) and the narrowness of the room. I actually think it's pretty doable.

They suggested a wet room but this is not for me and won't work with toilet location.

For a three bed house, an upstairs bathroom and a downstairs toilet would be fine. Better than an unusable squashed 'extra' bath downstairs...

@LaLaLouella I kind of feel that way but just worried will affect resale.

We sold our 4 bed detached house this year no problem with only one bathroom and a downstairs loo. Many of my friends have 3 bedroom houses with one bathroom and no additional loo! I have to say, a nice downstairs toilet was a must for me when the kids were small just for the ease of potty training etc. So I’d value the space in the toilet room rather than a toilet and a cramped bath.

@Whitefire we could put a tray in but we'd still have the issue of it being all a bit squeezed in. The idea was to have a wall in shower at the end of the room with a built in bench where the soil pipe would run under. Have no idea what the issue is so have asked for a breakdown of costs.

@Retrievemysanity ok this makes me feel better. I think ideal world

@TheCanyon ooh i will do.

@ChikiTIKI love these but sadly it's still the width issue! :(

Apologies all I owe u a diagram but currently in the middle of nowhere in a tent! Some messages are delayed hence sporadic replies!

@TheCanyon I think you've cracked it

Most people I know have only one bathroom and no downstairs loo at all, even in four- and five-bed houses. I’ve only got one bathroom and no downstairs loo. You’re fine with an upstairs bathroom and a decent downstairs loo.

I'm not sure resale value is that much of a consideration in a smaller house where people assume less features as standard.

We sold out 2bed plus box last year and it had no downstairs toilet, just an upstairs bathroom. Nobody who viewed it commented that it was an issue for them....