To combine separate wc & bathroom?

[Clarabellawilliamson]

We currently have a separate bathroom (small) and toilet upstairs. Now in desperate need up replacing. I have someone coming tomorrow to give me some quotes, but I can't decide wether to keep them separate or combine. I change my mind every day!
There are real pros and cons to both-

Separate- can use toilet if someone in bathroom, keeps toilet away from toothbrushes and towels, adds a buffer space between bathroom and dds bedroom so it's not too noisy in the morning BUT the bathroom is very small, definitely no room for a separate shower unit.

Knock through- bigger space to play with, can prob have separate shower but lose the benefits of separate and obviously a more expensive and bigger building job!

What would you do?

I'm knocking through and combining mine into a nice big family bathroom now.

Do you have other bathrooms? We have a downstairs cloakroom and a separate en suite so I'm not worried about people needing the toilet when someone's using the bath/shower.

Do you have a separate toilet elsewhere? If not you definitely need to keep them separate.

We have a toilet downstairs, but no other bathroom. At the moment there's no queue for the bathroom in the morning or anything, but the kids are only 3 and 6 so that might change as they get older!

The bathroom at the moment is only 200x220 but a big central window, hot water tank and position of the door means there's not much to play with design wise!

I would definitely combine. Separate shower would be the clincher! If you have a second toilet that’s plenty.

I wouldn’t combine, as I much prefer a separate loo.

I would probably get rid of the bath and have a large walk in shower, but I know people usually prefer to keep their baths.
So I would look into installing a smaller bath and add a shower and screen or similar.

Knock through. Poky bathrooms are unpleasant. It makes a house seem very dated. You already have a separate toilet. Make the room as big and bright as you can!

We have no bath just a big walk in shower.

We had this dilemma too and kept the separate loo. It’s great if you want a bath so kids can use the loo still without walking in on you but have to go downstairs to wash their hands. We have a loo on each floor now though so on balance I probably would prefer one big bathroom.

Are you planning on reselling ever? I’d combine if so – a big family bathroom is a selling point, vs “poky bathroom and poky loo”

We're going to combine ours as soon as we've finished building (and paying for) an extension with downstairs shower room and toilet.

Our bathroom is tiny. If you have the door open there isn't room to turn round. And the radiator and heated towel rail on either side of the dividing wall take up so much space. The enlarged room will have two windows and seem much bigger, brighter and airier.

If your toilet has a sink in it, I’d keep it.

We recently did this and combined old separate 1930s toilet and poky bathroom into one room but kept half the wall between the toilet and the bathroom. The half wall is where the shower over bath is fixed on the other side and keeps the toilet slightly more separate than everything fully knocked through. Now have lovely big family bathroom and gained lots of space from the landing and doorways by knocking into one room.

I previously owned a construction company and 'combined' many such layouts. The most important benefit is the space you gain from only having 1 doorway. Your family circumstances will be the deciding factor, but all I can report is that no one ever asked me to split a large bathroom into a wc and separate bathroom.

Can't comment on costs , the main consideration is the structure of the dividing wall. Timber stud ..easy , brick/block a little bit more challenging ( and messy) and possibly load bearing.

Definitely combine - big bathrooms are more practical and more of a selling point. You've got a downstairs toilet so that covers the situation where someone needs the toilet when someone's in the bath.

Does the toilet upstairs have a sink? If it does I'd be inclined to keep it. If people need to go downstairs to wash their hands it negates the benefit of the seperate loo.

Since you have a separate downstairs toilet, combining the two into a big family bathroom will be a practical solution. It will also modernise your home and be a selling point one day.

I love separate particularly if only 1 bathroom upstairs. Means other people can access toilet whilst bathroom is in use

Definitely combine

DSIS did this and it worked fine. The original rooms were at right angles to each other. One got blocked up and became the back wall of a separate shower. They also stole some space from the landing.

Combine! I see no pros of keeping it separate given you have another loo elsewhere in the house.

Combine! I see no pros of keeping it separate given you have another loo elsewhere in the house.

I grew up in a large house with 3 siblings. A pain in the arse to go downstairs if I needed the toilet. Yes first world probs!

If you are planning on staying there with teens, I'd actually squeeze a loo into the bathroom and put a shower over it and then in the current wc plumb in a shower. Keep the rooms separate

That way you have two showers and two loos (one downstairs).

Two things that would put me off a house completely are:
Toilet in a separate cubicle without access to water at arms length. A bum gun is a wet, unpleasant alternative but mostly, I see nothing. Can not do
Toilet right beside the bath. We have all read that article about spraying when the flush is pressed

Definitely combine as you have a separate loo downstairs.

I’ve seen otherwise fabulous houses where the sink is at the opposite end of a small bathroom and it would be impossible to reconfigure without ripping the whole suite out. It’s a deal breaker for me. We don’t have a bidet culture in the uk but many people demand water to stay fresh down there and it’s an unfortunate oversight on a cultural level that we are one of the few countries which didn’t see why it is essential