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Original poster

All-in-one laundry, loo and boot room - good idea?

85 replies

catelina · 23/01/2022 16:21

We currently have a tiny boiler/utility room, downstairs loo and a very small hall cupboard all next to each other. If we knocked the 3 into one we could create quite a large rectangular space off the hallway that would fulfill all these functions with the bonus of space where we currently have cramped.

I love the idea. But bearing in mind we have half a mind to move in 2-3 years, is this something that would appeal to you?

OP posts:
AmberLynn1536 · 23/01/2022 19:28

@PurplePikachu

It would put me off, yes. We’d need to budget for the cost and hassle of separating out the toilet again.

I don’t think it’s hygienic to have your clean laundry hanging up to dry by a loo - if anybody flushes without putting down the lid then small particles of nastiness do get into the air.

That’s not me being paranoid btw, that’s the reason dentists say you should keep your toothbrush 6 feet away from your loo.

Agreed, it’s really unhygienic, would definitely put me off buying a house configured that way.
stealthninjamum · 23/01/2022 19:29

Op what’s the rest of the house like? I’ve seen on rightmove a couple of three bed semis that have combined a toilet and utility and I think it’s a great use of space for an average (maybe 1000 - 1200 square feet) house. In that case a downstairs loo / washing machine not in the kitchen are bonuses. If it was a larger detached 4/5 bed house then I would expect the space to be better configured so that they weren’t all combined. It would put me off a house.

NetflixAndSauvignonBlanc · 23/01/2022 19:37

@user1471446186 I was wondering the same thing! How do they protect their toothbrushes and towels from all the poo particles floating around?! 🤣

SummerSazz · 23/01/2022 19:38

My utility has washing machine and tumble drier + boiler behind cupboards and a loo and corner shower plus basin. Boot room separate.

I don't hang washing in there and if I have guests there Is no clean washing on show. The door has a bolt so no one can enter.

I've never thought about it being thought of as odd and no one has ever commented on it 🤷‍♀️. Maybe I just have polite friends!

Simplelobsterhat · 23/01/2022 20:18

I've been to quite a few houses where the toilet is combined with shoes / coats etc, and that seems like a good idea apart from when a group are heading out and the people who want a list trip to the toilet delay people putting on shoes and coats!

I do know what people mean about a huge room feeling a bit odd when on the toilet but I think any downstairs loo at all is a luxury (and the room I can think of that's felt weirdest to me was just a normal upstairs bathroom, but really big, so I don't think that's to do with what's in the room really.)

I can't think of anywhere I've been with washing machine etc in the toilet but I don't think I'd find it odd. My washing machine is in the kitchen and tumble dryer in the garage, and they are certainly not places ideal for clean washing but i don't leave the clean stuff in there. Indeed if any guests come without much warning on bad weather they would probably see any washing that couldn't be tumble dried on radiators in the lounge and dining room! Or if they go on my garden in good weather they might see it on the line! So I couldn't clutch my pearls about people using the toilet seeing it!

DukeofEarlGrey · 23/01/2022 21:48

I don’t find the idea of germs/particles a problem, I just wouldn’t want anyone stinking out the loo and the smell getting onto clean laundry. I love the smell of clean laundry!

Ragwort · 23/01/2022 21:55

I think it's a really good idea, we have a small cloakroom, a small utility and a wasted bit of hallway .... would be much better as one big room ... and I absolutely don't worry about it being 'unhygienic' ... do people really worry about this (except on Mumsnet)? Hmm.

SockFluffInTheBath · 23/01/2022 22:00

@DukeofEarlGrey

I don’t find the idea of germs/particles a problem, I just wouldn’t want anyone stinking out the loo and the smell getting onto clean laundry. I love the smell of clean laundry!
This was my thought. Looking at you DH and FIL…
WendelFong · 23/01/2022 22:06

I have a lootility room, and as neither I, nor my family, defecate directly into the washing machine it remains a perfectly sanitary set up.

ShesKickedOutBarry · 23/01/2022 22:08

@WendelFong

I have a lootility room, and as neither I, nor my family, defecate directly into the washing machine it remains a perfectly sanitary set up.
😂

🏆🏆

😂

EmmaH2022 · 23/01/2022 22:16

I'd keep them separate, well the loo at least.

Chattercino · 23/01/2022 22:21

I've got a lootility too (although I didn't realise that's what it was called!).
Like yours, various wall were removed by our predecessors and I did look into various options to separate the toilet, but it really compromised the space that we had. We live in a bog-standard 3 bed so I'm pleased not to have my washing machine and tumble drier in the kitchen. We've just done it up and I really like the space we've now got. I'm worried now that others really won't when we go to sell our house...

EmmaH2022 · 23/01/2022 22:25

Having googled lootility, it looks like most of them don't have the washing hanging in the loo

I can understand having the washing machine in a room with plumbing, sure. The rest of it, not so much.

JurgensCakeBabyJesus · 23/01/2022 22:25

DHs aunt and uncle have this, live in the country side, the outside door isn't directly of the room that's a hallway but I always feel odd weeing in there because it doesn't feel like a bathroom/toilet. There's a washer and dryer big cupboard with ironing board cleaning stuff in it, a sink work surface, then on there other side coat hooks, bench, Welly stand, shoe rack and in the other corner a toilet and small hand basin. It wouldn't put me off a house, the space is useful, might use a half height tiled wall to block off the toilet though

whenwillthemadnessend · 23/01/2022 22:28

My hairdresser has it and it's so warm and cosy using the loo while the dryer is in My loo is freezing.

RowanAlong · 23/01/2022 22:29

We’ve got the loo in the utility room - it’s fine!

ShakespearesSisters · 23/01/2022 22:37

My downstairs loo has the washer and dryer in it. They are plumbed in under a bit of built in work surface. It also has a towel rail in there that is electric as well as on central heating that I use for things that can't go in the dryer. Its never occurred to me it's unhygienic. I also dry wasing in the family bathroom on the radiator, there is a loo in there too.

Workyticket · 23/01/2022 22:41

We have the boiler, washing machine, dryer, loo and hand-wash sink plus a few cupboards for the hoover etc in our small utility room.

Nobody ever commented that it's weird!

Honeyroar · 23/01/2022 22:46

We we’re going to do this, but ended up putting another freezer and a wine fridge where the loo was meant to go and couldn’t fit it in! We have an overhead airer near the boiler - it’s amazing- nearly as fast as a tumble dryer! The cats love the room too as it’s so warm. We’re rural too, so our loo would have been more of a “nip in with dirty boots on” loo. Posh guests that can’t allowed to see washing drying would’ve been sent upstairs! We call it the bog and boot room.

Zooforhouse · 24/01/2022 05:26

We have a laundry room/loo in that the washing machine and tumble drier are in there. Works fine in my opinion

PepInYourStep · 24/01/2022 05:32

Hm, well, I like the place where I do my laundry to be super-hygienic, so combining it with a boot room and a loo which presumably the whole family plus guests would use? Wouldn't be for me, personally.

Lampzade · 24/01/2022 05:36

Really don’t like the idea of a toilet being anywhere near a washing machine. I think that it is strange tbh

garlictwist · 24/01/2022 06:50

Sounds fine to me. And what on earth is wrong with seeing people's laundry?! You see people wearing their clothes, what's wrong with seeing their clothes separately? No one minds clothes being on a line.

HeronLanyon · 24/01/2022 07:05

As you have ‘half a mind’ to move in 2-3 years I wouldn’t do this. If that half a mind might change by making this space more usable for you then do it and take the chance.
‘The chance’ being potential buyers wanting to reinstate separate loo.
I think there are just too many competing uses going on for me to want to live with it - clean and clean dirty (shoes and coats and outside stuff) and dirty dirty (loo). Private and personal. Entry and domestic and very personal space.
A few of these together no problem but it all feels ‘messy’.
I would never worry about the occasional visitor use of a loo I’d just think about my own usage. You want it so do it, but if selling soon I’d not do it at all.

JustJam4Tea · 24/01/2022 07:10

My sister has a lootility, it’s fine. The only real issue is that there U.K. so a back door to the garden with a cat flap so you occasionally get surprised by a speeding cat or end up with your trousers round your ankles trying to wrestle a bird out of its mouth.