Would this be a deal breaker for you?

[Lostinthesauce]

Hello Everyone,

I've found a lovely 4 bed house with 4 double rooms, study and a drive. It has a downstairs cloakroom but only one bathroom upstairs. Originally when I made my list of wants for a house, an en-suite was included. I've fallen in love with this house, but it's bothering me that there's only one bathroom. In terms of the possibility of extending the house to add on an ensuite, there's not really room to do so. Would it bother you to have only 1 bathroom in a 4 bed house? Would you buy a 4 bed house with only one bathroom?

I would appreciate your thoughts and comments, as I'm on the fence about it.

Thanks in advance.

I came home from university one summer and found that my parents had 'stolen' 3 ft from by bedroom to create a very compact en-suite for theirs.

It doesn't sound like you need an extra bathroom right now but perhaps you could do this in the future? Always better to live somewhere before you do anything in any case.

If the en suite is in the guest room, then that would be ideal for me - I hate that awkwardness when you visit friends, not knowing what the family routine is for the main bathroom, so you end up hovering by your own door waiting for the bathroom to be free, then rushing through your shower because you're worried about holding everyone up. Much better to let guests have their own. And then when your baby is a teenager with a 20 minute shower habit, they can use it.

Depends how many of you are living in it! 2 adults and 1-2 DC, probably manageable. Any more and perhaps not.

Only one toilet would be an absolute dealbreaker for me, but you said it has a downstairs cloakroom so that's not so bad.

Are any of the bedrooms big enough that you could lose a bit of space to create an en suite?

When we sold our last house we had a family bathroom, two en-suites and a downstairs cloakroom.
I deliberately chose my next house because there was only one bathroom plus a cloakroom.
I would always want two toilets in a home but otherwise cleaning 4 bathrooms is just horrible.
Tbf though the dc had left home.

The thing here is the toilets. You have two of them so you're already on a winner. Having an ensuite is nice to have but not essential. I say this as someone who grew up in a 4 bed house with only 1 toilet. All girls (apart from my dad) so the shower was very much in demand which meant that we had to wait to use the loo if someone was in the shower. I now live in a 3 bed house that has a guest WC downstairs, a main family bathroom and an ensuite. I don't know what to do with myself sometimes 😆I've so much choice! I don't actually use the shower in the ensuite anymore. I find the one in the family bathroom more than meets the needs I have for washing.

TBH it depends on WHY you really wanted an ensuite.

I have to say, an ensuite for me means more work because more cleaning required.
There is 4 of us on your current house. We’ve never had any issue with using the bathroom. At most one needs to wait 10 mins. We’ve never had any issues in the morning (two teens here too). No issues during the day using the loo (downstairs loo anyway).

So the question is why do you think it’s essential? If it’s about guests, then you need an ensuite in the guest bedroom. But how often will that room be used?
If it’s for yourself and you dint want to share with guests or your dcs, then your guests will have to cope with sharing a bathroom with the other members if the family. Is that really an issue?

If that house is perfect in any other way, then I’d go for it tbh.

But is it really worth for anyone to buy a more expensive house/miss in the perfect house for the sake of an ensuite that will hardly been used because ‘it’s for the guests/in the guests bedroom’.

im sorry but that’s nit in the top of my priority list when looking a house for myself. First and foremost, a house has to work for me (and the family). Guests will be able to fit around if they really want to come over

Unless you have unlimited budget there will always be compromise to be made when house hunting. This one might be yours.

Putting the ensuite in one of the other rooms wouldn't be a bad thing.
Great for guests and can be used by residents too.

I do think a big 4 bed needs more than one bathroom. You could potentially have 8 people staying there that's a big que for the shower.

If there are two toilets, one bathroom is fine for me.

I grew up in a house with only 1tiny bathroom, but it never occurred to me that people needed more! My current house is the only one I’ve ever lived in which has a downstairs bathroom and an upstairs shower room with a loo. I’d have been happy with a 1 bathroom, as long as there was a loo on each floor. I actually don’t like en suites, I prefer the loo or bathroom further away, as any smells or steam/heat going straight into the place I’m sleeping in would not be my thing at all. Each to their own, but if you love the house, make it work, and see how you feel if you have another child. Guests stay with you, they put up with the one bathroom, it’s you they’re coming to see.

I know this isn't a very practical reply but I think the most important bit is that you love the house. That is what counts in my mind.

You’ve already got two toilets so this seems fine to me.

Would there be scope to add another doorway to the hall and just have an additional small shower room rather than en-suite?
More flexible and I’m not that keen on bathrooms off bedrooms anyway

An en-suite for the guest room would be great. Most of the time you could use it anyway?

Give it another decade and you may well want to sleep separately from your DH (snoring is hell) and then you could have it as your room or put your DH on there

Thank you. I just wonder if I'm being greedy lol

@HollowTalk The bedrooms are all double rooms, but I'd have to look at extending some of the house for an additional bathroom.

@UseOfWeapons yeah its true, I'm just trying to future proof as I want one more child. Time will tell, but I do appreciate your advice.

@RandomMess I hope it doesn't get to that stage hahaha. No it's a good idea and one I'm leaning more towards. I think I need to get in there first and live in it, to know what's its like first of all.

@flashbac Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I think an ensuite is a nice to have, I'm not sure that it's essential.

@Calmdown14 I think you're right, it does have two toilets. I think there may be scope, but I need to go and have a look around again I think.

Not a deal breaker for me. In fact I actively dislike en-suites.

Ensuite just remind me of being in a hotel ( too often during my working life.) I prefer a separate bathroom, I don’t want to hear DH showering or ahem other bathroom usage through a flimsy internal door.

as for guests, unless you have an enormous family or friendship circle who visit all the time, I wouldn’t design my house around them

I think 2 loos is the biggie for many- if you really want another - do you need the study? Or could that be a shower room

You have just described my house .
We are a family of 6, thankfully all on different routines so bathroom is only an occasional issue as we have downstairs loo.
Reading this thread perhaps we should install an ensuite, there is room as we have a very large master bedroom but it wouldn't have a window.
older larger houses often have bigger rooms, more storage, bigger gardens etc and character so it depends what you are looking for but if your heart is saying yes then go for it.

Can you change a bedroom to a bathroom? four bedrooms and one bathroom is going to make it difficult to sell (if you ever wanted to). To be honest, I would not even consider a two bed with only one bathroom.