Loosing the downstairs loo

[HiveBee]

I’m honestly not sure if you would describe our house as a family home to be deadly honest with you it’s a 2 bed terraced, it’s lovely, it’s going to have a beautiful upstairs bathroom. If I was going to stay here forever I would lose the downstairs toilet and make that into an additional space in the kitchen.

I think the truth is though it’s just not quite big enough for me and therefore I will sell it in three or four years time are probably be to a couple of first-time buyers, works with maybe 1 small child or BTL.

Hence my dilemma do I keep the downstairs toilet ?

Keep the downstairs loo - many would be put off if there isn’t one esp if they have a child.

How much space would be added to the kitchen? Lots of couples may buy it with a wow kitchen.

It's technically against building regulations to lose the downstairs loo if there is one already.

Is there potential to build an extension to enlarge the kitchen?

Always keep a second toilet.

Def keep it. We only have toilet and it's not good when there is sickness bugs!!

If it was built with a downstairs loo you might not be able to get rid of it.
My house was built in the late 80’s. People round the corner built a side extension and removed the loo beside the front door to make hall bigger.
They then had to put a new downstairs loo in the extension as the house had to have one as it had been originally built with one.

However because it was a new one it had to be wheelchair accessible so much larger than the original one.

I wouldn't remove the downstairs loo, it's really convenient to have one and if you do sell it will make your house more desirable.

Is there any other reconfiguring you could do to make the kitchen bigger while keeping the loo? Like moving a wall or changing the loo to a loo and utility area.

Keep it

Keep it.

100% keep it. Otherwise buyers are just going to look at your downstairs, try to work out where they can put a loo and offer a lower price to account for the work.

Show us a floor plan and we can suggest where a loo could go? Is there room to tuck it under the stairs?

Are buyers with small children going to be looking at a small two-bed terrace, especially with lots more people WFH? I wouldn’t worry about appealing to the family market but lots of people like a downstairs loo for visitors/trades/elderly parents. Personally I was never bothered til I had a small child, but at that point I wanted more space than a two-bed. First-time buyers might be quite happy without!

Only time we looked at two bedrooms was before DS. We were young professional and I would have much rather had a larger kitchen in a house that small.

We had to take building regs insurance on our current house as it didn't comply with loads of them it wasn't an issue, just be aware the buyer might make you pay for it (£70).

Definitely keep it. Many people would be put off buying a house with only one toilet these days. I would be one.

A second toilet is a must, unless you live in a tiny flat.

So the red line wall is coming down which may not be the best Grand i ever spend in the world but I feel like it’s worth it because the doorway that’s kind of the open door way is about half a centimetre above my head anybody who was 6 foot would not be able to walk through it without ducking

I would keep it as you’ve already got it. But having said that, I don’t know anyone with a downstairs loo.

Isn't that going to mean the loo opens straight off the kitchen - I thought that was against building regulations.

I guess to answer the questions my house is already at the ceiling limit in my opinion for the street so anything I do to it I’m not expecting to get my money back it’s purely for my own convenience.

I didn’t know that about building regs that if it’s there we’ve got to have one that’s interesting no Builder has mentioned it thus far.

I did manage to raise a large amount of children in a house with only one toilet so I guess its what you’re used to but this is a bit of a novelty for us.

My son does love the downstairs toilet for some very strange reason.

There is one door between the toilet and the kitchen currently that won’t change by takeing the wall down

Keep the loo.

it's not just people with kids that need one. As someone else said it's good for general visitors/tradespeople/elderly or unwell family/friends.

I know at your age you probably can't imagine it, but in my 40's I was in hospital & when I came home I would have had to stay upstairs for weeks as I couldn't have managed the stairs once a day, the downstairs loo meant I could live downstairs (slept on the sofa/sink wash) instead. Last year I was in an accident and much the same thing, except it was a different house, so I had a bedroom & shower on downstairs too, which was great, but the loo is the vital thing!

im looking to move again & wouldn't consider a house without a downstairs loo or the space to put one in (which now might have to be a bigger space. Which to me is MAD. No loo, so you have to put a loo in that is wheelchair accessible?? If that's not possible no one gets a loo, not even the owner of the house?!?! Obviously if I was extending I'd make it wheel chair accessible, but if I only have a fixed space, like under the stairs, that seems mad. I must go and read the bylaws.

Leave the loo in!!

Keep it and just make the door bigger if you can. I wouldn’t buy a house without a downstairs loo or where the loo opened directly into the kitchen.

with that layout is there a way of making the ‘L’ shap squared off to increase the size of the kitchen?

If you are going to remove that wall, you need to remove the downstairs loo.
I bought a 2 bed terrace with just one toilet upstairs. I wouldn't buy a house (of any size) that had a toilet opening into the kitchen.
I don't know anthing about the not removing toilets if in place guidance. If you cant relocate the toilet, you need to leave that wall in place.

There would literally be no point to that it would completely defeat the object, you’ve got a remember this is 150 grand house we’re not talking Grand Designs here.

when I get building regs signed off which obviously I’ve got to do because it’s a supporting wall they will see the situation with the loo and they will either have to deal with it coming out if they don’t agree with the opening out onto the kitchen or they will have to agree that we only have one door.

I had the same or similar dilemma. I got rid of the loo, it's location was just not ok and made the kitchen an odd shape. I have not regretted getting rid of this specific loo, but a separate loo elsewhere in the house would be useful, there just isn't anywhere to put one. It's a Victorian terraced house with an extension added in the 1950s (including the stupidly placed loo) which is the kitchen and dining room (the dining area would have been the original kitchen/scullery I think.

Is there anywhere else you could put a loo? In my case there isn't without significant spending on a side return.

No. Always keep a downstairs loo.