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 ?

Can you move the loo to under the stairs, finances allowing?

As an alternative, to a pp, Everyone I know has a downstairs loo. I don't know anyone without one. Trying to think how many houses I've been to in the last 5 or 10 years. 200. Maybe. No one doesn't have a downstairs loo. That's mainly in Surrey, Dorset, Sussex, etc.

I honestly wouldn’t want to I think this is the same against is that I just don’t see the value.

I guess in theory it could go under the stairs but then that’s gonna mean removing another wall 🫤
it’s all just getting a bit much at that point for a house I only want to stay in for three years

Could the loo go under the stairs?

Thinking about it under the stairs wouldn’t work either because it is genuinely right under the building the floor is down about 3 feet to another level.

Keep the loo , I don’t know anyone who hasn’t got a downstairs toilet , useful for children , guests and if you feel crap / break a leg etc .

Would it be possible to add a second loo in the form of an ensuite to one of the bedrooms? I think I'd prefer that to a downstairs loo, although that might be a reflection of being middle-aged and needing to get up in the night more often.

Honestly its 4 good steps from the actual bed to the toilet upstairs.

It used to be but that's no longer the case as they changed.

That’s reassuring because, no Builder and the Surveyor haven’t mentioned it I was thinking of crikey I hope they haven’t missed something so glaringly obvious.

I'd get rid. I think a lot of people are answering from the perspective of a four bed detached.

Yes a downstairs loo is nice to have but this one isn't in the right place. You have gained a bathroom upstairs so should maximize the downstairs and benefit of having the wall removed.

I think a small galley kitchen is as off putting as a lack of a downstairs loo and at this price point a great kitchen is a much bigger selling point.
There's a limit to what you expect in a two up two down.

Will it make it nicer for you to live in? Even with an eye on resale this is important

But thinking more of the benefit of having two toilets in the house, and locating one where a loss of space might not matter so much. I don't know the layout of your house, of course, but thinking of the two-bed terraced I had, both bedrooms were double and one of them was huge, you could easily have fitted an ensuite.

That's useful to know, thank you.

If you think you will be selling in foreseeable future do not spend big money, you won't get it back. Whatever you do the newcomer will want to change it.
If you keep house simple it will sell easier, ask an estate agent for a general appraisal of the house and ask for advice.
We kept our terrace house simple, therefore we did not live in a building site for months. We sold it more quickly than one nearby that had been done over.

How old are you @Calmdown14 ? Since hitting middle age, I've started to suffer badly from key in the door syndrome & need a downstairs loo as I wouldn't be able to get upstairs in time! I wouldn't buy a house without one when we downsize.

I think this is the case and I’m trying to be diplomatic but yeah I don’t have a DH who stinks out the main family bathroom 🤣
and even when I did in a four bedroom house we just managed.

as you say the third bedroom is now the bathroom and sometimes I wish they hadn’t done that I would’ve rather about the downstairs bathroom and the additional space 🤦‍♀️
I would really like to basically get rid of that toilet and have a huge window that would allow me to overlook the garden while I do the washing up.

at the moment when I’m washing up at the sink I’m staring into next doors wall/courtyard.

I do fully appreciate that this isn’t life changing gains.

This is what I would like to do and it would also free up more space in the current dining room for us to actually have a table and chairs to eat at and the breakfast bar for me to sit on my laptop and work from home.

We were two adults living in a 2 bed terrace with one bathroom/toilet. It was so unpleasant. There's nothing like knowing it's occupied to ramp upp the need to have access to the loo. My neighbours had a downstairs bathroom off the kitchen, similar to yours, and they put an additional WC in their tiny bedroom owing to the need for a second loo.

Would it free space in the kitchen to take down the other wall, but turn the whole area into a utility room (keeping toilet) by adding plumbing for a washer and cupboards etc.

Yeah it definitely would.

but then within that utility space, The back door would open straight into the toilet so in theory you could be on the throne when somebody opens the back door and be visible to the neighbours.

😂

Put up a shielding fence/wall outside?

I mean I’ve looked into the side extension but again you know we’re starting to talk about 40 grand spend on a house that cost me 150 and is not gonna sell for 200. Well I mean it might sell for 200 eventually but you know what I’m saying.

See that’s another thing I could actually put in an upstairs toilet and get my third bedroom back by turning that downstairs loo into a downstairs bathroom but you do when you’re just like this is just getting ridiculous now.

Yes, I see the dilemma - do you go all out to maximise space at the expense of cost, hoping it will add value, or do you spend a minimum to improve it on a budget so you are keeping the equity, so to speak.

If it's already at the upper end for your street I think on balance you are right to keep costs down, unless it's something you're doing purely because you want it for yourselves without worrying if, long term, you lose money on it.

if it was just me living on my own here it would be absolutely fine but my child is quite young and with the way things are you’re not gonna get rid of them until they are 30. And then of course hopefully I’ll have grandchildren visiting. I think whilst it was a cute idea at the beginning the reality has hit in and I do need that three bed semi after all

Keep the loo - as others have said you have to anyway.

Make the door height bigger rather than lose the entire wall. Then you can squeeze a washing machine to the left of the door and that lobby becomes a little utility room.