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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

Where should we install a downstairs toilet? (floor plans included)

104 replies

Downstairstoilet · 21/02/2023 22:19

We are in desperate need of a downstairs toilet but don’t have a huge budget so an extension won’t be possible. Our first thought was under the stairs but it doesn’t meet the height requirements.
Second thought was to take up part of the garage space (see picture two) but our long term plan is to knock through from the kitchen to utility/laundry room to create a larger kitchen/diner with bifold doors. So we’d already need to take the back section of the garage for that. Installing a toilet in front of this would mean the garage would no longer fit a car. This is our forever home and we have a driveway plus two spaces in front of our house so we never use the garage to store our car but I worry about devaluing the house long term.
Any other opinions would be greatly appreciated!

Where should we install a downstairs toilet? (floor plans included)

Where should we install a downstairs toilet? (floor plans included)

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ButterCrackers · 21/02/2023 22:42

Put the washing machine and drying space in the garage and put the loo in the laundry room. That way you keep the garage whilst using the space for something easy to install and move.

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SwedishEdith · 21/02/2023 22:46

Stack your washer and dryer and put it in the laundry room?

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TheCraicDealer · 21/02/2023 22:50

Lootility mate, it’s the only way. My aunt put one in as part of her extension after seeing ours in our last house, she added a shower too as she was future-proofing for old age/potential mobility issues.

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Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 21/02/2023 22:51

What butter crackers said! With knobs on.

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titchy · 21/02/2023 22:52

I think you'd devalue more by losing the utility tbh, even if you get a bigger kitchen. So I'd put the loo in the utility.

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Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 21/02/2023 22:55

Where is the upstairs loo? If budget is an issue, you need to be fairly near it so you can use the existing pipe work.

Dont be fooled into thinking a macerating loo will do, they are a nightmare for blockages, sulking at heavy jobs ( ahem) : and of course you can’t use them if the power is off.

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LibertyLily · 21/02/2023 22:56

Definitely a lootility. We've done this at a couple of previous houses and worked really well imho.

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BronnauMawrion · 21/02/2023 22:57

Of all the properties I know of with a garage, not one is used to park a car in.

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Justyouwaitandseeagain · 21/02/2023 23:01

I really wouldn't want to lose the utility room or have a toilet off the kitchen (for hygeine and access reasons), so I would sacrifice the garage and build a toilet off the hall towards the back of the garage if the drainage is doable.

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bestbefore · 21/02/2023 23:08

Can you add a door to the garage at the bottom of the stairs in the hall? Close off the door from the utility to the garage and add a loo to the far right of the utility, with a sliding door? That way you have more space in the utility and the loo is a distance from the kitchen?

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MaggieFS · 21/02/2023 23:09

If you have a driveway and two spaces, I wouldn't worry about not being able to fit a car in a garage. So few people do that. I would keep the front section of garage for bike/large bulky storage similar to your picture, but I think you could take more space from the garage so also be able to fit the utility into the garage allowing for your full width kitchen diner in future.

I can't see this devaluing.

Alternatively, despite what you've said about height, your hall looks massive. It would be costly but can you move the stairs to go round the corner or reverse them to give you the space needed? It's hard to tell from the plans.

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Giveaschitt · 21/02/2023 23:12

If it's your forever home, why are you worried about devaluing it? That would only be concern if you plan to sell at some point surely?

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Silvergone · 21/02/2023 23:14

In between your utility and garage. Don’t worry about car going in garage unless you’re in an area where people have very expensive cars.

Or could it perhaps fit under your stairs?

But before getting too thoughtful about all that make sure you know where your drains are. Toilet is going to need to connect to the underground drain in a very short distance, you can’t just run sewage horizontally around the house, that’ll get blocked up all the time.

Also your toilet will need to connect to a soul vent pipe or have a 1m tall valve pipe behind the loo.

So basically work out where your drains are and where a soil vent oooe can go and that may narrow your options a lot.

If you can, don’t out it in the utility. No one wants to dry their knickers in a room that smells of poo.

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mumyes · 21/02/2023 23:16

Move living room door up, and make a loo in bottom right corner of living room, with access from hall.

Easy!

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WinterMusings · 21/02/2023 23:28

i think maybe some posters missed your future plan to knock through & have the kitchen/diner with bifold doors?!

if it were me & I've thought about this for mine. A lot! I'd leave the garage door and a good chunk of space for all the stuff we keep in a garage- bikes/decorating/gardening gear etc

turn the next chunk into a combo loo/shower & utility, ending where you'd put the back wall of the kitchen/diner.

youre not going to devalue your property by doing this, people do want the garage for storage & ease for getting bikes in & out etc, but very very very few will want it to park a car in, so you'll restrict your pool of buyers a tiny bit, but not the value.

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WinterMusings · 21/02/2023 23:31

mumyes · 21/02/2023 23:16

Move living room door up, and make a loo in bottom right corner of living room, with access from hall.

Easy!

@mumyes

No, there's no water & no waste over there.

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JackyinaTracky · 22/02/2023 00:31

I vote lootility at the back of the garage, square it all off to make a kitchen diner with sliding doors/bifolds. I have neither the skill nor the patience for editing pics but I’ve done my best! I put WC but I mean lootility….

Where should we install a downstairs toilet? (floor plans included)

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Goldpaw · 22/02/2023 00:46

I would do it like you've planned, OP, with loo either in the middle, or off the kitchen then the utility, but like someone mentioned you need to work out drains unless you're planning on digging up your floors to get a good angle.

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Shamoo · 22/02/2023 00:51

If you are worried about value you need a utility long term, even if you make a bigger kitchen diner. So work out where that will be and put the toilet there, so you can combine it in due course.

Totally agree with others that you don’t need to worry about fitting a car in the garage.

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ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 22/02/2023 03:23

Agree that it would help to know where the plumbing above is.

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QOD · 22/02/2023 03:37

We made the corner of the hallway a loo

one wall is the door to under stairs cupboard and the loo (macerated) has a sink on the cistern

you step passed the loo then sit down. A macerated loo is fine for occasional poop but it’s the wee loo mostly
ours is nowhere near plumbing. Pipe goes straight up then along floor joists of upstairs before it joins the waste
we buy 2 ply easy disintegrating caravan loo roll for it

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Caspianberg · 22/02/2023 06:05

Do like the picture above.
Loose garage for cars. Front part storage, next part a utility with toilet.

Then the current utility is free for you to extend living room accords the back

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User174863988 · 22/02/2023 06:26

Lose the garage and put it as your plan, garages are from another era unless huge on large houses. I don't know anyone that uses their garage to store the car who lives in an average size house, they are usually used for bikes or storage.

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louise5754 · 22/02/2023 06:34

In the hallway next to the kitchen?

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louise5754 · 22/02/2023 06:38

That will teach me to read the OP.

Very jealous of the size of your house.

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