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

[Downstairstoilet]

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!

[Member589500]

What Wintermusings said. You have to think about the flow of the house. Loo off a kitchen seems logical and you will be doing that work anyway when you knock through.
we had the same arrangement with a small Laundry area (basically a washer and a dryer side by side with shelves above) off a large kitchen and another door leading to a loo. Worked fine.

[Downstairstoilet]

Sorry I should’ve said- upstairs bathroom is directly above the kitchen. Soil pipe goes under the garage (as this was an extension to the original house) to our own manhole cover which is situated outside the back door of the utility. So this would work having the toilet in the garage as we could connect the pipes round the side.

[Blablablablablablab]

Much smaller utility leading on to small loo with its own window. Means kitchen is bigger.

[Downstairstoilet]

@Blablablablablablab
If we did that I’m just not sure where the kitchen wall units would go as we’d have the bifold doors going across the back wall where our sink is currently and we’d need a door to access the toilet/garage so we couldn’t put units on those walls?

[Blablablablablablab]

Could you squeeze a small loo under your stairs?

[maryofthevirginkind]

Turn the laundry room into the WC and put a wall across and put washer etc in garage.

[Downstairstoilet]

@maryofthevirginkind
As per my op we hope to knock through the utility wall and take up the back part of the garage in the future to create a larger kitchen/diner with bifolds.

[Downstairstoilet]

@Blablablablablablab
not enough headroom under the stairs unfortunately.

[User174863988]

I would definitely get into the mindset that you do not have to preserve the garage for a car which I think was main question and add the garage into whatever renovations you do so toilet in garage sounds easiest with the pipes location

[forwardsandbackwardsandup]

Nothing to add but never heard the word lootility before and loving it!

[Caspianberg]

Orange - storage. Change garage door to window and door from outside.

Green - toilet with sink. Stacked washing machine and dryer. Door from hallway in, also door to store if needed so you can get to that area from inside. No door from kitchen area so can have cabinets

Blue - new extended kitchen diner.

You can just do the toilet/ utility part now, without the rest. And then it will be in the right place when you alter the other things later without moving again.

[Downstairstoilet]

@Caspianberg That was our plan really apart from changing the garage door but I just worry about losing the space to park a car.

[Caspianberg]

Can you add just wooden car port at front over driveway in future if really needed?

I think if you have parking for two cars it’s fine without. We only use our garage as there’s nothing infront so no other parking. Even that’s a right pain and we have removed garage doors so can drive in and out easier. I 100% wouldn’t use if I had a driveway also, even though we have a brand new car

[fabricstash]

Extra wall to utility to create corridor with coat storage the loo in utility. have sink over counter with wm & td under. Can get symphon traps that will do this with a counter top basin. That whole space can be tightened up

[eb949013]

I would really suggest speaking to an architect, they'll also flag up any potential structural issues - happened to us when we used a company called Home Tales for our extension and they helped us rejig our home. Very helpful when they explained to us how to go about it all (old Victorian property with two dark sitting rooms, now one lovely big space).

[pavillion1]

in the red box . toilet and shower room .

[ZeldaWillTellYourFortune]

I prefer a window in a bathroom, so I'd change the laundry room to a toilet/shower room & put the laundry in the former garage.

[GasPanic]

Depends where the services are and where the lines from upstairs go. Just putting it in random places with no regards to where the current drainage is will increase the expense massively.

Not sure that in the garage makes that much sense because it is far away from the living space. By the time you've walked from the living room through the kitchen and through the laundry room to get to the toilet you might as well have gone upstairs anyway.

[ZeldaWillTellYourFortune]

@GasPanic

Depends where the services are and where the lines from upstairs go. Just putting it in random places with no regards to where the current drainage is will increase the expense massively.

Not sure that in the garage makes that much sense because it is far away from the living space. By the time you've walked from the living room through the kitchen and through the laundry room to get to the toilet you might as well have gone upstairs anyway.

But there's more privacy. Those loos where you're a few feet away from people watching TV are rather a turn-off.

[Downstairstoilet]

@ch4shirecat1234
but it means our future plan of creating a bigger more open plan kitchen/diner wouldn’t be possible 🤔

[MaggieFS]

Op, what will convince you that it's ok to lose the garage for keeping a car in? Most posters have suggested that and it ticks every box in terms or retaining large item storage, being able to have a loo and utility and allowing your future kitchen diner plans.

[ZeldaWillTellYourFortune]

I've been in my house 25 years and never once parked in the garage. It's purely used for storage.

[Downstairstoilet]

I’ve just done a quick updated floorplan if we were to do the box in the middle of the garage for the toilet then knock the wall between the kitchen/utility to make a larger kitchen/diner with bifold doors.
What do you think?

[User174863988]

Looks good and you still have a bit of garage for storage of things like bikes which is what many people use a garage for nowadays