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Original poster

Anyone with an outward-opening bathroom door

62 replies

Reallybadidea · 29/04/2023 12:53

Our family bathroom is ridiculously tiny and it's occurred to me that if we re-hang the door to open into the landing it might make the room feel larger.

Has anyone done this or live in a house where this is the arrangement? How does it work in practice? I've noticed that lots of tiny downstairs toilets have the door opening into the hallway and I've never seen a collision!

OP posts:
MyBloodyMaryneedsmoreTabasco · 29/04/2023 12:58

My bathroom door opens outwards. It causes no problems at all other.

Timeforachangeisitnot · 29/04/2023 13:01

We have a small shower room with an outward opening door into the hallway. it’s fine. It also has the added advantage that whoever is in the hall does not get a view of the school when the door is ajar.

TeenLifeMum · 29/04/2023 23:08

Our downstairs loo opens outwards and it’s by the front door so very occasionally I’ve said to dd “don’t come out” then said “okay, free now”. Never been an issue though.

Loub55 · 29/04/2023 23:11

My youngest DDs bedroom door opens outwards, I assume cos her room is quite small and she also has the stair bulkhead behind the door. Works fine, you just have to make sure it's either open all the way or closed otherwise if its partly open it can get in the way!

Littleworkaholic · 29/04/2023 23:13

I had to think about that, our downstairs loo door opens outwards, it’s never been an issue, I’d never even thought about it till now.

TheMadGardener · 29/04/2023 23:14

My bathroom door opens outwards on to the upstairs landing/hallway, which is quite wide, this has never caused a problem.

The downstairs loo also has an outwards-opening door, as it's so tiny that if the door went inwards it would crash into the toilet.

Mossstitch · 29/04/2023 23:55

I've never twigged since this thread that my en-suite opens outwards into my bedroom but the main bathroom door opens inwards........only lived here for over a decade 😂

DiscoBeat · 29/04/2023 23:58

We've done this with one of ours in a newly built bit of the house (the architect recommended it). It does help with space.

CC4712 · 30/04/2023 00:04

I used to work in healthcare and have recently renovated. We designed the downstairs bathroom and the cloakroom doors to open outwards on purpose. In an emergency, if someone is unresponsive inside the bathroom, or against the door, having it open outwards is much safer and easier to access.

Neither door is obstructed by anything else, so no issues with it being blocked or banging on anything. Why not have the door moved to open outwards?

TrifleForBreakfast · 30/04/2023 00:07

I had a bathroom with an outward opening door, never an issue bumping anyone opening it as just opened it carefully. However do think carefully about what lock you use. I had a friend staying who had a seizure while having a bath and because she had locked the door, a small bolt type, I couldn’t get in to help. No chance of breaking the door down (a burly neighbour tried) because of it opening outwards. Thankfully she had kicked the plug out and was ok, but it could have ended very differently.

magicstar1 · 30/04/2023 00:09

Yes we did the same thing. It meant we could totally change the layout of the bathroom. We’ve never had any problems with the change.

TobiasForgesContactLense · 30/04/2023 00:11

Our bathroom is tiny and the door opens outwards. Not a problem as the only thing past it is the box room that we rarely go in. It was like that when we moved in.

Our downstairs loo door also opens outwards and it just means you have to be aware if someone is in there and you want to go past. It doesn't have a window though so you can hear the extractor fan anyway if the light is on. We had the loo put in and were aware that it was a bit of a squeeze so it would need to open out.

FridayNeverHesitate · 30/04/2023 00:28

Our bathroom door opens outwards and it's never been a problem at all. However, if you have a small landing and it might be unwieldy, you could think about a sliding door/pocket door, as they require very little space.

zen1 · 30/04/2023 00:31

Our upstairs bathroom is small and the door opens outwards onto the landing. When open, it lies flush against a wall and has never caused any problems.

lavenderhaz · 30/04/2023 00:35

My bathroom opens outwards and all the other rooms inwards! I've never noticed this before! I'd like my bedrooms to open outwards too

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 30/04/2023 00:35

We changed our door on our really tiny en-suite to open outwards. It made a massive difference.

BabsDylan · 30/04/2023 07:57

We changed ours to open outwards also.

On our en-suite in the loft room we decided to have a pocket door.

User17439876 · 30/04/2023 08:01

Our bathroom is small and the door opens outwards onto the landing banister top, it works very well

User17439876 · 30/04/2023 08:02

Our downstairs toilet has a sliding door

Skyellaskerry · 30/04/2023 08:09

I did this too - upstairs onto fairly narrow landing - made all the difference and no collisions.

Xanadu58 · 30/04/2023 08:20

We had our bathroom door rehung to open outwards as by opening inwards it was hitting the shower cubicle . Has made so much difference.

Original poster
Reallybadidea · 30/04/2023 08:23

This is great, thanks so much! Makes me wonder why it isn't more common to hang bathroom doors this way?

OP posts:
Snoken · 30/04/2023 08:25

I live in Sweden and here all bathroom doors and doors leading to the outside open outwards whereas the bedroom doors open inwards. Not an issue at all.

TomeTome · 30/04/2023 08:29

I live with an epileptic so inwards is preferable because it’s easier to force the door. I’m amazed at the healthcare professional pp as her description of it being better for emergency access is exactly the opposite of my understanding. What about two smaller doors that lock in the middle?

GoatHeartedPieFacedOwl · 30/04/2023 08:31

I swapped all 3 of ours that opened onto the tiny landing at the top of the stairs to folding doors. Now we have the extra space in the bathroom and two bedrooms and they don't get tangled up on the landing either.