Anyone with an outward-opening bathroom door

[Reallybadidea]

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!

Our bathroom is also tiny so when DH renovated it he made the door open outwards (it previously opened inwards)

As long as you have a proper bathroom lock which you can open from the outside using a ten pence piece (or a hook latch which can be opened from outside using a ruler) then breaking down the door won't be necessary.

We have an outwards facing door. We have an awkward shape five walled bathroom and although it's a decent size none of the bathroom designers we went to could produce a workable layout until our builder suggested moving the door.

Main bathroom opens inwards but downstairs loo opens outwards. En suites are a mix, and I’ve now realised only the bigger one open inwards, the smaller ones all open outwards. It doesn’t really cause an issue either way I don’t think.
I’m not sure about the suggestion of 2 smaller doors that meet in the middle because you’d most likely have a gap and that would feel very uncomfortable.

@BabsDylan what’s a pocket door?

We had problem fitting a shower into the small bathroom of our Victorian house. Until I suggested that we made the doorway smaller (big Victorian door and high ceilings) and open outwards. It made a massive difference.

Used to in a previous house - it made zero difference to anything other than, obviously, creating more space in the bathroom.

We were advised the opposite. Outwards is preferable in case the individual falls behind the door.

I have pocket doors on the main bathroom and an en-suite

The problem is that if someone has fallen and is lying unconscious inside against the door and it opens inwards you are then in real trouble. You'd be looking at having to remove door in order to get in and losing vital time.

Two of our bathrooms have outwards opening doors and it's fine (one also has a slightly narrower door to increase wall space inside the room). The locks have a coin groove - are per the picture - so that you can open them from the outside in an emergency.

... as per ...

The door in our downstairs loo opens outward. It is absolutely fine.

First thing I did in my old tiny house and it was a revelation!! No down side.

@Isitoknow
A pocket door is a sliding door that disappears into the wall when it’s open.

Obviously easier to implement in a new build extension/loft conversion.

For all those worried about emergency access, those doors are thin wood so a battery circular saw or similar would go through in 30 seconds. So even if you don't have one, a "handy" neighbour should have one (after all this is the DIY section)
Obviously it would cause a lot of damage but worth considering in the situations mentioned.

We have 1 outward opening - causes no issues, and 2 pocket (sliding) door on the other. Much prefer the sliding door as it's neater.

Not great if you don’t know exactly where the person is on the other side though! And I suppose most doors can be smashed through with a fist pretty easily if you’re not bothered about damage, just ask my ex.

Best solution to have a lock that can be opened from outside the room in an emergency. I mentioned the situation I had faced (friend having seizure in bath) as tbh it was not something that had really occurred to me before that happened, just wanted a cheap lock on the door quickly when I moved in.

I know I’m a cubicle opening inwards can be an issue but I thought in a bathroom inwards was more easily forced? I’m wondering if I should get it flipped around now. Always another thing to worry about.

The best arrangement is a door opening outwards with a lock that can be opened from the outside in an emergency.

We've done this on our tiny bathroom. We couldn't get an adult and a toddler in together in a safe place or say way when the door opened inwards.

It works because there are only three of us in the flat and the floor outside the bathroom creaks like mad so we tend to know where people are. There have been near misses where we've almost taken someone out when coming out of the bathroom. We sometimes joke that we need a spy hole in the bathroom door but to be honest it's not really necessary.

You might have been referring to my earlier post? Having the door opening outwards, into the hall is much safer! If a 100kg (or any) person is collapsed inside the bathroom and slumped against the door- there is no way to open it pushing inwards, even trying to 'force' it! I know this from an absolutely dreadful experience I will never forget, where an axe was eventually used to cut the door apart to get to the patient!

In hospitals, and many houses I've lived in, the lock is the type where a blunt knife can open the lock from the outside, you open the door outwards and get into the bathroom safely. If you live with an epileptic, I would seriously look into getting the door reversed and a safety lock fitted.

@CC4712 i have to thank you for this (and for the pp who agreed with your post), we’ve very recently had the bathroom remodelled and this was discussed at the planning stage. My understanding was exactly the opposite but we can flip the door. Thank you, really

That's great that you've got the information in time to reorganise TomeTome.

Plans involving breaking the door down or use of tools to cut through it should be unnecessary if you just fit a lock that can be opened from outside. Which reminds me that we should probably switch the door mechanism on my downstairs loo - it stopped being a high priority once the DC got past primary age, but you never know.

Both our downstairs loo and our bathroom open outwards and it hasn't been am issue. As others have said, make sure you have a lock that can be opened from the outside in an emergency.

One place I wouldn't swap a door to open outwards would be near the top of the stairs, though. The odds of someone getting a door opened in their face hard may be low, but you want to be very sure it won't happen somewhere you could be knocked down the stairs into the bargain!

I’m staying at my mother’s bungalow atm and her bathroom and toilet are separate.

The door to the toilet opens outwards. I hadn’t thought much about this but it was probably done that way due to space, but it is also safer in her situation.

The bathroom has been changed to an adapted wet room within the last year. Can’t remember if door used to be in or outward facing but it’s now a sliding door to maximise space and access so that’s a big improvement