Do we need another bathroom?

[Freshair1]

We have a 4 bed detached house, not looking to sell up until we're very old. One child who is 5. We have a large family bathroom upstairs. Downstairs is pending renovation. There was a downstairs toilet room. I have planned a shower room slash toilet room to go near the front of the house.

Partner thinks another shower is unnecessary.

Context: expensive area, house across road has a shower room downstairs, current house value is above average. We have family stay but only a few days out of a year.

My heart says we should splash out, pardon the pun, given the area and size of the house.

Image attached. It's only small. 2.5 long by 1.5m deep.

If you can’t get another upstairs, then yes. I think a 4 bed needs two bathrooms.

2 toilets, yes, but I think a shower downstairs (if no bedrooms there) is just weird. There are just 3 of you in the house, who is likely to be using a downstairs shower?

Yes, 4 bed detached needs 2 bathrooms.

Also if you ever think your child might take up a muddy sport or any sort (from rugby to bmx), a shower need the front door will turn out to be a blessing.

Do it- if you have an older person stay with you, or a sports injury etc, it is so much easier to have a bathroom downstairs. Also when your 5 year old is a teenager you will appreciate the extra bathroom. Plus it adds value to your house..

Yes, I think you do need two bathrooms. Mine are just approaching their teens and it's becoming obvious we need a second bathroom.
When I lived at home we always had more than one bathroom and I only realise now how it made mornings much easier!

Now that I am middle-aged, a downstairs shower would be something I actively looked for in a house. It gives more options for illness and aging, for you and for visiting friends and family.

If I was planning to stay into old age and move a bed downstairs that is the only reason I would put a shower in downstairs.

Your child will appreciate their own bathroom especially when they are a teenager. Can you go up into the loft and create a bathroom for your teenager up there?

My future teenager will cope with the downstairs one. Really appreciate everybody's thoughts.

Definitely have a downstairs loo and shower. I don't mean to be depressing, but you don't know what the future holds and it could be a godsend, especially if you plan to live there into your older years.

Our last house had 4 bedrooms with only one bathroom upstairs and a loo/shower downstairs and we lived there for a few years with 2 teenagers.

It wasn’t ideal. No one wanted to use the downstairs shower room so it was only really used by guests. We felt under bathroomed for the size of the house. If your bedroom is big enough, an en suite could solve the issue?

Definitely shower downstairs. Lots of good reasons mentioned already, I will just add washing off muddy paws.

Agree with twiglets. I know people with a downstairs shower and no one wants to use it. I'd definitely try fit a 2nd shower in upstairs though, if you feel you really need a 2nd shower.

We have 4 kids, 1 shower. It worked just fine, everyone finds a time to have a shower. We did have 2 loos, invaluable.

For those concerned about needing a shower downstairs in old age, surely if you can't access half your house the time has come to find a more suitable home?

Yes I agree about finding a more suitable house when you get old.

Yes we had a downstairs shower room but no downstairs bedroom so it wouldn’t have been helpful in old age anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️

downstairs shower is great for muddy pets.
also for any visitors who have difficulty managing stairs.

and once your dc are older to avoid bathroom queues in the mornings.

just make sure you can actually shower at the same time.

I grew up in a house with an upstairs and downstairs bathroom ( one bedroom downstairs) and all of the upstairers loved to shower downstairs as it had much better pressure!

@Twiglets1 exactly, seems more sensible to look for something else.

Downstairs shower rooms are often compromised on space, colder, and well, no one wants to running around in their towel.

Surely, if dogs are an issue, an outdoor tap makes more sense? I don't have dogs so not sure if they're partial to showers.

I'd rather have a good sized downstairs loo, stick the laundry in there if possible, than an unused shower.

I think 4 bed houses should have 2 bathrooms, I'm not keen on downstairs bathrooms though, I'm a MN oddity that prefers en-suites.

That’s true about the muddy pets. Our Labrador got showers in there after rolling in mud but no one else used it much. Apart from guests.

It is better than nothing though if you can’t fit in an en-suite shower upstairs. That would be a better use of money if there is space.

Yes I would but I wouldn't have a curved shower door. I'd just have a shower with a screen and use the entire space and maybe move the radiator elsewhere.

For me it’s a no. If you can’t squeeze in an en-suite as rooms are too small then I’d not be putting a shower at the front of the house downstairs. No one likes traipsing down stairs to shower and back up

my friends have one, no one uses it unless they have to.

I agree that a 4 bedroom house needs at least two bathrooms. Even if you don’t care, the prospective purchasers of your house will. A 4 bed house will appeal to people with two or three children and one bathroom for 5 is not usual now in a mid market property .

So if you can’t fit in an en-suite upstairs then I’d definitely have a shower room downstairs and not just a loo.

That only works if also a bedroom downstairs. As it will do the opposite to helping when elderly or infirm if you’ve to traipse up and downstairs to use it.

I agree teenagers and their friends using a downstairs shower or toilet is not something I would want to witness in my house. They are all only allowed to use my sons bathroom and thankfully I never see them as he has his room and bathroom on the third floor.

However, if you are against adding another bathroom upstairs then I would put a shower in the downstairs WC. Not ideal though.

You can put a bed downstairs/get a decent sofa bed more easily than you can install a bathroom. I'm thinking about my grandmother in her final illness, my dad recovering from hip replacement surgery and me during more acute illnesses like COVID and flu where it was/ would have been much easier to live on one level for a while.

Thanks all. Think I'll go with it.