Lose shower for Upstairs laundry ?

[Originalusername89]

Do you think this is a good idea?

We currently have a family bathroom with a bath and a separate standalone shower.

My Idea is to switch the bath for a more modern L-shaped one with shower and screen. Then where current shower is, have something built to stack the washer & dryer plus some built in storage.

We live in a small two bed terrace, I HATE having laundry constantly piled in the kitchen plus it's right by the back door where we go in and out next to coats and shoes and the associated dirt.

We have a baby and a toddler so lots of laundry and will be here for at least another three years due to mortgage

What do you think, Mumsnet?

I think that sounds like a good solution for you.

The thing with living in a small space is you have to do what works for your life, but also be mindful of not making expensive changes that can't be changed back as you don't want to put off buyers.

Take a photo of where the shower is now so if you sell in future you can show buyers that they could reinstate the shower for a small amount of money.

Hi have mine in the bathroom and best decision I made!! I assume your bathroom is long enough for them to be 2.5'm away from the shower/bath for regs?

DH has suggested this in the past but I've resisted as we use the washing line a lot in drier weather and I don't want to carry heavy wet loads of washing downstairs. Also, I don't think I'd iron upstairs as would need to include storage for the board and iron so would be carrying shirts downstairs to iron then back up again to put away!

Ah - no the bathroom is square so maybe not! :(

As PP said, there are regs for sockets in the bathroom. No electrician worth their salt will fit one for you.

Is there a way around the regs with a substantial cupboard?

If you have high ceilings you can put a ceiling airer on the bathroom too?

Have you a floorplan?

We have an airer over the stairs and it's fabulous.

We've just moved our laundry upstairs & it's great. We also have a Sheila Maid airer up there so we don't need to carry the wet washing down stairs. Will still use the washing line in sunny weather but that's not that often in the UK!

Personally I would lose the bath instead, but I realise that is a dealbreaker for most Brits!

Does the area you want to use face the hallway? I.e you could have the door opening there instead?

It does seem quite a luxury to have a separate shower in this size of house. Plus it's easier to clean a bath when you can rinse it with the shower.

I built a cupboard in our old bathroom, it was up to the ceiling with a bifold door. I was thinking of putting in a plug to store the handheld vacuum and I’m sure it was ok at that time because it was boxed away from the bath etc.

Hopefully the others side of the wall is the landing and you can open it up that way and it won’t matter about those restrictions. I’m planning to do this to one of the en-suites - swap the bath for a shower cubicle and have a laundry cupboard opening into the landing. We have a bath elsewhere plus larger walk in shower.

I lived in a house abroad that had the washing machine in the bathroom. It also had a balcony off the landing where we used to line dry. Washing never went downstairs. It was wonderful.

We're doing the same thing and checked with our local building regs. They said its fine as long as washing machine and tumble dryer are hard wired in and the fuse switch is on the other side of the wall (outside the bathroom) so we're going ahead! Do double check before ruling it out.

I insisted on washing machine and dryer on the first floor and that was the best decision EVER. No more lugging washing baskets up or down the stairs, no more noise in the kitchen.

Beware, your floor joists may need to be strengthened so check them. A friend had a lovely laundry room upstairs with room for an ironing board. The washing machine leaked, oh the mess downstairs when the ceiling came down.

Your in a terrace does your bathroom bsck up to the neighbours bathroom? Just thinking about the noise...depends on how good your sound insulation is

We have an upstairs washer and dryer, I would definitely recommend it. Ask an electrician, pretty sure you need a separate.switch outside the bathroom, but, it's the nest thing we did. We have a separate shower and bath, but always been happy with a shower over bath in other houses.

If there is any way to move the bathroom door and have a 'laundry cupboard' then do it. I can see it being a real USP on a 2 up 2 down if it doesn't cost another room.

The 3m rule is the distance you need from the edge of the bath for any actual sockets. You can have a hard wired one as long as it's either 60cm or more from the bath, or up at ceiling height.

It wouldn't be for me, and I suspect quite a lot of prospective buyers, but I like the thinking in the first reply - keep photos.
If you live there though, do what works for you. Don't constantly be thinking about what other people would like, if you aren't thinking about selling.

I do wonder about the weight of washing machines vibrating on an upstairs floor though, as pp has alluded to - plus of course the noise, close yo both yours and neighbours bedrooms.

Houses that are made into flats manage with an upstairs washing machine.

Thank you mumsnet! All great ideas and things to think about.

Will consult all the relevant tradespeople on regs and see if we can make it work