Terraced houses, bathroom upstairs or downstairs?

[HouseMove2024]

Looking at purchasing a terraced house, can't make our minds up whether we'd prefer upstairs bathroom or not.

I think I'd prefer upstairs , DP saying downstairs! 😆

Definitely upstairs!

Upstairs, downstairs will definitely reduce your target market when you come to sell. It will put some people off

Definitely upstairs, or you’ve got to walk through the house and upstairs to get dressed after a shower, be chilly on a winters morning!

Upstairs every time. Better for nighttime visits, showers before bed, privacy...

But a downstairs loo too if there's room.

Of it's the only bathroom in the house upstairs. We had a downstairs only bathroom in our previous house and I grew to hate it really quickly.

I can’t see any advantage to having the only bathroom downstairs if all the bedrooms are upstairs. You might be able to fit in a downstairs toilet at a later date. I’ve seen them successfully fitted under the stairs - though personally I’d rather have the storage….

I would not buy a house with only a downstairs bathroom!

Just out of interest, OP, what is your DP's rationale for a downstairs bathroom?
(Mucky hobby, perhaps?)

@FuzzyPuffling he would prefer more bedroom space.

My bathroom is downstairs. It's an advantage in the day for washing hands and cleaning pets etc. It is a pain for nighttime toilet visits but in many ways I think I prefer it.

If it's the only bathroom then definitely upstairs.
I know someone who had a bathroom at the end of the kitchen, bleurgh, the bathroom door opened straight into the kitchen with the fridge on one side and cooker the other.

We have a downstairs bathroom and a upstairs toilet and sink so I think best of both worlds

Yeah that gives me the heebie jeebies too @shams05 ! 😆

I prefer downstairs. But thats what I grew up with!

Everyone always prefers upstairs bathrooms, unless there are disabilities which mean people can't get upstairs.

I'm quite curious why this thread is headlined "terraced houses" ?

Upstairs if only 1. We have a main bathroom downstairs in basement floor and shower room, like an unattached en suite on the bedroom floor. I'd hate to walk downstairs if need to pee at night. Ours is fine but was v annoying when refitting it and needing to go downstairs

I'd prefer an upstairs bathroom, but having looked at many London terraces now, most had downstairs bathrooms still.
Those with an upstairs bathroom had either lost a bedroom or added an extension into the loft.

I think with newer building regs there has to be 2 doors between the toilet and the kitchen, i.e so the toilet door cant open directly to the kitchen but any older stuff will be a law unto itself and many uni houses back in the day were that way designed, with the old 2 up 2 down having a ground floor extension for a kitchen and subsequent bathroom.

Upstairs. I've lived in both. Never mind running up to the loo in the day when awake but hate having to stumble down the stairs in the middle of the night half asleep.

Our terraced house has a downstairs bathroom. Nothing we can do about it without extensive and costly renovations. For the same price we got a garden office and professionally landscaped garden. Value for money.

I’ve had both scenarios , downstairs bathroom is better with small children , in my first house the bathroom was at the end off the kitchen and was brilliant for putting muddy/ sandy/ filthy small children in the bath, I used to put my 1st in the bath with a couple of yoghurts and a spoon in the mornings, got breakfast and bath out the way while I emptied the washing machine and tidied the kitchen ( yes it was that close it was safe) . Second house had a downstairs shower room which is really good for shift workers so they don’t have to wake the house up clattering about .
As an interesting observation we are in a New house now and we now have an upstairs bathroom and have lost our en-suite. Dh gets up 1 maybe 2 times at night for a wee, when we had an en-suite it was maybe 6/8 times a night, he thinks having the last toilet so close actually made his bladder issues worse.
Bejng pregnant in an upstairs bedroom with a downstairs toilet is a pta though.
I also don’t get the angst about having a bathroom off the kitchen for hygiene purposes , think it’s ridiculous tbh. Could you have a downstairs bathroom and an small toilet and sink upstairs? That would be a good compromise , nobody needs to go downstairs for a wee in the night and you get to keep more of your bedroom space ?

Do you need the bedroom space? What do houses sell for with each configuration? Can you do the work involved for either cost wise. Are you staying long term or moving soon? I would want a loo and sunk upstairs, in which case you may as well add a shower. But if desperate for bedrooms then this my be the deciding factor.

A lot of Victorian terraces have had the kitchen and bathroom added as an extension into the back garden and so have the kitchen next to the bathroom downstairs.

I lived in a house like this for 4 years, through a pregnancy. 8 months pregnant and middle of the night toilet trips were no fun! But it was convenient in other ways, I could supervise the then-5yo bath time while washing up dinner, etc. Needs must, but I wouldn't go back to it.

Probably because the OP is referring to Victorian/ Edwardian terraced houses which didn’t have bathrooms when they were built (usually only had an outside toilet), and were often modernised with a downstairs bathroom added as an extension, or a room upstairs partitioned to create space for a bathroom.

@HouseMove2024 If it’s the only bathroom, I’d say upstairs is better. Going downstairs in the middle of the night to the toilet is no fun!