Only bathroom upstairs is ensuite in smallest bedroom?? Move house or reconfigure?

[OchreDuck]

We live in a Victorian terrace which gave us a bit more space for our money but has some compromises. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs but the only bathroom is an ensuite attached to the smallest bedroom rather than the largest. We have a larger family bathroom downstairs. This hasn't been a problem as our two children were sharing a room and we used the 3rd bedroom as a dressing room/office/guest bedroom so the en suite shower room was always accessible in the evenings and mornings. However now my DS has turned 8, he is now in this room and so we now have the problem of not being able to access the toilet/shower upstairs at night time when my son is asleep. Would it be cheaper to move house to a more practical layout or spend money on reconfiguring the house? We don't have large savings so would have to remortgage or get a loan if we did reconfigure.

I've added a floor plan to see how house is currently laid out.

Would it be possible to take a chunk out of the second bedroom and create a bathroom that opens onto the corridor? And turn bedroom 3 into one larger bedroom.

Could you just put a toilet in the storage cupboard?

Is it a massive issue to use the bathroom downstairs? I ask as I live in a terrace not dissimilar to yours but without the upstairs bathroom, our only bathroom is downstairs at the back of the house. We haven't found any real issues with having the bathroom there, but I will say none of us have health problems which would mean having a closer bathroom is needed. The only time it was a mild inconvenience was during late pregnancy and after having a c section. I would be inclined to stay put and not change the layout if the rest of the house meets your needs, it wouldn't be worth the extra monthly cost to me to have an upstairs shower. We will be looking to move at some point but that's more because there are 2 adults and 3 kids in our 3 bed terrace and we're starting to feel like we've outgrown it, space wise.

The reason the ensuite is in the 3rd bedroom is because it seems to b directly overhead the downstairs bathroom. It makes waste water drainage easier. It will be difficult to put ensuite in larger bedroom not because of lack of space but because of having to route waste water all across to other side of house. I'd just get a toilet put in maserator style.

Any chance on gpimg onto.the loft? Purs is similar, with a large bathroom where your 3rd is, and a bedroom in the loft.

Can you extend the upstairs to match the length of the long bit downstairs?

Go into the loft to gain an extra bedroom and bathroom, move house, or live with it as it is.

Any other option would be too much pain for little or no gain.

I have viewed a house like this, with a toilet and sink upstairs. Have drawn a very rough picture. The door into the bathroom was folding? Or sliding? (I can’t remember which) to save space

@Chillyjam that's what I was thinking but didn't have enough time yesterday to do a diagram..

Could you move your son to the front bedroom and you take the smallest with an ensuite? The kids would continue using the downstairs bathroom, and the ensuite would be yours and your husband's only.

I would try to steal a bit of room from both larger bedrooms to make a ' jack and Jill ' bathroom accessible from both rooms, or just the corridor .

I actually stayed in a house once that had the layout 'Chillyjam' has suggested. Not sure if you can make it any smaller than it currently is, but just having a toilet and small sink might help, as obviously you'll lose some space to the corridor (although you might be able to add some high up storage there).

In terms of costs, it would probably be cheaper to add a bathroom/toilet than to move, by some margin. The issue as someone else has pointed out is that your wastewater pipe is at the back of the house, but that's not insurmountable.
You'd probably increase the value of your house too in the process.

I would get an EA valuation to find out what sort of price you could get if you were to put it on the market and also ask them how much more you could expect if you extended into the loft for a master bedroom with en suite up there.

If your road has a ceiling price it may not make sense economically in which case it might be better to move if the sums work.

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We had a house like this, it was the only bathroom but a bit larger. We reconfigured the layout so the bathroom/wc was nearer the stairs and the bedroom across the back. Had to lay a bit of drain to connect round to the existing one.

Thank you all for your replies! Really helpful to get other people's opinions who can look at your house with fresh eyes and offer different suggestions. Will take all the suggestions to my DH and discuss which option would work best for us.