Please settle and argument - do we need a second toilet or not?

[babypowder]

We live in a Victorian house that has the bathroom off the kitchen at the back of the house. We are about to move the bathroom upstairs, where we currently have a cloakroom (lots of knocking down walls & things to extend the cloak). We'l then use the space where the bathroom was to extend the kitchen into a conservatory.

I am quite attached to having 2 toilets in the house, and would like to keep a little cloak room where the old bathroom is. Dh feels that this would detract buyers when the time came.

We have 2 DDs under 7 as well as DH & I. What do you think?

We live in a fairly small terraced house with 1 loo. Our neighbour has put a cloakroom/loo under his stairs which sounds great but very close to the dining room and I can't help think a bit too close.
If you've got the space I would go for it.

My rule has always been to have one loo per arse, so we have 3 people in our family and 3 bathrooms.

A friend of mine has 6 people in her house and only one bathroom. It would drive me loopy.

I would answer this question based on how many visitors, adults or children, regularly visit the house

If hardly ever you can manage with one toilet
If lots of visitors a downstairs toilet is a really good idea

We did pretty much your kind of renovation, including taking out the downstairs loo, for basically your DH's reasons. I have never ceased to regret it, esp as DS gets older and the men in my house spend ever longer in there!

Also, I have aged parents who visit, and the loo situation is dire then.

I'm trying to work out if we can convert the cupboard under the stairs into a loo.

One loo per arse, brilliant!

Have 2 loos, when they are needed, they are really needed.

blowbroth, at one loo per arse, I have got 4 children + Au Pair...spend all my time pulling plugs and cleaning the ruddy things as it is and we've only got 2!

It put me off buying if there were only one bedroom, especially if an estate agent told me there had once been one which was now gone. I'd rather a house with at least 2 toilets, especially for a family home. A couple can survive with just one fine, but a larger family, with kids? Nah, definately keep 2!

It would put me off buying.

We once, when househunting, viewed a house with four arses and FIVE loos: that one, admittedly, seemed de trop

Fools. Somebody would have to spend far too much time with the Toilet Duck.

Yes, second loo is vital. I grew up in a house with 3 people and 3 loo's, but now I have 2 dc's and one loo and I hate it. I dread to think what will happen when they are both potty trained, there will be fights for the loo all day long.

If you have the room you should definitely keep a loo downstairs. Your DH is wrong - it puts people off when there isn't one, not when there is. Tell him to call an estate agent or two to check.

And as for being off the kitchen - well if it's off the hallway just outside I can't see the difference really. I think it's psychological.

Your decision as to whether to have another loo or not should be based on whether it would be beneficial to your life while you are living there, not whether or not potential buyers will be put off or not.

I dream about having a utility room. OK, well actually I don't but anyhoo - I would like one v.much. Any chance of combining the two, so that there is a space between the kitchen and the loo where your washer and (imagine!) your tumble dryer/baskets of washing that may/may not be ironed could live?
There are only 3 of us (me, dp, ds) but a 2nd loo would be great - for every effing morning those times when hogs the bathroom and I need a wee/to clean my teeth.
Having said that the last occupants of our house converted their utility/loo into a study, which is rather nice. Ummm, that doesn't help, does it?
On the subject of selling - we bought this house because we loved the location, the vendors were serious and it was within our budget. We paid pretty much 100% of the asking 3 years ago. A 2nd loo wouldn't have swung it either way, basically.

as a family of 5, having moved from a house with 2 loos to one with 1 loo, I am def of the opinion that 2 loos are sooooo helpful and will def be a point of consideration in any house we move into

aww no, not next to the kitchen! that's the worst layout I could possibly imagine: having a WC coming off a kitchen. v badly designed

I'd probably just stick with the one toilet because of that!

All the posh Edwardian houses in our area have loos just next to the kitchen. Not in it, but right next to it - they just keep the doors closed

Havent read all thread...could you fit one under the stairs?

We have 1 loo in current house and in previous house, we get by ok but our boys are small. Personally it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me if I was buying a house with 1 loo but it would increase my interest if it had 2. The other point I wanted to make was that in our last house we thougt of getting a downstairs loo but it was going to cost £2000 to sort the plumbing and make the space. I think if you've got the plumbing there already and you doing some work anyway might be cheaper to do it now rather than later if you don't do it but then change your mind. When I was a kid our 2nd toilet was next to our kitchen never bothered me, or seemed dodgy. In fact when I think of it many of my friends houses had toilets near the kitchen.

Def have a 2nd loo. Our house has 3 loos (I kid you not) and not one of 'em is on the ground floor. It's a pain in the arse. And my elderly relatives can't get upstairs so it all gets very difficult...

I think it depends on the number of bedrooms, and the layout of the house. I think two bedroomed houses only really need one loo, but four bedroomed houses need two. Three bedroomed houses sometimes do and sometimes don't have an extra loo. Definitely a bonus if they do. I have personally rejected houses with bathrooms off kitchens.

Your upstairs cloakroom is presumably a loo too yes? How much does it get used right now? Otherwise you are going from two loos to one loo, and I think most people don't like that too much. I'd ask your builders for ideas as to whether you could have a downstairs look with it's door into the conservatory and not the kitchen, or make a utility type area.

I'd keep a second loo. A consideration is the state of your pelvic floor, too.

Is the loo upstairs seperate to the bathroom or not?

If not, one loo would be a nightmare, you wouldn't be able to have a bath/shower
without someone banging on the door.

And if you have guests to stay there will be constant queues...

Agree with comments re people not traipsing through the house too - big bonus.

i'd keep a downstairs loo but not off the kitchen - could you have kitchen then utility room then the toilet? so you don't really have a kitchen extension but you move all the utility stuff out into what was the bathroom giving you more room in the existing kitchen?

apreciate that changes the plans somewhat though.

it's only me and DP using the loo in our house and i'd still like a second one for when he's in the bath... can't think what it'd be like with children old enough to use the toilet too!