Whilst having a downstairs bathroom is the not worst thing in the world I think that most people prefer, given the choice, not to have to go downstairs to answer a call of nature in the middle of the night. It always seems too far to go especially if the facilities in question are the other side of the kitchen and you have had a couple of quite ones the night before.
I think that it is worth the extra expenditure to put a small shower room upstairs which we did include in the original budget. This makes the larger of the bedrooms smaller but as the shower itself can fit over the stairs it doesn’t take up any new space and then we are really just trying to find space for a toilet and a sink. These two items don’t take up much space. The only challenge is where to run the waste. The quotation we have already received assumes that a new 4 inch soil pipe will be run inside the house (obviously boxed in) to join up with the drain at the back of the house. There is an inspection hatch just outside the flank wall which I hope we may be able to join. Thames Water charge a fee for giving permission (just over £200.00) and whilst it is difficult to work out I think the current drain run is partially in our land so we should be ok. This will make a difference both to the price for installing an upstairs bathroom and the aesthetics.
I am now wondering whether it is worth stealing a bit more space and putting in a bath with a shower over it. If we were to do this there would be little point in having a second bathroom downstairs. We could then consider removing the current downstairs bathroom and making the kitchen much bigger. The question is which option provides more value? Do two bedroom houses gain more value by having an upstairs and downstairs bathroom or by having a bigger kitchen? One idea might be to remove the downstairs bathroom and build a downstairs cloakroom. This sounds attractive but I am not convinced how much people like the idea of a toilet leading directly off a kitchen (or even if you are allowed to do so) but I am sure there must be a way of doing this well. The wall connecting the kitchen to the bathroom is not load bearing so taking it down wouldn’t be hard.
I think this idea deserves further consideration and some more time spent with a ruler and pencil. I’ll post the internal diagrams and proposal on this blog when I have done them.
I think that it is worth the extra expenditure to put a small shower room upstairs which we did include in the original budget. This makes the larger of the bedrooms smaller but as the shower itself can fit over the stairs it doesn’t take up any new space and then we are really just trying to find space for a toilet and a sink. These two items don’t take up much space. The only challenge is where to run the waste. The quotation we have already received assumes that a new 4 inch soil pipe will be run inside the house (obviously boxed in) to join up with the drain at the back of the house. There is an inspection hatch just outside the flank wall which I hope we may be able to join. Thames Water charge a fee for giving permission (just over £200.00) and whilst it is difficult to work out I think the current drain run is partially in our land so we should be ok. This will make a difference both to the price for installing an upstairs bathroom and the aesthetics.
I am now wondering whether it is worth stealing a bit more space and putting in a bath with a shower over it. If we were to do this there would be little point in having a second bathroom downstairs. We could then consider removing the current downstairs bathroom and making the kitchen much bigger. The question is which option provides more value? Do two bedroom houses gain more value by having an upstairs and downstairs bathroom or by having a bigger kitchen? One idea might be to remove the downstairs bathroom and build a downstairs cloakroom. This sounds attractive but I am not convinced how much people like the idea of a toilet leading directly off a kitchen (or even if you are allowed to do so) but I am sure there must be a way of doing this well. The wall connecting the kitchen to the bathroom is not load bearing so taking it down wouldn’t be hard.
I think this idea deserves further consideration and some more time spent with a ruler and pencil. I’ll post the internal diagrams and proposal on this blog when I have done them.
1 comment:
Definitely a bigger kitchen and bathroom upstairs - no contest. Find a way, it will assist with the sale.
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