The house I have bought recently has 4 bedrooms (2 good doubles, 1 large single, and 1 smaller single (10 x 7)), but tiny bathroom (13 x 3). As it is this bathroom is pretty unuseable (basically a corridor that you can only move along crabwise!), so the two options I am considering are:

1. Leave the 4 bedrooms and replace the bath with a shower cubicle. This means I won't be able to take baths anymore, but it retains the maximum bedrooms, and makes the bathroom a workable, if still small, space.

2. Move the bathroom into the fourth bedroom, leaving the bathroom as a study/small guest room.

Personally I am equally happy(/unhappy!) with either option - my concern is that as I may be moving again in a couple of years, I want to choose the option that retains value as much as possible.

Any opinions? Cheers.

I'd go for 3 beds and a bathroom. If you don't have one I'm not sure how many families with kids would be interested in buying the house in the future.

Hi
I would move the bathroom. Thats if you think that your target market for selling your house on would be a family. Many people with young children (myself included) would prefer a bath as opposed to just a shower. We are currently looking at property and have totally disgarded two just because they do not have a bath. Either that or could you look at refitting the current bathroom with a small corner bath? Hope this helps!

Is this the only bathroom? I would find a four bed house with just one bathroom is a bit light on the bathrooms side.

I would definitely go for option 2. It would still leave you with a 'guest bedroom/study' & think you need a decent bathroom with that size of house.

Is there no option to take a wee bit out of one of the bedrooms to add to the bathroom?

ETA: it might be as cheap to move a wall this way than to move all the plumbing.

I like donjc's idea there, if it makes sense if one of the larger bedrooms is next to the current bathroom - taking a small area from a large bedroom would make a surprising difference to the bathroom.

Otherwise option 2. Many families who need 4 bedrooms have to compromise on the size of at least one bedroom anyway, so they wouldn't be expecting 4 large bedrooms unless they are buying something huge. They would, however, expect a reasonably sized bathroom. I think having a shower and no bath is offputting to many people. Even me and I can't remember the last time I took a bath - always take showers. I still wouldn't rip the bath out and replace with fancy walk in shower ensemble.

I'm sorry but I don't get how you could possibly turn a room which is 3ft wide into any sort of bedroom. A single bed is 3ft wide so it would be completely wedged in on each side. Changing the sheets would require gymnastics training.

And if the room is 13x3meters I don't see what the problem is, as it's enormous.

With the current mania for en-suites and many loos could the old bathroom be made into a shower room (en-suite to one of the bedrooms or as is), and still move the bathroom into the fourth bedroom? The old bathroom is so small it's not that useful, would be a great walk in cupboard though.

quote:

Originally posted by iguana:
I'm sorry but I don't get how you could possibly turn a room which is 3ft wide into any sort of bedroom. A single bed is 3ft wide so it would be completely wedged in on each side. Changing the sheets would require gymnastics training.

And if the room is 13x3meters I don't see what the problem is, as it's enormous.

I had a third bedroom that was 9 foot by 3 foot.. Yes it was a bit awkward to make the bed but and we took the door off as most beds were too long to use the door. We had a 2'3" bunk bed in there, but it was not nice for long term use. It was workable though for a spare room for occasional use.

Thanks for the various comments. General consensus seems to be that a large bathroom is better that a fourth bedroom then.

As for moving walls, unfortunately the current bathroom only joins on to the smallest bedroom, so moving walls would just make that room even smaller.

I am concerned that moving the bathroom into the bedroom would leave the current bathroom (13 x 3) as an unuseable space though. It's true it would be a real squeeze to get a bed in a room that narrow, and I'm not even sure you'd get a desk in with room to sit down and turn around. Hmmm, more pondering to do...

Then make one bedroom into a bathroom, and make the old bathroom into a second toilet. In a 3 bedroom house, a second toilet would be a bonus, no matter how small it was.

Ary.

I think I'd turn the bathroom into a study and move the bathroom into the smaller bedroom.
10x7 is a decent size for a bathroom too.

In our area in surrey, a 4 bed house is generally priced at £50-£100k more than a 3 bed house,so be careful losing bedrooms,they are more important than bathrooms I believe.
I like the idea of taking a bit off one of the bedrooms to add onto the width of the bathroom.A 13ft by 5ft bathroom say would be lovely if it can be done,and you still have 4 bedrooms too.