How much difference does it make to have 2 vs 2.5 vs 3 bathrooms?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| A 5 bed, 2 bath house is not a good layout. If you are adding a bedroom, add the bath. Make it a split bathroom in that it’s connected to the main level for powder room, but also has a shower (maybe door in between). |
Anonymous
This. And if you put guests down in the basement, it’s nice to have a full bath there if you can. |
Anonymous
| We did an addition and went from 3br/2ba to 4br/3ba and it's so much better. You may think it's bearable to share a bathroom with your kids when they're young, but believe me when they're teenagers, everyone will be so much happier with more privacy. |
Anonymous
|
I'm not clear where the 2 bathrooms you have are, but we also have a boy and girl, although they are now in college. I think where they are impacts how many you need. We have been happy with what we have, see below
We have 3.5 bathrooms. 1 in the main bedroom, just for parents (this was part of an addition for us, so glad NOT to share a bathroom with kids!). 1 bathroom the kids share (we expanded it during reno, 2 sinks, each with 1 cabinet and 3 drawers - teens need storage for all their skin and hair stuff). 1 bathroom on the main floor - we all use this most of the day, as do guests .5 powder room in the basement, currently man cave for spouse, used to be teen hang out space and before that kid play area |
Anonymous
|
We have 4/2.5, with the half bath on the main floor that comes in very handy for guests and those running in from
the car! We recently finished our basement and added a 3-piece bath (toilet, sink, shower but no tub) and it has been amazing. Boys shower down there. I don’t have kid friends traipsing through my kitchen for the half bath. It has become a guest suite for my parents. Not having the bath down there would severely limit the utility, even for a finished basement. I would splurge for the 3-piece, OP. You will thank yourself someday. |
Anonymous
|
As with anything else it's a question of cost and priorities and goals. Everyone's money is finite.
People have different goals and priorities. I like travel and savings so allowed for that, not going 100% max loan on house which would have made me feel 'house poor' with lower peace of mind. Op what is the approx value of the property now? And cost for the addition with no bath? And with one full bath? And with half bath only? And what is the approx appraised value after the build, with no additional bath? With adding another full bath, or another half bath? And how long to you expect to hold on to this property before selling it? Posters may be able to advise what they would do based on those financials. For your question on space use, we are a family of 3 with 4BR/3BA (and other basement space that could be full BR) and for me personally it is a ton of space. We barely use one BA. But other people are different and have different priorities. |
Anonymous
Editing to add, all this space I have and that most posters in this thread described is much more space and BA than many people in the world have, or in the US. Even I walk around IKEA and see small cute apartment showrooms there and that is how many in the world live. Part of the above "costs" question for your specific property will depend on the costs and setup to add the additional line. (If it were me making the decision I'd definitely want to know the exact quotes. My guess is that the difference between adding the full bath and half bath won't be much, as once you have the additional line, adding tub/shower is minor cost.) |
Anonymous
| It helps a lot once all the kids are taking a shower every day, which can happen by the time they are 9 or 10. |
Anonymous
| I am looking to buy and it's a con to have anything less than 3.5- assuming 3 levels, a full master top floor, a full secondary bath top floor, powder room main level and at least a powder room, preferably a full, for guests in the basement. |
Anonymous
| Put in at least a 1/2 bath. Hut a full is better (maybe just shower not a tub). We have 4bd /2.5 bath and I'm converting the basement 1/2 bath to a full so DH can have his own shower post workouts etc. my kids are still little but both girls so they will need bathroom space and time. |
Anonymous
| We have 2.5 bathrooms and it's not enough anymore for me, DH, and DS. DS started taking super long showers last year, and now spends forever in the bathroom with hair, braces, and who knows what the heck he does in there. His bathroom is basically off limits to everyone else, which means we now have one other bathroom upstairs, and I wish we had two so I could have my own. We definitely could not do without the half bath downstairs - you'll want one of those when you need to pee and both teens are taking six hour showers or doing their hair or whatever. |
Anonymous
|
Call me spoiled but I think the best number of bathroom is N+1
N is number of people in the household. So yes to a full bathroom |
Anonymous
|
We have a full in our finished basement (no bedroom, but we've had people sleep in the den there including slumber parties). Full on the main floor, which can be closed off with our family room as a guest room (also worked for a kid after surgery when they couldn't do stairs for a while). Two on the second floor: a full hall bath for three bedrooms (two kids' rooms and an office/guest room) and a full bath for our bedroom.
They're all smallish and not particularly posh, but it's just right for us. |
Anonymous
Same and I am like you OP, neither me nor DH spend tons of time in bathroom. 2 young kids (9-7 boy and girl). Currently 2 bathrooms and fine, we barely use the second one. But we are moving into bigger house and I was looking for at least an additional half bath (we end up with 3 bathrooms for the 4 of us and I think that will feel perfect). Because: - kids are slowly switching to morning showers instead of evening showers and it means way more time pressure - currently everyone is fine if someone really wants to pee while there is someone in the shower but guessing once the kids reach puberty it won’t fly anymore - for guests it is really tight. I don’t think you will regret adding a bathroom and at bare minimum I would add a half bath |
Anonymous
|
I think everyone should have their own toilet. It’s not a must but a nice to have. We have 2 full baths. DH and I have a full bath. The kids (2) share one full bath. There are also two half baths. Everyone gets a toilet.
We may turn the basement half bath into a full by adding a shower. When dating and living together before kids we had two full baths. Sharing a bathroom was a big adjustment in marriage. |