2 Bathrooms up, laundry down? Or 1 up, 1 down?

[Kelemvor]

Howdy,

In our house we have 2 bathrooms upstairs and the laundry area is downstairs.

One bathroom is the primary one off the main hallway. Standard small size. Shower over the tub, standard toilet, 1 sink, etc.

Other bathroom is attached to the master bedroom and is a pass through that comes out at the back door. It's nothing fancy at all and we never use it unless someone is in the other one. This has a standard toilet, 1 sink but only a stand up shower stall. This is why we never use this bathroom.

My wife is thinking of turning the bathroom we don't use into an upstairs laundry room and then putting in a bathroom in the basement where the laundry stuff is now. It could hurt the resale value of the house since there'd be no official Master Bath then but having an upstairs laundry and a downstairs bathroom would be a plus. So maybe it would even out.

We'd definitely have to get a good, insulated door and such to keep the laundry noise out of the bedroom but we'll figure that out if we go this route. But then again, we don't necessarily do laundry at night anyway... Just have to start it an hour before bedtime and it would be done...

Anyway, what are you thoughts? Which would you prefer or which do you think is a batter idea?

EDIT: bath.JPG

Bath 1 we use
Master Bath we never use and is where we'd put the laundry stuff.

 

[Black88GTA]

I would have a real issue with the laundry noise while I'm trying to sleep, but that's just me. I don't know if there's even a way to insulate it so well that it would be anything less than slightly muffled.

Although, a bathroom on both floors would be nice. Tough call.

 

[SmoochyTX]

I would keep laundry downstairs just because of the sound.

 

[Fritzo]

1 up, 1 down....a downstairs bathroom is the bestest

 

[Kelemvor]

ANd the other thing is that we don't have to do laundry at night... Even if you start up the dryer right before bed, it only runs for an hour. Just have to start it up before you actually go to bed and then the noise isn't an issue. heh.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
1 up, 1 down....a downstairs bathroom is the bestest

Yup. I would hate to have to walk up and down the stairs every time I wanted to piss.

 

[illusion88]

Why not redo the bathroom? Make it nice, add in a big shower for you and the misses plus a second sink. Tear out some walls and make it bigger!

It's a bit more expensive but the resale value goes up and you have a nice bathroom to boot!

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: illusion88
Why not redo the bathroom? Make it nice, add in a big shower for you and the misses plus a second sink. Tear out some walls and make it bigger!

It's a bit more expensive but the resale value goes up and you have a nice bathroom to boot!

But then we only have 1 bathroom because we'd have to combine the two/ Otherwise we'd have to knock down exterior walls and basically put on an extension and that's way too expensive.

 

[QED]

We have our laundry room upstairs, and we love it. You trade a little noise at night (assuming you run it at night) for a lot of convenience-- we never have to carry a load of laundry up or down any stairs. As far as resale value goes, I think it's a wash (no pun intended)-- some buyers just seem to be put off by the idea of an upstairs laundry room.

However, bathrooms on both levels of the house would be great.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I would think even a crappy master bath would be more of a selling point then having the laundry room in the bedroom.

 

[Balt]

I would leave the laundry room in the basement. Too much noise and leaks/water disasters from washing machines are not unheard of.

 

[tasmanian]

Do you have a garage? Just put laundry in there and bathroom downstairs.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Having a laundry room by the bedrooms is great however losing the master bath & potential noise isn't worth the remodeling & resale value. It would be better to sell your current house, and purchase a single plan home or a home that have laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms.

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: tasmanian
Do you have a garage? Just put laundry in there and bathroom downstairs.

I'm in WI. Washing machine in the garage would mean we have dirty clothes for 4 months of the year. Plus we don't have any extra space in the garage.

 

[Krazy4Real]

i have a laundry room upstairs right next to the master bedroom. I don't know if I have good appliances, but I don't hear anything. I've started laundry right before I go to sleep, and have never had trouble falling asleep.

 

[George P Burdell]

Put the bathroom closer to the TV.

 

[habib89]

is there any "public" space downstairs? meaning is there a family room or game room or living room or anythign like that? if not, then just leave downstairs as the utility floor.. if there is public space, then put a bathroom down there so that people don't have to go upstairs...

it'd be pretty convenient to have the laundry right next to your bedroom.. i don't knwo anyone that starts laundry so that it runs through the night.. i like to pull my laundry out asap so it doesn't get too wrinkled..

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: habib89
is there any "public" space downstairs? meaning is there a family room or game room or living room or anythign like that? if not, then just leave downstairs as the utility floor.. if there is public space, then put a bathroom down there so that people don't have to go upstairs...

it'd be pretty convenient to have the laundry right next to your bedroom.. i don't knwo anyone that starts laundry so that it runs through the night.. i like to pull my laundry out asap so it doesn't get too wrinkled..

The basement is mostly finished. Big rec area, workshop, TVs, bar that we never use, etc. But we don't spend a whole lot of time down there because it's much colder than upstairs. But of course in the summer that's nice...

 

[sdifox]

Think of the laundry trip as exercise. I never understood people who want washers on the second floor. Specially when they malfunction (too much soap or something) and flood your floor. Much easier to clean up the concrete of the mechanical room than 3 floors (2nd, 1st, basment)

 

[skimple]

Here's is what I think you should do:

- Remove the sink, but leave the hook ups. Maybe you can use these to connect the washer. You have to change out the fittings, but the pipes should be standard size.

- Leave the toilet, so you don't have to screw with capping the sewer line.

- Remove the door from the shower stall (if there).

Now, measure your shower pan and determine if your washing machine can sit in it. If so - GREAT! You don't even need a floor pan to prevent flooding, you can just sit your washing machine in there. If not, maybe you can consider getting a smaller, "apartment-sized" washer.

Depending on the layout of the bathroom, you can either run water lines from the sink hookups, or you need to tie into th shower water lines. One option may be to simply run a single hose from the shower pipe to the cold water intake on the washer. Then you wash everything in cold, and control the actual water temperature with the shower handle. The benefit to this is that is also provides additional flood protection becasue you can shut off the water to the washer when not in use.

If you do it this way, it is easy for you, or a new owner to reinstall the sink and have the bathroom back.

The bigger problem will be a 220 line to run the dryer, which will still need to be a new line.

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: skimple
Here's is what I think you should do:

- Remove the sink, but leave the hook ups. Maybe you can use these to connect the washer. You have to change out the fittings, but the pipes should be standard size.

- Leave the toilet, so you don't have to screw with capping the sewer line.

- Remove the door from the shower stall (if there).

Now, measure your shower pan and determine if your washing machine can sit in it. If so - GREAT! You don't even need a floor pan to prevent flooding, you can just sit your washing machine in there. If not, maybe you can consider getting a smaller, "apartment-sized" washer.

Depending on the layout of the bathroom, you can either run water lines from the sink hookups, or you need to tie into th shower water lines. One option may be to simply run a single hose from the shower pipe to the cold water intake on the washer. Then you wash everything in cold, and control the actual water temperature with the shower handle. The benefit to this is that is also provides additional flood protection becasue you can shut off the water to the washer when not in use.

If you do it this way, it is easy for you, or a new owner to reinstall the sink and have the bathroom back.

The bigger problem will be a 220 line to run the dryer, which will still need to be a new line.

Actually thought about putting the stuff in the shower stall. Also though of getting stackable things and putting both in there.

And the dryer would literally be almost directly above where it is now so extending that line would be pretty simple. The layout of the bathroom is just a rectangle with the shower sticking off to the side to make it look like a squared off letter J. Sink at the top right. Cabinets below that along the right wall. Shower on the bottom left. Very plain ans basic.

 

[Bryophyte]

Are the existing bathrooms back to back?
Do you have two levels or three? Basement/main floor/upstairs or is "upstairs" the main floor and you have a basement?
How many bedrooms are "upstairs"?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Leave it alone. The master bathroom is important.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor

Originally posted by: skimple
Here's is what I think you should do:

- Remove the sink, but leave the hook ups. Maybe you can use these to connect the washer. You have to change out the fittings, but the pipes should be standard size.

- Leave the toilet, so you don't have to screw with capping the sewer line.

- Remove the door from the shower stall (if there).

Now, measure your shower pan and determine if your washing machine can sit in it. If so - GREAT! You don't even need a floor pan to prevent flooding, you can just sit your washing machine in there. If not, maybe you can consider getting a smaller, "apartment-sized" washer.

Depending on the layout of the bathroom, you can either run water lines from the sink hookups, or you need to tie into th shower water lines. One option may be to simply run a single hose from the shower pipe to the cold water intake on the washer. Then you wash everything in cold, and control the actual water temperature with the shower handle. The benefit to this is that is also provides additional flood protection becasue you can shut off the water to the washer when not in use.

If you do it this way, it is easy for you, or a new owner to reinstall the sink and have the bathroom back.

The bigger problem will be a 220 line to run the dryer, which will still need to be a new line.

Actually thought about putting the stuff in the shower stall. Also though of getting stackable things and putting both in there.

And the dryer would literally be almost directly above where it is now so extending that line would be pretty simple. The layout of the bathroom is just a rectangle with the shower sticking off to the side to make it look like a squared off letter J. Sink at the top right. Cabinets below that along the right wall. Shower on the bottom left. Very plain ans basic.

Washer drain pipe is the same diameter as wash basin/sink at 1 1/2", however most code require at least 24" of tandpipe for the washer (most plumber rough in 32" length for the standpipe to prevent overflow).

Shower have a mixing valve that combine hot/cold water, and washer require a separate hot & cold boiler drain valves which can be cut in pre shower mixing valve but the shower wall will be needed to be cut open unless it can be access from the other side of the wall.

240V line isn't that hard to fish from the panel to the bathroom (up to the attic and down to the bathroom).

Ventilation is another matter that must be look into. The distant between dryer & bathroom exhaust have to be a specific distant or greater depends on the local building code. Dryer ducting can only be x amount of length depends on the dryer manufacture specification and/or local code (the shorter distant take precedence if manufacture & local code doesn't jive with each others), and subtract 5' of the max ducting run per elbow/90 degree bend.

 

[TheDro]

I wouldn't mess with the two bathrooms upstairs... though depending on the layout of your house, you could possible add a laundry chute so you wouldn't have clothes in a hamper in your bathroom and have to haul it downstairs 2 flights.