I wouldn't buy a home without a bath on a sleeping level. Yes, I've lived in one, and yes, those stairs got "annointed" when I had the flu and was too weak to be walking down those stairs. Not fun at all.

Can you post a floor plan? One for each floor would help. Be sure to include dimensions. Maybe some creative wall movement can accommodate your needs.

GreenDesigns - thanks for that. That's kind of what I was thinking but good to hear it from someone else.

Enduring - I'll try to post a floor plan in the next day or two. I've got a rough one, but nothing with very accurate dimensions. I'll work on it and try to get something here soon.

Alright, here's the floor plan for the entire house. This post shows the downstairs and I'll post the upstairs in another post. Thanks for any suggestions on how to fit a bathroom upstairs.

Here's the current upstairs layout.

Important note: the ceiling upstairs slants down with the roof. At the outer walls (top and bottom in this plan) there is only 3' between the ceiling and the floor. The only place this short ceiling is not in a closet is in the bottom left near the 11'10" dimension. Thanks for any suggestions!

I am no expert by any means! But here goes :)

Upstairs: Can you make a shared bathroom out of the 56sf closet in the bottom right corner? 3/4 bath. The ceiling slopes there I suppose. you might still be able to do it. There are code requirements for ceiling heights though. Could you put a dormer in that area? The bathroom would need 2 doors too. The upper right closet 46sf would be above the existing mbr and maybe could share the stack, drain, and water access. But there would be no access for the second bedroom. Unless you could refigure walls and doors to make the 46sf closet a br with access from the landing. But then the right bedroom would loose a lot of room. The 46sf closet would need a dormer I think for window and headroom.

Have you marked the plans up to see what options you've come up with?

Downstairs:
Where is your front door to the house? Is it at the top of the plan where the laundry is? Where is your back door?

How about this:

Take the area over the half bath downstairs and make it the upstairs bath -- that might make the plumbing runs easier. Entry to bath from the landing. You would need to steal some space from the larger upstairs bedroom, which would shrink to 11.10'x12.5'. Lower left closet becomes closet for that bedroom.

I think Oaktown's suggestion makes a lot of sense. I have no idea what the code requirements are where you are, but I have seen lots of bathroom pictures on Houzz in spaces with sloped ceilings

Yes, oaktown's idea is very nice.

Not important to me. But it's your decision.

The only thing about using the closet (upper left closet on 2nd floor), above the downstairs bath, is the door placement. It can't be placed in the "north/south" direction because of the stairwell being right there. One would run the risk of stepping onto the steps and falling.

What is above the dining room? If it is a peaked roof with attic space, you might be able to do a small shed dormer and fit in a small bathroom. Access would be through a new hallway that would take part of the top of the left bedroom.

Adding a shed dormer to the 37 sq.ft closet. would also give you the headroom. Then expand the landing to reach the door.

Quite a few solutions ... they just take time and money!

I'd steal space from the right bedroom and the upper right closet for the bath. Then, move the bedroom space "down" partially into the closet area with just a 2' deep reach in closet.

For example.

Thanks everyone - there are some good suggestions and things to think through. I'm going to work on some sketches and see what I can come up using of of the upper closets with a dormer.

To answer a few questions:
enduring - the back door comes in from the laundry room. This is our main access. I neglected to show the front door (hardly ever used) which is in the middle of the dining room on the bottom on this drawing.

chispa - I asked my husband about what's above the dining room and he said there isn't enough room to stand even in the middle of the room, so I guess that's not an option. Good idea though.

Thanks everyone. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some marked up plans!

You will not regret having a bathroom on the second floor. I am glad you are taking the advice of the other posters and planning for one.

I'd make the 37 sf closet into the upstairs bath, by commandeering the adjacent bedroom space down to the landing wall. Make a door going out the side of that landing into the bathroom.

The 56 sf closet could become the closet for the LH bedroom.

2nd option: do the same thing on the RH side, and knock out the wall to the 56 sf closet, incorporating it into the room. You could build a reach-in closet along the LH wall.

Weedyacres, thanks for your suggestions. It's actually what we were thinking of doing. I'm attaching an updated plan which I think would work with the existing slope of the roof without adding any dormers.

If anyone has comments on this plan, please chime in. Thanks for all of the input!

Google search "attic bathrooms" ... lots of photos that should give you more ideas for a better use of space.

A common element seems to be the addition of a skylight to make it bright and cheery.

Here is a link that might be useful: attic bathrooms

This post was edited by chispa on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 23:30

I don't think the way the bathroom door comes into the landing is safe. I had a similar suggestion for the 46sf bathroom, yet again the issue with the landing is unsafe. I think the entrance will need to be on the south wall of the landing like the bedrooms.

Unless you can get a rail in there on either side and and create a safe entry from the landing.

If you do consider the 46sf side what does that shelving area look like? and is there a rail already in place in your setup? The 46sf bath idea would work if you moved the wall down and took the large south east closet out and made it into a reach in closet.

So either side could work but I think it would depend on the down stair mechanical locations for plumbing, and safe access for the doorway. None of the plans look safe to me yet.

I don't understand enduring's comment about the unsafe door entry. You'd be walking out the door directly into basically a hallway. You'd have to fall to the left to go tumbling down the stairs.

I'd change the door swing to open against the wall.

How much depth do you have that's full-height ceiling?

In our previous home, the relationship between the door to my daughter's room and the stairs was exactly as shown in the last diagram. We lived there 26 years, and no one ever tumbled down the stairs.

Don't see any problem with the landing either.

Thanks for the comments. I couldn't get it to display right on this floor plan, but I think the new bathroom entrance would be safe with the way it is set up. It's a bit hard to explain but the stairs go half way up have a small landing and then turn 180 degrees up to the landing that's shown on the plans. That results in having a few feet that have a railing so that no one should be able to fall down the stairs. I'd like to raise up the railing a bit since it's short so we'll probably do that when we put the bathroom in too.

As far as the width that will be full ceiling height, its only about 10". I've included a profile that shows how the ceiling height decreases as you go outward. Maybe we won't be able to get away with no dormer... Are there any guidelines that say how high the ceiling should be above a sink, etc. It feels plenty big enough when I stand in the space but I'd hate to get it all built and then have it not be functional!

You should check your local codes, but the article in the link might also be useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: article re NKBA guidelines